In a time of social isolation and societal turbulence, choreographer Iván-Daniel Espinosa has gathered a group of intergenerational artists from the Pacific Northwest, wearing face masks and hearts of hope, to co-create outdoor, multimedia artistic happenings that meditate on our interconnectedness with the living, breathing Earth. In a unique integration of acoustic ecology, experimental dance, mycology and performance art, these site-specific performances explore the relationships between landscape & body, sensorium & ecosystem, sound & space, the flesh & the Earth. At the heart of Iván-Daniel's artistic research lies an invitation to think with/as plant, fungal and arboreal beings. His performances take up mycelium fungi networks as a choreographic model: studying how they somatically relate to their ecosystems and examining what we can learn about the ways they communicate with, dance through and make sense of the world. Emerging scientific research is revealing that the mycelium fungi networks are highly sentient -- capable of perceiving everything from physical touch to sound. But the songs and intelligences of the mycelium are incredibly subtle. They can hear us, but what will it take for us to hear them? In a capitalist society that privileges speed and efficiency, what will it take to slow down and feel the vibrant matter that lies so close at hand?
In this presentation to Goddard's MFAIA community, Iván-Daniel will share some of the choreographic methodologies that he has integrated in his latest site-specific performances, while also discussing how turning to the More-Than-Human-World as a choreographic model expands our notions of everything from movement and sound to liveness and temporality. Using Contact Improvisation pioneer Nancy Stark Smith’s “Skinespheres” concept as a starting point, Iván-Daniel will highlight different ways of bonding with the earth, relating to gravity and mobilizing the physical senses that re-orient our normative ways of moving through the world to manifest new possibilities for intimacy with nature. Lastly, Iván-Daniel will discuss how this work can help trace how notions that are central to studies of performance such as liveness, eventness, site-specificity and embodiment are redefined by massive mycelial bodies and nonlocal fungal entities that embody profoundly different temporalities than the human-scale ones we are used to.
Iván-Daniel Espinosa is a Latino choreographer and multimedia artist based in the Pacific Northwest, currently in Port Townsend. Iván-Daniel's most recent interdisciplinary artwork integrates the use of mycelial bioacoustics, electroacoustic sound art and BIO-SONIFICATION devices to explore the vitality and sentience of mycelium fungi networks in live performance. Iván-Daniel has performed and presented his artwork nationwide at venues such as New York University’s Silver Center for Arts and Science, the world-renowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre in NYC, Seattle International Butoh Festival, Seattle Arts in Nature Festival, CASCADIA NW Arts and Music Festival, Houston Fringe Festival, James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at Rice University and the historic Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. He frequently collaborates with avant-garde musicians and electroacoustic sound artists, as well as with mycologists and sculptors of various mediums, to create his multi-layered performance spaces and immersive environments. Iván-Daniel holds a Master of Arts in Performance Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he published numerous essays connecting the fields of sound studies, mycology and environmental philosophy with 20th century avant-garde dance. His website is http://ivanespinosa.org