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June 13, 8PM.
Reserve your seat here.
Anna Vigeland, a American circus artist and director now based in Montreal, returns to the US to take advantage of Aloft’s High Res Project, the first Contemporary Circus Grant and Residency Program in the country. Vigeland’s resume reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary circus, having done stints with giants like Cirque du Soliel and Cirque Eloize, touring the world with her stunning aerial creations. “Circus and live performance present me with the most some of the beautiful components to create with: time and timing; people’s deep interiors and most vivid exteriors; risk and speed; movement and rhythm: art that is, in every sense, alive,” says Anna. Raised by a family of writers, actors, musicians, and librarians in Massachusetts, Anna works internationally on projects combining circus, writing, and theatre, collaborating extensively with filmmakers, musicians, dancers, and other artists. A graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal and the University of Massachusetts, Anna was also the first American admitted to l'École de cirque de Chambery in France, where she attended on full scholarship. This project, featuring Aloft artists Ariele Ebacher, Dana Dugan and Elena Brocade, is loosely inspired by Kenneth Koch’s poem One Train (http://www.kennethkoch.org/KKAudio/OneTrain.mp3 or http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/one-train-may-hide-another), translating the sharp and unpredictable rhythm of the piece; the uncanny sense of playfulness and motion; and the look at what is behind something; at what is hidden and what is shown; at decision and indecision; at memory and the present moment. Movement develops along a vertical line of aerial apparatuses, forming a hallway-like effect. Physically, the artists explore patterns throughout the “hallway,” rotating positions in and out of canon, playing with level, and applying cinematic-like cues with guttural lower body movement. The hallway of aerial apparatuses, with its implications of choice and direction, provides fertile territory to explore the mentioned themes in One Train. Aloft's High Res program supports the development of contemporary circus in the United States by providing artists and directors with rehearsal and performance space and a generous stipend. Upcoming residencies will include Colectifandthen from Europe (August/September) and CircoSapien (November) from Chicago.