ECHO GLASS
February 5, 6 & 7 | 7:30PM at DANSPACE Project St. Marks in-the-Bowery
This February I will be premiering a new album and music performance in collaboration with Wendy Osserman Dance Company to celebrate their 50 year anniversary. The original concept of this work entitled ECHO GLASS was first inspired by my personal experience of growing up with a condition which impaired my sight, specifically my ability to see depth, dimension or periphery.
ECHO GLASS later developed into broader themes in collaboration with Wendy, the dancers and other singers. The performance includes four live singers carrying their voices through architectural space, navigating the tangible feeling of their voices bouncing off the surfaces around them. Meanwhile, the dancers play various species-blending creatures (also navigating space through touch and echo).
ECHO GLASS began as a reflection on how both my sense of sound and touch have compensated where my vision has lacked. We have so much to learn from loss. What I’m referring to are the tiny deaths that we encounter throughout life. Illnesses or disabilities that chip away at any illusions of immortality. If we observe carefully, a pattern emerges. Loss brings renewal, a space where something is lacking brings newness, or adaptability, with time.
And there is also an element of trust. When we lose some ability we are forced to be vulnerable and lose some control. This evolution towards self-awareness of my own imperfections has taken me many years to accept. I was taught to mask, to fit in, to do everything just like everybody else and if I could not keep up it was because I just wasn’t trying hard enough. I internalized this way of being in the world for so long.
Fast forward, as an adult, I’m taking more time to advocate for my needs. I’ve trained my service dog Pepper to assist me with tasks such as space navigation. Where my perception lacks hers picks up. We complete each other’s daily experience of the world. This introduces an interspecies connection which I could have never imagined tapping into had it not been for the partial loss of my sight.
ECHO GLASS, as a music composition has grown through my collaboration with the dancers. The product has evolved into a whimsical world which doesn’t sit in the past or the future. It’s a world where the perception of animals, plants and humans doesn’t sit in a hierarchy but rather a web of support systems where each perception and each experience of the world is both valued and held precious.
ECHO GLASS champions the essential value and preciousness of all sentience. Just as nature embraces the divergence of every creature and perception, so too must we find a place for the variations in human experience and understanding. The work encourages a vital shift in consciousness: one where our imperfect, mortal existence is not just acceptable, but fundamental to the well-being and thriving of the whole. Interdependence is created by need, and need arises from what is lacking.
Hope to see you at the live performances of ECHO GLASS. You can purchase TICKETS at this link.