Dance goes digital in an impressive Barak Ballet premiere
UCLA Arts alumnus & lecturer in collaboration with Barak Ballet & composer David Lawrence
UCLA Arts alumnus and visiting assistan lecturer Refik Anadol is a media artist, director and designer. Working in the fields of live audio/visual performance, site-specific immersive installation, and parametric sculpture, his works explore the space among digital and physical entities by creating a hybrid relationship between architecture and media arts.
In the premiere of “E/Space,” Los Angeles choreographer Melissa Barak and her terrific dance ensemble took the Broad Stage audience on an ecstatic and mind-blowing 30-minute ride Saturday in the closing number on Barak Ballet’s three-piece program.
“E/Space” is a delightful melding of music, visual design and choreography. The work of Barak, media artist Refik Anadol and composer David Lawrence (this is their third collaboration), the ballet looks and feels like a living kaleidoscope. The nine dancers skitter about, regrouping and forming new patterns and shapes to a musical score that delivers its driving heartbeat, while Anadol’s digital imagery of lines and shooting stars is sometimes a catalyst for action, other times a decorative frame for the dancers.— Laura Bleiberg, Jun. 25, 2017
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times website.