LUSH LIGHT, 2017
Performance, Installation (silk, set paper), Workshop
Duration approximately 25 minutes
Choreography by Beau Rhee with dancers
Sound by Sugar Vendil
Lush Light is a 25 minute piece in 4 sections: incubation, birth, journey and return. The piece was originally set on young pre-teen dancers as part of a workshop, so the approach is light and summery. The main set is composed of 20 yards of lightweight aqua-turquoise silk and installed ‘light pools’ made of large swaths of paper on the floor. The performance follows the rhythm of this poem, written collaboratively in rehearsals:
What is light? Light, from the sun Light, from colors Light is the basic life force We need darkness and stillness to understand light The connection of the silk between us Almost like an umbilical cord at birth The two colors of the silk Together is the color, transparent The color pools on the floor are like our home The silks spread out Like a river We are going out into the world The sacred silk Warm and cool, like the seasons The sacred land The sacred we
- Juliette Smith, Catherine Chen, Aveary Che, Beau Rhee
Soundtrack Title: Fissures https://soundcloud.com/sugar-vendil/fissures-by-sugar-vendil
"When Beau invited me to compose a piece for her "Lush Light" performance, the sound image of a bowed crotale immediately came to mind. For me it is evocative of light through a vertical crack in a wall, an illuminated line. With that as a starting point, I created a piece where density is pierced, and these piercings become increasingly saturated, overtaking the atmosphere." - Sugar Vendil
Photography: W.Ming Art and photographer Lyall Zhang