The University of Wisconsin–Madison Dance Department, Omari Carter, and Bradford Chin present “Interconnected: A Dance Festival of Bodies, Technology, and Shared Space,” a two-day pop-up festival taking place on Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, inside the historic Lathrop Hall (1050 University Ave.).

Curated to highlight the creative research of Assistant Professors Omari Carter and Bradford Chin, the festival celebrates the interconnectivity of dance by weaving together diverse movement traditions, digital mediums, and collaborative live performances.

Visitors can explore digital works, tactile screendance installations, and live choreographic showcases unfolding across multiple spaces in Lathrop Hall. Installations and site-specific works are scheduled with repeating schedules so that attendees can curate their unique path through the building. Theater performances include a mix of live dance and screendance. 

After the final installation circuit, the festival will close with a lively reception in the Virginia Harrison Parlor in Lathrop Hall, featuring a specially curated World Music DJ set, mixed by Omari Carter.

Installations circuits will include:

“Afon 11 / River 11”: A dual-screen installation by Omari Carter exploring site-responsive body percussion along the River Cych in Wales.

“Our Vibes: A Vibrotactile Screening Installation”: An immersive, body percussion-infused screendance installation by Omari Carter, featuring a 12′ x 12′ vibrating viewing platform built in collaboration with the UW–Madison College of Engineering’s Design Lab.

“Falling Up Stairs,” by Liz Sexe: A site-specific performance that weaves through historic Lathrop Hall, performed at the closing and the re-opening of the Madison Municipal Building in 2016 and 2018.

A selection of films by disabled movement and visual artists, curated by Bradford Chin and Unfolding Disability Futures (Chicago).

Theater Performances will include:

Live performance works by Bradford Chin and Madison-based dance artists.

A screendance curation by Omari Carter that includes:

• “The Great Spoon Escape,” a screendance by Omari Carter that encapsulates the dance within the everyday.
• “Anywhere is a Dancefloor,” a film produced by Motion Dance Collective in association with River Rea Films, which celebrates the creativity, resilience, and fierce spirit of Birmingham’s (UK) LGBTQ+ nightlife community.
• “HOMESCAPE,” a film by Pablo Córdoba in association with Migration Dance Film Project. This mini-documentary takes us behind-the-scenes of the creation of the short-film, “OFFERING.”
• “OFFERING,” by Migration Dance Film Project, uses the power of procession in Montreal and articulates the spatial array of stillness and movement through body music.

Installations and performances

Friday, Oct. 16
Installations: 2–4 p.m. and 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Theater Performance: 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 17
Installations: 12–2 p.m. and 3:45–5:45 p.m.
Theater Performance: 2:30 p.m.

Tickets

Purchase tickets at the Campus Arts Box Office (first floor Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St.), by phone at 608-265-2787, or online at artsticketing.wisc.edu.

Tickets for the general public are $22 for a single-day theater performance or installation pass; $27 for a full experience pass. Students and seniors are $14 for a single-day theater performance or installation pass; $19 for a full experience pass. Tickets can also be purchased at the door one hour before the performances.

Learn more at dance.wisc.edu/interconnected.