(Images: A Body (Un)Becoming)
A one-of-a-kind, hard-to-categorize art experience titled “A Body (Un)Becoming” will be performed on May 22 and 23 at the Center for Performing Arts in South Minneapolis. Dancers, an original score, cello, vocals and biomaterials are all acting and reacting in this unique art event that has been many years in the making.
As both a biochemist and a dancer, Beth Graczyk has investigated the way in which the body interacts with disintegrating materials. “A Body (Un)Becoming” is the seventh in a 12-part dance series titled “Desire Motor” about the tension between decay and transformation.
"Something new is going to be revealed each time."
According to Graczyk, “the piece investigates what new forms can emerge through pressure, heat, and attention which is also reflected in the kinetic sculptures made from eggshells.”
These laborious sculptures are created by Graczyk but further interpreted by the other performers through dance and music. Eggshells are simple and domestic — a quotidian object that is partly used and partly thrown away.
She questions how one processes decay and examines the human body as it also decays. “Perhaps the pleasure of tactility with self, surroundings and objects offers a potential discovery of something and brings more attention to the material of our lives.”
Graczyk, originally from Seattle, moved to New York City 12 years ago. Around the same time, she met Aaron Gabriel, a Minneapolis-based musician and composer. While the two artists have collaborated before, Gabriel joined this project in 2023 on the sixth version titled “Decay Delay.” He began to explore the sounds that could be found in the biomaterial.
“Working with Beth has been a complete departure and expansion,” Gabriel says. He must find new ways to meet her ideas. He took the eggshells and some other biomaterials and manipulated them in an unfamiliar percussion.
He recorded all these sounds and asked Zena Moses, a New Orleans vocalist, to listen and replicate them with her voice. From her new melodies, Gabriel created the first musical score with its unusual notations.
It is important to the artists that this version of the “Desire Motor” series use local performers. Gabriel is now further developing the score with Twin Cities musicians who are pushing themselves in new ways. Laura Sewell, a classically trained cellist, is exploring improvisation. Thomasina Petrus, known for her rich blues and jazz vocals, tests what her voice can do.
Graczyk, her dance partner Leah Wilks and the egg sculptures arrive for rehearsal two weeks before the show. After three years of development, everyone will finally be together in this new space. Gabriel jokes that anything could happen as it is aleatoric, meaning it is chance music.
“You have to have patience for that as a musician and not force it.”
You definitely want to experience one of these performances of “A Body (Un)Becoming.” You may want to see both — “Something new is going to be revealed each time.”
Josie Owens writes for the Hill & Lake Press. She lives in Lowry Hill.
