836M Gallery Residency

Drawing inspiration from the French Natural History Museum’s La Salle des Espèces Menacées et Disparues (gallery of endangered and extinct species), this performance installation mines the tales of creatures from the natural world now lost, and reflects on the passing of a generation of groundbreaking dance makers. Among other notions it asks: How do we keep their essence alive?

The gallery itself becomes an immersive space and stage for this evolving-in-real-time collaboration with celebrated scenic designer/engineer Sean Riley. Six dancers advance a set of physical and visual responses to questions of extinction and de-extinction, loss and legacy.

The final piece, “Without Lonesome George and the Last Martha” is the culmination of three months spent collaborating, researching, and creating at 836M. Our experiment – to put our entire creative process on display, exhibiting the making of a dance – may be coming to a close, but we look forward to expanding and further developing the work into its next phase.