Salt was a blurring of the boundaries between audience and dancer; music and light; site and body. The piece was inspired by Miller and experiential designer Craig Winslow’s previous experiments with the interaction between projected light, movement, and white Tyvek body coverings. The pair partnered to further the concept and bring their exploration to an often-ignored space hidden in plain sight behind the Karma Bird House in Burlington: the Vermont Railway salt shed. Determined to understand the context of the space, Miller researched the production and utilization of salt in the railroad industry along with the history of the Vermont Railway System.
The performance took place in phases, moving through a series of experiences that fully immersed the audience through projection mapping, dance, and audio. Sound designer Miles Dean (the third member of the White Noise Now collective along with Miller and Winslow) created a MIDI-based system to control solenoids geared to strike the interior of the salt shed in rhythm with the piece. Dancers brought life to the performance with props including shovels, wheelbarrows, and a television. The amalgamation of performers, sensory stimuli, and the more than two hundred audience members alike pushed all participants to encounter the familiar and the unfamiliar with new modes of perception.
Oct 9, 2016
Vermont Railway Salt Shed
Burlington, Vermont
Duration: TBD
Produced with Craig Winslow, experiential design
Miles Dean, sound design
Dancers Holly Chagnon, Nicole Dagesse, Christine Holt, Sarah Macdonald, Mia Pinheiro, Elizabeth Marie Seyler, Jonathan Silverman, Liesje Smith, Avi Waring, Martha Whitfield, Michelle Winchell Struckholz, Lida Winfield
Photo & Video Amira Silverman, Maxine Senft Miller, Micah Dudash, Driven Studio
Special Thanks Vermont Rail System, Brion Muzzy, Giovanna and Michael Jager, Karma Bird House Gallery, Adobe Creative Residency, Signal Kitchen, Barbara Heath, live saxophone, Peter Fried, visual artist, Katy Hellman, gallery event organization, Jane Frank Jewelry, Maria Gould, honeybloombeauty.com, Gary Coffey, Lake Champlain Chocolates
