Corona is slowly easing out, and live arts are making a steady comeback. Hurrah! For all the live performance lovers out there, this week and weekend is your final chance to catch the super, intricate the time in between, a performance work of the Naked Stark. The company is a local favorite, showing work that is always deep, and often not without humor, irony and tough topics enlaced in an accessible exterior.
For artistic collaborators Chloe Marie, Marisa Illingworth, Katherine Kiefer Stark, and Harlee Trautman this will be a first performance inside of the pandemic, having spent weekly meetings via Zoom to prepare. And they have missed their audiences terribly. “The joy of dancing together outdoors these past few months is immeasurable”, founder and Artistic Director of the group Katherine Kiefer Stark says. And, of course, there is the vision. “ ‘The time in between’ ” came out of what we miss and our wonderings about how to reengage authentically and meaningfully with each other and our larger community”, Stark explained. “We needed shared space and experience to allow ourselves to re-find the familiar and also to continue to change.”
New to the Naked Stark and just not sure what you are getting into? Why, that’s the best way! Just go and live the experience, try something new and expand your mind. But for those who must know-before-they-go, in their own words, the Naked Stark is a West Philly modern dance company rooted in an intergenerational community, and currently a company-in-residence at the University City Arts League. You can also get a taste of the group and their previous adventures by finding them on Instagram, Vimeo and Facebook.
And what exactly is their current offering? The time in between is an installation experience and performance work, which has been running since April 16 and will be available to enjoy through this weekend, May 16. You have nothing to lose, only what to gain, as the show is accessible and free, with both a live, in-person option AND a great streaming opportunity. Enjoying live? Visit anytime at the University City Arts League backyard, 4226 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA. Joining from a distance? Email thenakedstark@gmail.com for the links you will need.
And this weekend only, see the virtual performance as it livestreams via Zoom, on May 15 and 16, at 7pm EST, with tickets on a sliding-scale of $5-$15. Get tickets HERE and find more info at www.thenakedstark.com.
The work connects through time, space, and experience. In person, the first step is visual art, a hanging garden, and exploration of various things for all ages, including ways to contribute to the installation itself that also affects the performance. Even remotely, the viewer can experience many hand on things. The second part, on Zoom, is observing the dance creation.
As COVID times have forced evolvement to interact with consumers in all fields, the four dance collaborators have also become the videographers with this work, choreographing the camera movement into the pieces, and adding that extra layer of art. The result is performance and dance on film done in one take, made specifically for the screen where appropriate, and not highly edited like so many Zoom things happening today. Well worth exploring and enriching in a way beyond convention. Go into the deep and into the time in between!