The Wilds is an eco-ecstatic mixed-reality performance work which surfaces age-old harmony and disharmony in a time of great instability. It envisions a new media mythology for three dancers, music, light, and visual media. Through kinetic, sonic, and visual components, patterns of nature echo from the subatomic to the cosmological; revealing interconnection and entanglement between the central characters; all products of "nature".
The Wilds tracks two powerfully adaptive female bodies on a journey as they negotiate their interdependence to the environment and each other. As the two split, a third dancer appears as a guide to reunite the two. The dancer’s movements are mapped and extended to encompass the entirety of the stage. The intricate and kinetic choreography draws from contemporary dance and dance theater traditions. The score combines field recordings, sound design and electroacoustic music.
The visual media is composed of pure light and projected 3D media. The Wilds uses motion capture, machine learning, biofeedback, real-time animation, generative music composition, spatial audio, lighting and projection design to create a feedback loop between human physicality and technology. Within this augmented space, The Wilds proposes an emergent and interrelated future by animating the critical relationships between humans, nature, and technology. Part mythology, part utopian vision of coexistence.
The Wilds principles:
Jesse Fleming (co-creator, visual art, emerging media director, performer)
Laurel Jenkins (co-creator, choreographer, dancer, performer)
Lewis Pesacov (co-creator, composer, musician, performer)
devika v. wickremesinghe (dancer / performer)
Miguel Alejandro Castillo (dancer / performer)
Shane Bolan (technical lead / director of technology)
Michelle Harvey (lighting designer / director)
Cláudio Medeiros (dramaturgy)
Maria Garcia (costume designer)