Eye Cycle

Eye Cycle is Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak’s collaborative investigation of movement, light, framing, reflection and perception, supported by a 2003 Creation Fund Award from Links Hall in partnership with the National Performance Network (NPN) and Denison University.

Eye Cycle was created over a two year period by Shanahan in collaboration with dancer Kristina Fluty, composer Kevin O’Donnell and lighting designer Josh Weckesser. The collaborators worked to destabilize the conventions of their working habits and experimented with new ways of considering performance, process, collaboration and spontaneity. The work was performed publicly in various stages of completion, during the two-year process. Recorded and live feed video play an important role in Eye Cycle, both illuminate the space and comment on the myriad ways to view live performance—as a condensed memory of its private creation or a meditation on perspective.

To encourage dialogue around documentation of live performance, Mad Shak embarked on a new initiative with Links Hall through the publication of GLANCE: Molly Shanahan’s Eye Cycle, which documents the creative process from multiple perspectives. GLANCE was supported by the NPN Community Fund and distributed to Chicago audiences in conjunction with the June 05 presentation of Arithmetic of Shadows, an expansion of Eye Cycle, which was presented in earlier stages at Ruth Page (2003) and Links Hall (2004). The Eye Cycle project included public events held at Links Hall, Berger Park, Metropolis Cafe, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Chicago Dance Television Project, and the PAC/edge Performance Festival.

Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak also engaged Eye Cycle audiences nationally and internationally in Montreal, Quebec, a two-week performance, teaching, creation, and documentation residency at Denison University in Ohio, and a workshop held as part of the annual meeting of the Society of Dance History Scholars (Evanston, IL). Eye Cycle was also selected for presentation at the National Performance Network Annual Meeting in Miami, FL in December 2005.

To purchase a copy of GLANCE, which includes a CD of the original score composed by Kevin O’Donnell, please contact Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak.

 

 
 
 
Recorded and live feed video play an important role in Eye Cycle, both illuminate the space and comment on the myriad ways to view live performance.
 

Excerpts from GLANCE:
>>  Molly's thoughts on Eye Cycle
>>  Josh's thoughts on Eye Cycle
>>  A discussion between Molly and Lucia Mauro
>>  View images from Eye Cycle
>>   NEW Video: Eye Cycle