Dark Sky Aerial
Dark Sky Aerial is self-described guerilla-style performance art. Five intrepid women created Dark Sky Aerial where all the traditional concepts of theater are exploded. The audience walks around and through scenes, the Dark Sky Aerial troupe collaborates with other exciting dance, theater, music, and street theater groups to tell provocative, compelling stories. When I’m photographing performances by Dark Sky Aerial I feel like I’m in a circus, never sure what surprising scene will come next, what amazing feats these dancers will present next, all within a moving, thought-provoking narrative.
Their first performance Opia 2016 took place in an darkened airplane hangar. The audience and photographers/videographers moved from scene to scene as aerialists performed from the ceiling, stilt walkers cavorted on giant swings, a pole dancer gyrated under red lights, and dancers performed to a poem, the words of which were projected onto a giant canvas behind the dancers.
The more recent performances of Tilt (created to tilt your perspective) 2017-2018 began with aerial harness dancers literally dancing off the sides of a five-story building. The narrative progresses with “ground dancers” and stilt-walkers performing in an alleyway. The audience moves up to rooms in a nearby hotel where they see vignettes by actors and dancers. The audience parades onto the hotel rooftop and catwalks to witness a thrilling finale. No spoiler alerts.
Directors: Elisa Venezia, Abby Chan, Joanie Garcia, Isabelle-Dove Robinson, Carrie Gaydos
Collaborators:
CaZo Dance Company CaZoDance.com
Nemcatacoa Teatro NemcatacoaTeatro.org
Flam Chen FlamChen.com
Random Impulse Taiko
