ætherplough: create
We cultivate contemporary performance by providing tools & infrastructure
to encourage risk taking & innovation.
archeology of birdsong
We are currently collecting performance content for our next full scale original performance.
Working title: archeology of birdsong.
The performance will be scheduled sometime in next spring, so stay tuned for updates and workshop performances!
Working title: archeology of birdsong.
The performance will be scheduled sometime in next spring, so stay tuned for updates and workshop performances!
Thank you to everyone who participated in and came out in support of:
[SPACE]; or, the gods are dangerous.
Click here for Reviews and KIOS interview
[SPACE] was a multidisciplinary performance that used music, dance, video and spoken word to grapple with notions of space and consciousness. Through these mediums, [SPACE] explored the vast frontier of outer space as the site for self-reflection.
Directed by Susann Suprenant, [SPACE] featured Thom Sibbitt as Major Tom – a space age everyman adrift in the galaxy. [SPACE] also featured live original music composed and directed by Satid Kippenberger, as well as compositions by April Faith-Slaker, Matt Walker, and Chelsea Balzer. A host of ensemble musicians drove this interstellar dance-performance, accompanied by haunting videography (by Chris Machian).
Directed by Susann Suprenant, [SPACE] featured Thom Sibbitt as Major Tom – a space age everyman adrift in the galaxy. [SPACE] also featured live original music composed and directed by Satid Kippenberger, as well as compositions by April Faith-Slaker, Matt Walker, and Chelsea Balzer. A host of ensemble musicians drove this interstellar dance-performance, accompanied by haunting videography (by Chris Machian).
Check out our YouTube channel for videos of [SPACE]
Photos by Chris Machian
explore past creations
Below is a photo-video blog of our year long process to create [SPACE]
Development has begun for our next full scale performance. The ætherplough ensemble is meditating on Space: up down all around. Because of the vast nature of our exploration I will be posting clips from our rehearsal process over the next several months. Come along for the journey as we assemble an original multi-media-dance-rock-opera-something to send Omaha to the Moon.
fun fact: If you drove your car straight up into the air, the distance you will have traveled by the time you reach space is about as far as it is from Omaha to Lincoln!
Interstellar (SPACE) blog
September 15th We've spent that last month working with the larger ensemble and we have begun to create an intergalactic dance world. We open in 5 weeks!
video by Chris Machian
August 1st! In the spirit of transparency... here is a delightfully crash and burny video of Satid and the gang trying to figure out a 'creep' -'space oddity' mash up. Thanks to Chris Machian for the video!
July 25th. A narrative (of sorts)... with protagonists, antagonists, obstacles and ghosts: the space-man, Oppenhemier, Romantic relationships, the spunik/higher power and finally the consciousness frequency of presence. 'Lions, tigers, and Space...'
My mother meditating on space (if anyone was confused about where my creative spirit comes from... well there you have it.)
July 11th. A reading of what might be commonly know as a 'script' for us, the script is more of a travel itinerary... places we'ed like to go but with no telling where we will actually end up. The script will stop changing the day after the performance is over. It is an artifact-byproduct of the journey.
Case in point... waylaid by 6 laptops simultaneously youtubing Kate Bush's cover of Rocket Man.
July 4th. Field trips planned, Music teasers, 1st draft of a 'script'
Rough Draft, 'lament for enkidu' Music by April Faith-Slaker, Song lifted from Gilgamesh and by Thom. (recorded on my iphone, so... um... not studio quality.)
June 27th. We've found Enkidu again. Sounds are becoming songs and we've begun to dance.
Video Collab: Chris Machian and Satid
Photos by Chris Machian
June 20th. Pound House Proof of Concept: the Satellite, Cabalists, Flight Attendants, Glow Sticks.
Video by Chris Machian
(SPACE)camp: June 13th. This week we took a retreat into the depths of the suburbs for a back yard camping trip. This retreat marked the transition from conceptual into the physical work of the coming months. I will keep posting video/sound/images form the process. I am hoping to get a bit more creative with upcoming posts. Stay tuned. Exciting work ahead: In the darkness reaching for the light.
Chelsea speaks to the size of our memory files.
