Each year, City Arts pairs artists who work in different media, commissioning them to leap out of their comfort zones to create a unique experience. Genre Bender is a refreshing look at what interdisciplinary art can and should be in the 21st century – diverse, expressive, free, rich, thoughtful, and collaborative. Any one of these ten artists could hold their own for a solo set this Friday and Saturday evening, but the combined powers in these five duos is sure to spark emotion, inspiration, and optimism for the future of art.
Second Inversion is a Genre Bender sponsor this year and we want to give away two tickets (to either night) to a lucky winner! Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post and let us know which of the 5 duos sounds the most intriguing to you! You can visit us on Facebook or Twitter to enter, too. The winner will be chosen and notified on Thursday, March 3 at 1pm. (Ticket giveaway has now closed – congratulations to our lucky winner, Cam!)
Genre Bender runs this Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 at 8pm (doors open at 7pm) at the Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center. Tickets are $20 in advance & $30 at the door. The show is the same both nights, but a party in the lobby will follow the Saturday night performance.
Hear’s a taste of each of the duos by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel and Gemma Wilson – follow the links for more details!
Musician/producer Erik Blood + dancer/choreographer Markeith Wiley
Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.
Both Wiley and Blood are chameleon-like in their ability to adapt and evolve their output. Both are natural collaborators. Both have honed their own expressive personal style and are adept at drawing out the most expressive efforts in others. To paraphrase Blood, Wiley works with dancers the way Blood works with musicians. – by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel
Performance artist Alice Gosti + ritualist Timothy White Eagle
Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.
The two are preparing a symbolic setting within which they’ll present a new, modern myth about departure and nonattachment that personally involves the audience. – by City Arts’ Jonathan Zwickel
Actor/playwright/cellist Justin Huertas + composer/clarinetist/vocalist Beth Fleenor
Photo by Bruce Clayton Tom.
“At Cornish Playhouse, Fleenor and Huertas will keep themselves as close to the audience as possible, and make the theatre as inviting and comfortable as they can. “We want to share light and space with the audience, and we want them to participate in our music,” Huertas says. Music will feature Fleenor on clarinet, Huertas on cello and the audience on…no one knows yet.” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson
Writer/artist Tessa Hulls + performance/visual artist Kyle Loven
Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.
“Both Hulls and Loven bring an introspective lyricism and an earnest interest in humanity to their work, liberally sprinkled with a wry sense of humor. When they first met to discuss their collaboration for this year’s Genre Bender, they started with a Venn diagram that just kept overlapping. Last night at the Cloud Room, Hulls and Loven were decked out in matching houndstooth jackets as they talked about bonding over what Hulls called a “curmudgeonly distrust of/despair over technology and what it does to relationships.” At Genre Bender, they’ll jump from that theme into a piece blending ’50s camp with an apocalyptic flavor.” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson
Dancer/choreographer Jody Kuehner + actor/solo performer Keira McDonald
Photo by Megumi Shauna Arai.
“‘Someone falling down the stairs is really funny—unless they die,’ McDonald says. When Kuehner and McDonald first met and began working together, they found a common interest in exploring that intersection of laughter and death, humor and pain: the absurdity that comes from catastrophe. To get things rolling, they told a lot of stories about people dying in tragic ways, of which McDonald says she has many and Kuehner really has just one, about her cat.
“‘We’re all going to die, but we have no idea how or when. It’s the greatest mystery of being alive,” says McDonald.'” – by City Arts’ Gemma Wilson