DanceAction Presents WELCOME TO IMAGI*NATION: The Trilogy Next Month
Performances are October 27th, 28th, & 29th, 2022.
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 22, 2022
DanceAction and The Center at West Park present the full production of WELCOME TO IMAGI*NATION, a culmination of a three-year project developed by this modern dance ensemble in residency at the historic Manhattan venue.
It is a choose-your-own-adventure dance show in three parts in which audiences make the crucial decisions that affect the plot and fates of all characters. Seven performers play multiple characters in a story of a conflict between fictional nations that clash over natural resources, labor shortages, and immigration policy.
The interactive show was conceived, directed, and choreographed by Carmen Caceres, the Argentinian-born artist based in New York whose personal immigration story was one of the inspirations behind this production, along with Eduardo Galeano's book Open Veins of Latin America.
Welcome to imagi*Nation will be performed on October 27, 28, & 29, 2022, at 7:30 pm at the Sanctuary Space at the Center at West Park (165 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024). Admission is $25; to purchase tickets, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/welcome-to-imagination-tickets-418182243347.
How would our world look like if regular people could make the most important policy choices? In WELCOME TO IMAGI*NATION, the Argentinian-born choreographer and dancer Carmen Caceres embarks on a bold social experiment, empowering her viewers to do just that - allowing audiences to change the course of (imaginary) history by the acts of the direct, democratic voting process.
At the center of this trilogy is a conflict between two neighboring countries, divided over access to natural resources, immigration laws, and economic policies - issues very familiar to everyone who follows modern international affairs. Every time the story on stage is about to take a sharp turn, the viewers get to vote on how to solve the conflict that is set in fantasy lands but based on very real issues that affect our planet today. Framed by dramatic choreography set to vivid Latin tunes, enhanced by video projections and participatory activities, Welcome to imagi*Nation is one part humorous fable and one part an activist project, geared toward highlighting hot-button issues and the importance of personal involvement in the world we live in.
Carmen Caceres explains: "From the very beginning of the process of creating Welcome to imagi*Nation, this has been an extremely personal project. Having moved to the US as an immigrant over a decade ago, I've been thrown right into a whirlpool of issues that are rarely considered in the policymaking arena but dramatically affect everyone who needs to adapt to a new reality, language, and identity. I learned that for every choice you make, you leave something behind. This work - drawing from my own life and those of my collaborators/performers and inspired by Open Veins of Latin America, Eduardo Galeano's seminal study of the struggle over power, resources, and access between the US and the South American countries - is an invitation for the audience to experience this first-hand, by engaging with potentially life-changing decisions on behalf of my characters."
Welcome to imagi*Nation is performed by Carmen Caceres, Israel Harris, Jenna Purcell, Lydia Perakis, Mallory Markham-Miller, Mar Orozco Arango, and Sofia Baeta and features dramaturgy by Lauren Hlubny, video by Daniel Hess, music by Emilio Teubal and Various Artists, and costume design by Caceres. Mary Madsen was the Immersive Experience consultant on the project.
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