The acclaimed dance ensemble Troika Ranch will present a performance of SWARM, a new work-in-progress, tonight at 7 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Theater. The internationally renowned group melds dance, multi-media, and music — and are considered to be pioneers in the field now known as Dance and Technology. Led by choreographer/media artist Dawn Stoppiello and composer/media artist Mark Coniglio,Troika Ranch been in residence on the Carleton campus working on this new piece. This event is free and open to the public.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for Carleton students and the public alike to engage first-hand with artists of this caliber, and especially to be part of their creative process," notes Steve Richardson, Director of the Arts at the College. "We are fortunate to provide this sort of collaboration between artists and audiences by offering programs like this to visiting artists from around the globe."
Troika Ranch is an arts organization that creates contemporary, hybrid artworks through an ongoing examination of the moving body and its relationship to technology. This aesthetic framework has informed Troika Ranch's artistic output on every level since its inception in 1994 and has earned the organization a critically acclaimed international reputation. Now based in Portland, Oregon after a 15 year stint in New York City, and directed by Stoppiello, the company continues to build upon a 'body of work' that fosters many points of contact with the public - through the creation, presentation and touring of collaborative, multi-media performances, installations and films; its annual intensive workshop on live-media collaboration; and through publications and lectures on the history of live-media performance, Troika Ranch maintains a local, national and international presence.
The name Troika Ranch refers to its founders' creative methodology, which involves a hybrid of three artistic disciplines, dance/theater/media (the Troika), in cooperative artistic interaction (the Ranch). Troika Ranch produces and supports art that values live interaction — between viewer and viewed, performer and image, movement and sound, people and technology. The works may be presented as performances, installations, or in portable formats-drawing on all that contemporary invention has to offer. More about the company, including videos of past performances, can be found online at www.troikaranch.org.
Troika Ranch co-founders Coniglio and Stoppiello have been honored with a 2011 nomination for the Alpert Award in dance; a 2004 Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA (NYC); a 2004 Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica Cyberarts Competition (Linz, Austria); a 2003 Dance & Performance 'Bessie' Award (NYC); and a 2005 'Eddy' Award from Live Design Magazine. The company has received major support from The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), the National Endowment for the Arts, the MAP Fund, the Arts Council England and the Jerome foundation among others.
This event is sponsored by Arts at Carleton. For more information, contact Steve Richardson at (507) 222-4389. The Weitz Center for Creativity is located at Third and College Streets in Northfield.
