MAKE LIGHT:
OR HOW I SURVIVED IT ALL
Kristin Wagner
Make Light: or how I survived it all is a reflection on seemingly meaningless beauty. Pulling from lesser known Darwinian theories of evolution - that argue aesthetics as inherent to survival - movement vocabulary, ranging from tender and subtle to luscious and sweeping, offers expressions of joy whose meaning exists only in the beauty of its presentation.
The common belief of Darwinian Evolutionary Theory is that the reason for the existence of a particular trait or behavior is strictly for survival. However, Darwin once remarked that “stripes and marks and ornamental appendages have all been indirectly gained through the influence of love” - raising the theory that evolution may be expressed as an appreciation of the beautiful, through the exertion of a choice.
We need only look at the elaborate courtship rituals of many of Earth's species to see this theory in action: fish who attract with colorful scales, whales that woo through song, birds that charm through dance. Each of these "performances" sustains the species due to the simple fact of beauty being both displayed and appreciated. In this way, there is no such thing as meaningless beauty. Something can be meaningful simply for the fact that it is beautiful.
Inspired in part by both physical and metaphorical windows into human existence, the choreography extends beyond Darwin's pondering and considers how witnessing beauty and experiencing joy ensure our resilience as a species during periods of great challenge.
The common belief of Darwinian Evolutionary Theory is that the reason for the existence of a particular trait or behavior is strictly for survival. However, Darwin once remarked that “stripes and marks and ornamental appendages have all been indirectly gained through the influence of love” - raising the theory that evolution may be expressed as an appreciation of the beautiful, through the exertion of a choice.
We need only look at the elaborate courtship rituals of many of Earth's species to see this theory in action: fish who attract with colorful scales, whales that woo through song, birds that charm through dance. Each of these "performances" sustains the species due to the simple fact of beauty being both displayed and appreciated. In this way, there is no such thing as meaningless beauty. Something can be meaningful simply for the fact that it is beautiful.
Inspired in part by both physical and metaphorical windows into human existence, the choreography extends beyond Darwin's pondering and considers how witnessing beauty and experiencing joy ensure our resilience as a species during periods of great challenge.
Experience Make Light
Excerpts of Make Light, formerly titled Survival Aesthetics, were shared in the February 2022 production of Dance Now Boston, presented at The Dance Complex Julie Ince Thompson Theatre (Central Square, Cambridge), and in the May 2022 production of CURE8 Cambridge, presented at Complex at Canal (Kendall Square, Cambridge). The full premiere will debut in Refract/Reframe: An Evening of Love, Loss, and Light December 2-4, 2022 at The Foundry in Cambridge. Tickets are on sale now!
Funding Acknowledgements
Make Light: or how I survived it all is made possible in part by grants and residencies received from: Boston Moving Arts Productions, The Dance Complex BLOOM Residency Program, the New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation, and the Boston Opportunity Fund, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Boston. Additional resources and support provided to The Click by The Cambridge Foundry.
Make Light is currently in process with Gabriela Amy-Moreno, Angelina Benitez, Katrina Conte, Rachel Linsky, Audrey MacLean, and Alexandria Nunweiler.
Additional contributors include: Leah Abbott, Olivia Blaisdell, Flora Kim, and Frederick Moss.
Photo by Gabriel Rizzo/Golden Lion Photography.
Additional contributors include: Leah Abbott, Olivia Blaisdell, Flora Kim, and Frederick Moss.
Photo by Gabriel Rizzo/Golden Lion Photography.