OBSTRUCT & CONNECT, 2013
Choreography: Alyssandra Katherine Wu
Music: Zoë Keating
Photo: Visualinstincts
Performed: Los Angeles, CA at the Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater; Resolution! in London, UK at the Robin Howard Dance Theatre/The Place; Footprint in London, UK at the University of Roehampton; and PUSHfest in San Francisco, CA at the ODC Theater.
Press:
Awards: PUSHfest Audience Choice Award 2016 PUSH Dance Award, 2016
Overview: Obstruct & Connect was created in Los Angeles, California, in 2013 as a senior thesis that used contact improvisation as a lens to explore the walls created by broken relationships. Contact improvisation is a movement form based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact—exploring rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, and supporting and giving weight to a partner. Hence, Obstruct & Connect is a work that uses contact improvisation as a method to conduct a kinesthetic conversation. The piece asks the question, “What happens to a contact dance when one or more partners stops the conversation by only giving weight rather than receiving?” It explores the outcomes of this decision and how the dance may continue with this new dynamic. Using projection, brick wall depictions, and pedestrian gestures/qualities, Obstruct & Connect is a work that is accessible to a broad range of audiences and has been well-received in theaters in London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.