Performed at Proctors Mainstage Theater, Schenectady, NY, Sept. 2008. 10 min. excerpts

ANIMALIA, Stories of Collapse, Calamity and Departure is an inter-species fairytale that combines aerial movement with live music on singing saw, accordion and strings. Performed within a landscape of mesmerizing video and archival film, Animalia invokes visions of secret bee societies and haunted circus scenes. This 50 minute multimedia performance offers metaphors of flight as departure points from environmental collapse and the hallucinatory effects of war. By appropriating the masculine power symbol of the buck 'rack' and reinserting it onto feminine characters, the narrative blurs the divisions between masculine/feminine identity and human/animal forms.

Created by inter-discliplinary artist & musician C. Ryder Cooley, this show included stunning performances by musician Todd Chandler and aerialist Natalie Agee.