Light House 

Premiere: May 28-31, 2014 at The Invisible Dog, Brooklyn, NY

Photos by Whitney Browne

Choreography and concept by Anne Zuerner in collaboration with the performers

Performed by Erin Cairns Cella, Zoe Rabinowitz, Phoebe Rose Sandford and Anne Zuerner

Music composed and performed by Galen Bremer

Costumes by Emma Hoette

Lighting design by Haejin Han and Anne Zuerner

Floor design by David Pappaceno

Light House is a continual evolution of movement, sound and environment that takes inspiration from the natural choreographies of water and light. Dancers manipulate fluorescent lights as they slide, float, fall and mark rhythmic lines through space. They shape their dark environment, journeying through various stages of movement that create a textured, dynamic, and multi-leveled world. Their relationship to the lights changes throughout the piece, as does their relationship to the world around them. An investigation of the intersection of formal structure and movement of the natural world, Light House embodies the inevitable forward thrust of time and seeks to find what ties this progress together. Prelude, the opening piece of the evening, explores the personal origins of Light House. Dancer Anne Zuerner conjures the creature inside herself and reveals her shadow through a highly articulate and sculpted movement vocabulary.

Press for Light House 

Gia Kourlas, New York Times:

“Covering her face with her hair, Ms. Zuerner become less a woman than a creature while skittering across the floor in balletic footwork that called for pas de bourrées and hops on demi-point. It was more fitful than elegant; in “Prelude,” set to ominous music by Galen Bremer, Ms. Zuerner was choppy and emphatic: a body turning into a storm…Moving closer to a huddle, they lifted their arms and legs and melted back down again. They shoved their fluorescent beams to the center of the stage like a campfire. As they worked their way upright, they could have been mermaids trying to balance on fins, only to have invisible gusts of wind take them down.” 

Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody Blog:

“Later, with her long, brown hair obscuring head and neck, her body will look weirdly reversed and endlessly reversible, even amphibian. Galen Bremer's dense, engulfing soundscore, performed live, contributes to this surreal atmosphere.”

Bonnie Rosesnstock, exploredance.com:

“In one particularly lovely moment, lying on their backs, with their lithe limbs joined, they created a giant moving wave, reminiscent of a sea anemone. The dancers traveled in a variety of patterns and velocities—slow and quiet, fast and frenzied—avoiding the beams of light that marked their pathways. Eventually, they kicked away the fluorescent lights. They seemed spent, yet renewed.” 

Elena Light, Dance and Circumstance: Writings on contemporary performance in NYC:

“They began to move as snow angels, pushing their fluorescent bars up and down along the floor with their arms. The effect was quietly stunning, especially when they quickly moved their arms over the lights in unison, creating a flicker of change in the room’s atmospheric glow…Eventually, the dancers slowly began to shift their hips, launching into individual renditions of aggressive floorwork. They stayed low to the ground for nearly half of the piece—a choice that only enhanced their non-humanness…As they gradually came upright, the dancers grew wilder, letting their bodies gather momentum as they navigated the fluorescent bars, now arranged in a linear pattern across the floor…I left the piece calmer and almost empty-headed: having watched something beautiful and visceral…"