Deepstaria

Venue: Vancouver Playhouse

DanceHouse presents Company Wayne McGregor: Deepstaria

Wayne McGregor’s choreographic masterwork takes its title from rarely seen species of deep-sea jellyfish. Deepstaria enigmatica makes its home in the crushing depths of the ocean, where it lives out its life in perpetual darkness.

Through movement phrases that recall the peristaltic motion of undersea creatures, the performers give expression to the existential experience of the void. In summoning ultimate dark, the work utilizes Vantablack Vision technology, an industrial material capable of absorbing 99.9% of light. The abyss at the centre of the work is balanced and matched by Oscar-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker and LEXX who implement Bronze AI, a digital audio engine that unfolds in fluid fashion in reaction to the performance itself.

McGregor’s wildly ranging and intellectually rigorous approach to choreography finds inspiration in science, technology, and the mysteries of the natural world. Working in dialogue with the environment, Deepstaria returns us to our place of origin in a remarkable convergence of concept and manifestation.

From aqueous womb to sepulchral tomb, we begin and end in darkness. But even in the deepest abyss, there is light, spiraling out in cosmic fashion, a luminescent splash against the expanse of ocean and sky. What emerges from the depths is nothing less than liberation in its most elemental form.

Audience advisory: This performance includes flashing lights. 

*Tickets available as part of a DanceHouse subscription, available Apr 14. Single tickets will go on sale later in the year.