Cynthia Roberts & Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch: Armations Anthropocene

Saturday, August 24, 2019
Performances @ 2pm and @ 4pm
Governors Island, House 7B Nolan Park
New York, NY 11231
Ferry schedules and more info about Governors Island here.

In this site-specific performance, 5 dancers dressed in white suits adorned with black line drawings and curious text, will offer an examination of the Anthropogenic condition. There will be 3 sites within the Nolan Park Triangle Arts Association space where dancers will perform, each dancer leading the viewers through the house to the next site.  Also on view in the great room at Triangle, will be a one-day pop-up exhibition of drawn dance suits. Original music will accompany the movement. Prior to the performance, the dancers will peacefully walk through public areas of Governors Island to invite viewers, and may offer to scan them with a faux Human Genome Scanner. 

“Armations Anthropocene explores ways in which humans create complex systems—and at times, disrupt them. The visual elements suggest memories, possibilities, and realities of our time. We love exploring that intersection between the innate beautiful design of our planet, and how humans interact with it—enjoying it, overpowering, harnessing it. The dance and the visual elements seek to tell a story and ask the audience to consider, if in the Anthropocene era, humans are “in charge”, how should we move forward? How do we interact with each other, the planet and its biodiversity and resources? We also love having some moments of humor, because exploration is at the heart of our process, and the dancers bring all kinds of connection to the viewers, which we celebrate. “ 

—Cynthia Roberts and Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch, co-creators Armations Anthropocene

ANTHROPOCENE  is defined on anthropocene.info as:

The Anthropocene defines Earth’s most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.

The word combines the root “anthropo”, meaning “human” with the root “-cene”, the standard suffix for “epoch” in geologic time.The Anthropocene is distinguished as a new period either after or within the Holocene, the current epoch, which began approximately 10,000 years ago (about 8000 BC) with the end of the last glacial period.

ARMATIONS is a convergence of dance, visual art, and sound, merging in the form of full-scale productions based in the theater environment, interactive workshops, gallery exhibitions, and performative works. It was co-created by Cynthia Roberts, visual artist and professor of Studio Art at Endicott College and Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch, dancer and choreographer, assistant professor and coordinator of Dance at Endicott College. Together Roberts and Sao Pedro-Welch have created 4 full scale dance/visual productions: Life Horizon, Fine Light, Armations: Activating Adaptation,and Armations Anthropocene and multiple site-specific performative projects. Collaborators have included Miles Warner, visual artist, Larry Volk, visual artist [Fine Light], Lily Press and Simon Linn-Gerstein, original harp and cello compositions and live performance [Armations: Activating Adaptation]; Robert Guay and Michael McMahon, digital remixing and composition [Armations: Activating Adaptation]; Owen Burkett, technical direction; and musician and dancer Tyler Catanella, aka the Peace Pilgrim [original full score: Armations Anthropocene].

Armations variations in the form of exhibition excerpts, workshops, and presentations have been created for IUGTE in Styria, Austria [Dec 2017], Art in Odd Place: Believe [Beverly, MA 2016]; Riverhead Public Schools [2016]; Heftler Gallery, Walter J. Manninen Center for the Arts [2016]; Art on the Trails: Entranced exhibition, Southboro, MA [2018]. Upcoming Armations events include Armations: Hyperevolution with Miles Warner at Art on the Trails Exhibition, Southboro, MA [June 2019]; Armations: Connectivity at the Long Island Art League [Oct 2019]; and a presentation on creative collaboration at Cambridge Biomarketing in fall 2019.