March 2, 2005

Innovative and Evocative Dance Performance at MASS MoCA

(North Adams, Mass.)-- André Gingras' multi-media and movement explosion, The Sweet Flesh Room, will be performed at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 2, at 8 P.M. The dynamic theatrical dance features three performers with hand-held video cameras and projectors: the video components are intricately interwoven with the movement on stage.

Highlighting the work of one of the Netherlands' most important new choreographers, Sweet Flesh Room examines one's personal sense of security through three sequential "case studies". Gingras guides the audience through the macabre and the absurd, investigating serial killers, chronic disease, and the limits of mental health. The Sweet Flesh Room poses provocative questions about reality: perceived reality, CNN reality, reality TV, and all the realities in between.

NRC Handelsblad describes it as a story told "with black humor, beautiful light, effective use of video projections, creative movement and intelligent texts. The Sweet Flesh Room has a layering that is rare. Nothing goes without saying. It is art of a superior level."

Through the examination of the relationships and minds of infamous criminals, Gingras dives into the absurd and macabre, exploring a place where psychological profiling is intertwined with frightful rituals and werewolf myths. The Sweet Flesh Room asks: how do we relate to the disturbed and monstrous, and how do they perceive us?

The collaborators include Fabio Iaquone who contributed the video and Sue Jane Stoker who provided dramaturgy. The work is based on the stories of Gilles De Rais and Jeffrey Dahmer as well as the neurological studies of Dr. Oliver Saks and Dr. A.R. Luria.

The Sweet Flesh Room is funded in part by the Netherlands Culture Fund Consulate General of The Netherlands in New York, Theater Instituut Nederland, and the National Dance Project (NDP) of the New England Foundation for the Arts. Lead funding for NDP is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Tickets for The Sweet Flesh Room are $16 for adults or $12 for students with I.D. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M. (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org