Creative Work
salt_space
improvisation
film
movement
sound
As our world shifts, so must our art.
The title stimulating images of grit, rawness, between-ness, earth, sweat, territory, and landscape, salt_space encompasses Erin Law's performance projects which integrate movement, sound, film, site-based work, theory, rigorous improvisation, experimenation, and presence in each unique manifestation. Diversity, curiosity, play, challenging normalcy, and collaboration are core values that surface in each piece. In Erin's creative work she strives to present microcosms in which new theories and ways of being, interacting, thinking, and doing unfold in front of the eye and then vanish, leaving behind an essence of transformation.
Photos by Jim Coleman
photos by Jim Coleman
In parallel to further explore the construction of alternative worlds through her dance research, Erin works at the intersection of site-based dance and dance film. This medium challenges how we experience our environment and the unspoken rules we enforce and adhere to in each context. Most of her film projects are rooted in improvisational practices in which performers respond to the site, defying conventional rules around space and place. Specifically, she finds dilapidated spaces to be charged with meaning because of the evidence of human influence and subsequent abandonment. These works present the soft vulnerability of the human body against the harsh landscape of what we have created, thus revealing a new reality in which the relationship of movement and environment can be redefined. Furthermore, her dance films embed commentaries on industrial development, landscape transformation, ecological sustainability, and economic fragility.
Her choreographic research probes gender, queerness, and identity theory, as well as site-based dance. She is interested in the parallels between movement and gender performance in terms of ambiguity, fluidity, and deviation from the norm. She explores the mutability of movement as a vehicle to showcase queer sexuality, social interactions, and personal desires in choreography that questions dominant notions of gender and romance. In recent works, she has focused on the concept of aberration to inquire into the physical and social aspects of these issues, drawing attention to the tension between public censure and acceptance of queer sexualities. These works present new epistemological and ontological possibilities for performers and witnesses alike and are a direct response to how our culture is shifting around these issues.
past works
Ephemeral Territory II; Untitled Series - Johnson City
2014
Photo by Alicia Law
Photo by Alicia Law
June 14
Underwear and Markers (We Are Animals)
hosted by Panama Red Arts
107 N 11th St, Nashville, Tennessee
Collaborative Improvisational Dance Art
Original sound score by Steve Thomas and Alicia and Erin Law
Performers explore entrapment, animal behavior, bodies as canvases, and color as freedom while they literally escape from a cage and begin to investigate themselves, each other, and their environment.
Filmed by Naoki Izumo
March 6-8
The Egg
Found Movement Group
Tennessee Performing Arts Center
Inspired by themes and images from Sherwood Anderson's short story "The Egg," I created a multimedia performance work that explored ambition, fragility, exploitation, and failure through movement, sculpture, and film. Performers interacted with raw eggs as they tediously stalked the boundary between frailty and strength. Inside the fragile—yet protective—shell of The Egg, we are invited to experience the fluid yolk of intimacy and vulnerability.
July 26 & 27
YOU'RE A WINNER!
Collaborative Interactive Performance Experience
by William Ladd, Erin Law, and Tyler O'dneal
Hosted by Noa Noa
620 Hamilton Ave
Nashville, TN
BYOB
Admission: Free; donations accepted
June 2-8
Nomad Express
Performer in I Am Relative to You
by Sandra Mathern-Smith
Improvisational dance and film work with Sandra Mathern-Smith and Megan Yankee with sound by John Osburn
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Africa
Photos by DeAndre Johnson
2013
Filmed by Naoki Izumo
2012
Fads and Fancies in the Academy
November 7-10
Denison Dance Concert
Denison Univerity Dance Program
April 1
John Cage Centennial Celebration
VORTEX Percussion Ensemble
with Director Micheal Holland
Blair School of Music
Vanderbilt University