Water Body
2007-2008 ICE Project Grant
Michelle Penland Dodson
Graduate Candidate
Theatre and Film Studies
On April 18-20 and April 25-27, The Canopy Studio Repertory Company presents its spring concert: Water Body, original works of aerial dance with spoken word written by renowned author and naturalist Janisse Ray. The collaborative performance will incorporate works on silks, trapeze, ladders, bungee and invented apparatus by company members with video projection and sound design by Michelle Dodson, a graduate student in the University of Georgia Department of Theatre and Film Studies.
As an exploration of water, the performance represents the sublime beauty of the Earth, while also exploring the shadow side of ourselves that pollutes and decimates the world around us. Dancers move through the space as if cradled, submerged, or swept away by water’s illusions enhanced by video projections depicting water in its many forms. Harnessing the emotional power water carries, the show ultimately honors the balance water represents: strong enough to destroy everything we know, it also gives us life.
Water Body is co-directed by Michelle Dodson and Canopy Studio artistic director Susan Murphy, who will perform in the show. The show is funded in part by a grant from Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE) and by community support.
