Emerson Dorsch: A Conversation with Karen Rifas and Dale Andree

Wednesday, October 11th at 6pm join us at Emerson Dorsch for a conversation between artist Karen Rifas and dancer Dale Andree, who have been collaborating for many years. Between them they have created a language of form that communicates the “order of things” in relation to space. Andree brings Rifas’ material works to life, choreographing bodies that use force to literally move her sculptures, reshaping, re-imagining the space they inhabit.

During the opening of Per Forms, Andree along with dancers Mary Spring, Elaine Wright, and drummer Pablo Pena activated the sculptural installation entitled Pro Forms. The title invokes different readings, but the idea of being “pro-active” comes to mind. The work required attentive viewership as dancers moved around and through the crowd, freeze framing their bodies into almost objects. Not quite sublimating their breath, they would meander for a while stop, pose, and reposition slowly until they met in the center. Their gazes never crossed. Their eyes were locked on infinity. The audience slowly got quieter. The drummer started a rhythm with his hands and the group came together, meeting on the floor space of the installation. By then they were moving more intentionally in sequence and the audience fell completely silent. They suddenly forced two benches that were part of the display away from each other. Together they broke the silence that had fallen across the room, and divided the dense crowd as Moses parted the Red Sea.