Performing with Aura Contemporary Ensemble
AURA Contemporary Ensemble and PSOPHONIA Dance Company present “Memory Web”, an evening length work that incorporates spoken word, images, dance and music to explore the entangled episodic memories of a group of people experiencing the same life-changing event.
Episodic memory is a person's unique recollection of a specific event that differs from another person's remembrance of the same event. One’s emotional responses burn these recollections into our long-term memory. AURA and PSOPHONIA directors - Rob Smith & Sophia Torres - approached this program by taking a step backward, widening their view, and looking for the connective tissue between the many perceptions of a fateful shared experience. They seek not to merely represent a pivotal event, but rather to heighten our empathy and understanding of viewpoints other than our own.
"Memory Web" is the third collaboration for AURA and PSOPHONIA. Earlier collaborations – “The Pack” and “Danza” – focused around single works by contemporary composers and addressed issues relating to psychological perceptions. With each collaboration, the music and dance have become progressively more intertwined, culminating in this program that substantially integrates the musicians with the dancers.
MUSIC:
Les Moutons de Panurge (1969) – Frederic Rzewski (b.1938)
coming around… (1995) – Belinda Reynolds (b.1967)
Distant Memories (2015) – HyeKyung Lee (b. 1962) - world premiere
Only the Piano Will Give Us Our Peace (2004) – Matthew Van Brink (b.1978)
Falling Still (2001/2009) – Emily Doolittle (b.1972)
AURA is:
Alejandro Basulto, (conductor), Nina Bledsoe (viola), Andrew Cavazos (cello), Xueer Chen (piano), Alaina Diehl (flute), Roberto de Guzman (clarinet), Zach Luftop (percussion), Matthew Madonia (violin) & Yukino Miyake (piano)
PSOPHONIA is:
Lindsay Cortner, Vi Dieu, Calvin Franke, Melissa Juneau, Gaby Luna, Tory Pierce & Kate Rash.
This project is supported by the Moores School of Music and through the Innovation Grants program of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, which is funded in part by the Houston Endowment, Inc.