CAPACITY, OR: THE WORK OF CRACKLING
A multi-disciplinary performance work of geological proportions.
Created by Melissa Riker/Kinesis Project, in collaboration with Opera On Tap, Shahrokh Yadegari and Anti-Social Music
This piece is developed and created via the artists’ research, through collaboration, conversation and the current work of Geologist Dr. Martha Cary (Missy) Eppes
From the Director
How can I possibly take on more (love, grief, joy, fear….)?
What are my edges?
How do our cracks appear?
What if breaking creates more space?
How does pressure affect a sense of “cracking”?
And… What if this is similar to how rocks crack?
These questions and so many more fill our notebooks.
Spoiler alert: how we crack, create space, break apart, self heal, find flow…. are uncannily similar to how the earth does much of the same. From subcritical cracking to fracture events… geology to mechanical engineering… the earth to humanity.
"Given sufficient time – and in geology we have plenty of that – cracks will form and propagate under stresses that are much lower (even less than 10%) of the rock’s critical strength.”
~Dr. Eppes
ABOUT THE COLLABORATIONS
Kinesis Project and Opera on Tap have been partnering to drive this work forward. The hour long piece is currently performed with 4-6 dancers and 6-10 live musicians with original, commissioned pieces from AntiSocial Music composers Diana Woolner, David Friend, Brian McCorkle and Eyal Moaz.
Melissa Riker and Dr. Eppes are continuing their conversations and collaboration and Riker has been the artist in residence for the Penrose 2022 Conference: Failure of Brittle Rocks, an international convening of geologists, geomorphists and mechanical engineers. This convening was the second of it’s kind and organized by Dr. Eppes, Dr. Matt Brain and Alex Reinhart.
FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for Capacity, or: The Work of Crackling
This work would not be possible without the generous support of Summer on the Hudson/Riverside Park Conservancy, John C. Robinson, public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, The Howard Gilman Foundation through The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, NYC Uptown Parks and individual donors of Opera on Tap and Kinesis Project dance theatre.
Video
Short clips from the development performance in Riverside Park South, presented by Summer on the Hudson.
Venues (2022-2024)
Middlebrook Arts Retreat and Research Center, NY - June 2022
Penrose Conference on The Failure of Brittle Rock, NC - June 2022
Golden Gardens Beach Park, SEA
Expedia Beach, SEA
Louisa Boren Park, SEA
Riverside Park/Summer on the Hudson, NYC
Inwood Hill Park, NYC
Music as the Message/The Broadway Presbyterian Church, NYC
Riverside Park, Summer on the Hudson (2023)
Vashon Island Gravel Pit (reclaimed gravel mine on Vashon Island, WA) (2023 & 2024)
Credits
Co-Artistic Leads: Kinesis Project and Opera on Tap
Choreographer/Director Melissa Riker, in constant collaboration with the dancers
Kinesis Project NYC
Hilary Brown-Istrefi, Madeline Hoak, bree breeden, Sabrina Canas
Kinesis Project Seattle
Margaret Behm, Kimberly Holloway, Hendri Walujo, Madeline Morser, Alicia Pugh with Robbi Moore
Costume design Rebecca Kanach
Opera on Tap Artistic & Executive Director Anne Hiatt
Opera on Tap Producer/Project Music Director David Gordon
Music by Anti Social Music Composers
Diana Woolner, Eyal Maoz, Brian McCorkle, David Friend
Composition/Co-Sound Design Shahrokh Yadegari
Collaborating Geologist Dr. Martha (Missy) Eppes
Rock cracking sounds contributor Sam Johnstone, Geologist
Kinesis Project Company Manager and Stage Manager Jacqui M Dugal
This work has been created in collaboration over time with the effort of current Kinesis Project Seattle company members Hendri Walujo, Kimberly Holloway, Margaret Behm, Madeline Morser, Alicia Pugh, Robbi Moore and the research and work of past Kinesis Project artists Claudia-Lynn Rightmire, Alexandra Doyle, Akane Little, David L. Parker, Nicole Truzzi, Sarah Zucchero
Contact us to book
Capacity, or: the Work of Crackling
for your park, site, garden or gallery. The work is paired with a geology tour, or conversation about the geologic formations of the site.
Gallery
