WE! Film

janegotch.com

By Jane Gotch and Reid Bangert

Performance Directed and Produced by: Jane Gotch and Mark Southerland

Choreography: Jane Gotch

Featuring Performances by: Timothy Amundson, Brie Blakeman, Kalen Compernolle, Brad Cox, Jason Dixon, Shay Estes, Tuesday Faust, Abbe Findley, Joshua Gately, Helen Gillet, Jane Gotch, and Matt Tady.

Featuring Music Composition by: Mark Southerland and Paul Rudy

Additional Sound by: Pat Benatar, Chuck Mangione, Lee David and Billy Rose

Art Installation by: Ke-Sook Lee, Miles Neidinger, Mark Southerland, and Matt Tady

Costumes and Styling: Hadley Johnson

Cameramen: Reid Bangert and Jori Sackin

WE!, performed March 24th-April 3rd, 2011 was a collaborative, installation dance performance staged in an abandoned downtown office space formerly occupied by AT&T. WE! took the “idea of audience” out of their seats and into the lights — stripping away the safety net of the proscenium theater and sandwiching both dancer, art, and viewer into close proximity.

The performance moved the audience, in small groups, through a multi-room visual environment created by an award-winning team of Kansas City’s leading dance, visual, lighting and sound designers on the 6th floor of Town Pavilion. Audience size was limited to 40 people per night, to create an intimate scale. The performers’ breath, sweat, body heat, direct eye contact and even touch was palpable. From breeching walls and new office trails, to tiny tableaus and remote viewings, this collaborative team reorganized the materials and inhabitants of the office space. WE! successfully disrupted and remapped the relationship between audience and performer.

This project was funded in part through a Rocket Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation in partnership with The Charlotte Street Foundation and The Spencer Museum and by an Inspiration Grant from The Metropolitan Arts Council of Kansas City.