Eclipse Dance Theatre
March 17, 18, 19, 20 2005
Show times ·
9pm Thursday March 17 thru Saturday March 19 · 8pm on Sunday
March 20
Renee: A Coming of Age Story, A Testimony
to Madness is Eclipse Dance Theater's artistic director, Samantha Blanchard's
first one-woman show. This dance-theater piece combining original text, movement,
singing, original composition and improvisation is a coming of age story of
an original character based on the life experiences of Ms. Blanchard herself.
"The Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl" by Marguerite Sechehaye was the
initial inspiration for Renee, but the exploration of mental illness brought
Samantha closer to the dis-ease within herself. It has been an intense personal
and artistic journey.
Renee's cumulative interpretation of her life experiences has engendered a self-image that appears worthless. Her paranoid mind and increasing anxiety convince her of her inability to conform to societal expectations. Her journey is a familiar one, loss of trust, low self esteem, failed relationships and finally the recovery process of letting go. In perfectly vivid language, Renee recreates her journey into the depths of darkness and her step by step return to reality. Through improvisational vocal tracks, shadow movements, reprocessed sound and an original music score, this piece will explore sequences and patterns from an intensely emotional base. Samantha will wear a head mic throughout the entire show and the breathing, sounding and other body noises picked up will be improvisationally incorporated into the performance. Collaborators include: James House - Script Writer, Dan Combs - Musical Composition, Simran Gleason - Sound Reprocessing Design.
Renee will be prefaced by a lobby installation, Addicted To Duality. This interactive labyrynth accompanied by manipulated voiceovers is papered floor to ceiling with newspaper clippings and personal writings about mental illness.
-more-
Samantha Blanchard has been creating dance-theater in the Bay Area for the past nine years as Artistic Director of Eclipse Dance Theater. Her work is evocative and direct with compassion for humanity and the evolution of consciousness. Eclipse's mission aims to collide dance and the spoken word to create cutting-edge feminine perspectives of theatrical experience. Eclipse has been a self sustaining dance-theater company since 1995, producing a wide variety of work reflecting the views and experiences of modern women. Eclipse has brought eight evening length dance-theater productions to over 24 different Bay Area venues in addition to touring Oregon, Arizona, Nevada and Canada. Quoted by the Bay Guardian for their "...simple genuineness," and by the East Bay Express "...that inherited wisdom-whether folk or esoteric-can offer us direction for a more authentic future."
See website for company biographies… www.eclipsedancetheater.com
