Dancers Brings NPG’s ‘Silhouettes’ to Life (photos)
By • November 4, 2018 0 1669
Inspired by the exhibition “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now,” the dance company of Dana Tai Soon Burgess, choreographer-in-residence at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, premiered a modern dance work called “Silhouettes” on Oct. 27 and 30.
Incorporating video by designer Kelly Colburn, the work was performed to capacity audiences in the gallery’s Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium.
As the Portrait Gallery’s first choreographer-in-residence, Burgess finds inspiration for original works in the paintings and photographs that hang there. NPG Director Kim Sajet sat down for a conversation with Burgess at the conclusion of the last performance, thanking the choreographer for “bringing our exhibition to life.”
Curated by Asma Naeem, the gallery’s curator of prints, drawings and media arts, the exhibition is the first in a major museum to explore cut-paper profiles in terms of their historical roots and contemporary presence. While drawing on the National Portrait Gallery’s extensive collection of silhouettes, it also examines how contemporary artists are “reimagining silhouettes in bold and unforgettable ways.” The show runs thru March 10, 2019.
View Jeff Malet’s photos from the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company’s performances of “Silhouettes” at the National Portrait Gallery, and from the exhibition “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now,” by clicking on the photo icons below.
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- “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now” will run through March 10, 2019. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Kelly Moss Southall and Christine Doyle (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Ben Sanders and Sidney Hampton (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Ryan Carlough (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Joan Ayap (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Kelly Moss Southall, Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo, Sidney Hampton, Christine Doyle (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Christine Doyle (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Dancer Christine Doyle in Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company’s “Silhouettes.” Photo by Jeff Malet.
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- Ryan Carlough (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Ben Sanders and Sidney Hampton (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Joan Ayap (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Christine Doyle and Kelly Moss Southall (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Christine Doyle (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Joan Ayap (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Sidney Hampton and Christine Doyle (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Sidney Hampton, Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo, Christine Doyle and Ben Sanders (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Kelly Moss Southall and Felipe Oyarzun Moltedo (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- An 18-foot-tall installation by Canadian artist Kristi Malakoff featuring life-size cut-outs of children dancing playfully around a Maypole, a seemingly three-dimensional appropriation of silhouettes. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- An 18-foot-tall installation by Canadian artist Kristi Malakoff featuring life-size cut-outs of children dancing playfully around a Maypole, a seemingly three-dimensional appropriation of silhouettes. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now” will run through March 10, 2019. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Kumi Yamashita, who “sculpts” light and shadow with objects to create mixed-media profiles of people who are not there. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Portrait Gallery Curator of Prints, Drawings and Media Arts, Asma Naeem.
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- Ledger book of William Bache (c. 1803-12) (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now” will run through March 10, 2019. (photo by Jeff Malet)
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- Dana Tai Soon Burgess, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Choreographer-in-Residence chats with NPG Director Kim Sajet. “Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now” will run through March 10, 2019. (photo by Jeff Malet)
