Composed by Carolyn Chen, How to Fall Apart describes cosmic, natural, and human processes of disintegration, aging, and falling apart. This evening-length work for three dancers, one violinist, and one cellist integrates text, gesture, and music, building upon Chen’s long-standing compositional work “in which sensuality and abstraction find common ground” (LA Times). How to Fall Apart unfolds as various assemblages of sound, movement, and storytelling cohere, dissolve, and reform, telling personal and scientific stories about the climate crisis, cosmological history, the erosion of soil in Northern Chad, the aging body, The Billion Oyster Project in New York, and the operations of microbes.
Composed by Carolyn Chen
Performers:
Julia Eichten, dancer
Keir GoGwilt, violinist
Coleman Itzkoff, cellist
Yiannis Logothetis, dancer
Matilda Sakamoto, dancer
Movement Director: Julia Eichten
Lighting Designer: Mary Ellen Stebbins
Commissioned by AMOC*.
Developed in part during an artist residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Developed in residency at The Lumberyard.
Special thanks to Or Schraiber and Jay Campbell for contributing to early workshops of the piece, as well as to Justin Decatur, Suzanne Thorpe, George Gwilt, and Dea Lou Schraiber.
AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company)
AMOC*, founded in 2017 by Matthew Aucoin and Zack Winokur, builds and shares a body of collaborative work. As a group of dancers, singers, musicians, writers, directors, composers, choreographers, and producers united by a core set of values, AMOC* artists pool their resources to create new pathways that connect creators and audiences in surprising and visceral ways.