Forward Motion Theater presents Anatomy, inspired by De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius. Music by Aerostatic. Performed by James Graber at FMT May 22, 2009.

Produced by Forward Motion Theater
Choreographer - Eric Dunlap
Visual Designer - Holly Daggers
Music Composer - Aerostatic
Performer - James Graber

This piece has had various versions. The first primered at {r}ake at Monkeytown, then at Real Art Ways in Hartford with the soundscore by Aerostatic. In this version I set it on James Graber and it was shot in the Forward Motion Theater Studios.

In 2002 Forward Motion Theater premiered Polymorphic Ovulation Device (p.o.d.), an artificial womb and teacher. Within the pod a person is grown, a clone programmed with a lifetime of experiences. Dancer/choreographer Eric Dunlap and media artist Holly Daggers.

This performance is a 5 minute excerpt recorded at White Room in New York City.

COLD was created at Forward Motion Theater as a part of the Studio Sessions. Rebekah Kennedy and I performed a structured improv with Holly Daggers mixed the visuals and manipulated our movement from a live camera and bluescreen setup. The music was complied and scored by DJ ActivePhaze.

This piece originated at a very special EyeWash at the Hudson Opera House. It was a lovely fall night and we started the performace with the ideas of being cold (physically and emotionally) and that I would manipulate Rebekah and she would follow.

FMT got to play with Kode9, Juakali, and Dub War at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden. This free event was presented by the River to River Festival.

Holly and I had an excellent time creating visuals for their Dub-Step Dancehall sound. This was the first ever dance party in the Winter Garden and the audience enjoyed the big bass, low light, huge video event. Even YouTubed a bunch of it (thanks warnberh)

Kode9 - The Bug - Warrior Queen - “Poison Dart”

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The finale of the “JAPAN! CULTURE + HYPERCULTURE” 2008 festival at the Kennedy Center was celebrated with an evening devoted to Harajuku, the Tokyo neighborhood internationally renowned for its youth style and fashion. I provided the video elements to set the stage for and immersion in the latest trends in global street culture and music: hip-hop, punk, robot DJs, Ura-Hara, and Goth-Lolitas. The organizers event encouraged attendees to dress in their favorite Harajuku-inspired fashion.

The Kennedy Center recorded and archived the performance. Watch it in Real Player here or on the Kennedy Center’s web site.

Catch me as one of the Montagues in the Metropolitan Opera’s Live HD Broadcast of Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. Coming to a movie theater near you on December 15, 2007. To find out if it will be shown in your area, click here and enter your zip code.Gounod’s ultra-sensual interpretation of Shakespeare is an ideal vehicle for star soprano Anna Netrebko and the remarkable tenor Roberto Alagna, both of whom bring their incandescent appeal to the title roles. Raising star and drinking buddy, Stéphane Degout has been in as Mercutio (and has been playing Papageno in this year’s Die Zauberflote), but I think for the broadcast Nathan Gunn goes in, and Plácido Domingo conducts.If you are looking for me, look for the dancers entering stage left in the party scene, I have a huge sun mask. After some light dance and pantomime, I exit and wait for the big fight scene. Here’s a pic of me in costume:

The 2007 River to River Festival kicked off with the Animal Collective show at South Street Seaport. I was on hand to provide the visual feast to accompany their set. The overall look of the show had a certain je-ne-sais-pas-Hall-and-Oats-Trance thing working. Which gave way to some nice op-art moments.

view a clip of the Animal Collective show

Word was we had 10,000 people there! And since it’s River to River, the show was free! A special thanks to Tal at Eyemag Media, Stephen Dima, and a very big up to Ilan Katin and Modul8 for helping to make this show happen!

The CBS Up Front for this year featured a preshow VJ/DJ mix by west coast mashup DJ Party Ben and yours truly, three5eric. For those not in the television ad buying business, an Up Front is where a network will announce the upcoming season to the press and add buyers. CBS continued its long standing tradition of holding this event at Carnegie Hall, leaving another answer to the questions “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” …VJ!

Here are some clips of the tech rehearsal:
CBS Up Front 1
CBS Up Front 2
CBS Up Front 3

A very special thanks to Korg. Their Kaoss Pad Entrancer made this job a breeze!

One of my favorite roles as a dancer at the Met Opera is the one I have in Turandot. In the opera, the asian princess demands all would be suitors answer three riddles, if they get one worng they loose their head! The executioner is the Boya, who is a super, and he has two dancer assistants: one being myself, the other my good friend James Graber.

It’s such a fun role! After swing a sword at acrobats and threatening the local street urchins, we three boya return with the recently decapitated head of the Prince of Persia. I get to carry the head and hold it high for Calaf to see, giving him a look like “you’re next!”. Then James gets a big pole and we shove the head atop for all to see. Best part is I know for that one breif moment everyone is focused on me. That’s a lot of eyes!

While taking pictures of the actual production from backstage are a total no-no, here are some shots from the Men’s Ballet Dressing Room:

In the third act, there is small moment where four temptresses are ushered on to tempt the main character. I get this delightful costume that appears to be straight out of a produciton of “Gift of the Magi”. Enter Melchoir! Thankfully it only lasts a moment. Then it’s off to O’Neils for my after show Maker’s Mark.

Doug Aitken’s Sleepwalkers opened this week at the MoMA. Got a chance to attend.

Doug Aitken video clip

It’s always nice to see large public projection and Aitken’s work is crisp. The non linear stories have an everyman appeal. I was only able to view a fraction of the work, but each story seems to be a montage of moments is each character’s daily life. The multiple images of each character, elements of their surroundings, and elements of abstraction set the mood for their individual existence.