Edge Effects

2016
Studio2, Portland, OR

installation / dance film

Created for Tere Mathern Dance, this projected film installation was an integral component of the evening-length dance work Edge Effects, which premiered February 25–28, 2016 at Studio2 in Portland.

The work centered on the ecotone — the threshold where one ecosystem meets another. These liminal zones, where meadow meets forest, water meets land, or one body meets another, are places of heightened vitality, conflict, and transformation. To extend this metaphor, I filmed the company’s dancers in natural environments on the outskirts of Portland — fields, forests, and transitional landscapes — and layered this footage into the performance via seven short films.

Projected throughout the evening, the film operated as both environment and narrative thread, immersing audiences in a shifting interplay of body and landscape. By weaving ecological imagery with human movement, the work reflected on how change and encounter shape both land and body.

Tags: Film, Dance, Site-responsive performance, Ecological metaphor, Collaboration, Interdisciplinary research, Projection / Installation