Room/Roof Piece (2020)
Room/Roof Piece is a 25-minute video dance based on Trisha’s 1971 Roof Piece, made remotely by the Trisha Brown Dance Company Dancers as they continue to explore ways of interacting with the work, and each other, from afar. This project was conceived, produced and edited by TBDC dancers Amanda Kmett'Pendry and Jamie Scott.
Generations of Trisha Brown Company dancers have performed Roof Piece all over the world. The original version, performed in 1971, spanned 10 blocks in lower Manhattan. This version travels from New South Wales all the way to Brooklyn. Roof Piece uses distance to transcend the boundaries of a room, a stage, and the eye of a single viewer. Dancers simultaneously receive and transmit movement, and as the dance travels distance allows for a decomposition of the original message. In order to hold the integrity of the original work, dancers in Room/Roof Piece are limited to seeing one dancer on the screen. A separate screen capture collected the entire dance, from generation though termination. If we can't be in the same room, we can still dance together! Read coverage of the project in The New York Times, including tips for a DIY home version anyone can try, here.
The map above, generated by MapHubs, indicates the performance locations of each dancer for Room/Roof Piece. The performers are Cecily Campbell, Santa Fe, NM; Marc Crousillat, Unadilla, NY; Kimberly Fulmer, Dallas, TX; Leah Ives, Brooklyn, NY; Amanda Kmett'Pendry, Brooklyn, NY; Patrick McGrath, Santa Monica, CA; Jamie Scott, Washington, D.C.; Stuart Shugg, Dunoon, NSW; and Jacob Storer, Richland Center, WI.