Plume

In the first event of the 2014 After Hours series, produced in collaboration with Times Square Arts, dancer and choreographer Biba Bell presented a site-specific performance at the R Lounge. In her piece Plume, Bell engaged the lounge’s vaulted walls, broad windows, and dramatic views of Times Square in her choreography.

The piece was accompanied by a live performance by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, for movement and modular synthesis. The modular synthesizer patch piece was built to act as a physical and gestural partner to the dance.

Bell's work examined the presence of the body as object in its dual relationship with a surrounding space and the viewer's gaze. Her performance process pushed the bound structures of framing in artwork and reshuffled relational understanding. She is a founding member of the collaborative performance group MGM Grand (Modern Garage Movement) and has performed at such venues as the Kitchen and Dance Theater Workshop.

The program was curated by Clocktower in partnership with Times Square Arts. The curatorial team was Alanna Heiss, Clocktower Director; Joe Ahearn, Clocktower Curator of Performance and Installation; Beatrice Johnson, Managing Director and Associate Curator; and Jim Toth, Curatorial advisor.

Each After Hours program is documented in a film. The live radio stream and broadcast are organized by the Clocktower Radio and Productions team: David Weinstein, Jeannie Hopper, and Willis Arnold.

Listen here to the streamcast at Clocktower.org.

Listen here to an interview with Biba Bell by Sherry Dobbin.