PIECE DESCRIPTION:


"Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing"

Choreography: Karola Lüttringhaus
Dance/ Costumes/ Videography: Alayna Stroud, Karola Lüttringhaus
Music/Video editing: Karola Lüttringhaus

"Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing" explores the nearness and distance between people inspired by individual life stories. The dancers interview each other and the resulting film is projected on the big screen behind them throughout the piece. The color orange dominates the set. Orange is associated with a thirst for action, sexuality, longevity and obsession. While exploring the possibilities and hindrances of freeing the human mind of fears and personal restrictions the piece creates a dichotomy of hazard and safety. Orange is the color of bio hazard and the color of safety reminding others of our presence. Clothes and props such as lamps, parachutes and suitcases are used to define space and individualities.

Life keeps going no matter what happens to us, lives are lived, experiences are made, people meet and separate, are born or die. We each are a small entity and part of a very large system: life.

We are self centered and our perception is uniquely our own. It is impossible to feel what another human being feels. Yet we try.

“Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing” seeks the nearness of one another and explores our distances and their origins. “Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing” tends to think that we live and die without stirring too much commotion. The important thing that we have been waiting for, the fame, the enlightenment, the happy ending, immortality, heaven or hell is not going to happen. What really matters is the life we live right now. We make something of nothing and something will dissolve into nothing. “Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing” is not a big deal, it is rather about you and me, her, him. We tell small stories that we can relate to in our own ways and that sometimes can have a large impact on us.

In “Spontaneous Combustion of Nothing” we do what we feel like at the moment, resisting conformity and what is expected of us, allowing for an honest self portrait.
Copyright: alban elved dance company & Karola Lüttringhaus

Supported by The Academy of Dance Arts and Wanda Plemmons, The Winston-Salem Foundation, Margaret Scales and Graydon Pleasants,Dance New Amsterdam New York City, Bob and Florence Turner,Studio 'Fit & Well' (Berlin, Germany), mad duck productions Graphic Designs, O'Kelly Design Studios, Swiftwater Media,