UC San Diego Theatre And Dance Presents Site-Specific Dance Performance, MIKO: A Space Between

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents MIKO, a space between, a graduate dance performance directed by Aurora Lagattuta.

About the performance: MIKO, a space between is a site-specific dance performance that will occur at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Miko: a space between features 12 women: 9 dancers and 3 musicians, who fearlessly move to understand, to mend and to uplift the interwoven relationships within themselves, each other and the space. Miko: a space between is a dance made in response to the current climatic crisis and increased acts of hatred, xenophobia, racism and sexism and humbly asks how can dance help? Miko: a space between weighs how small gestures of kindness can have endurance over our whole lives. Miko: a space between is a danced ecology that's investigates if dancing with places and others can create a felt experience of reciprocity between oneself, others and environments. Miko: a space between is a dance performance that nurtures intimate and expansive spaces for both audience and dancers to emerge with insights into the roles one plays within the planetary continuum. Miko: a space between has urgent concerns for our shared habitats. Miko: a space between places hope in generosity and responsibility. Miko: a space between is shoreline, lawns and tall corridors. Miko: a space between is women. Is webs. Is waves. Is clouds. Is hands, connectors, made, unmade, becoming, and meeting you.

MIKO, a space between runs January 23-25 at 4:30 pm. Performances are at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in both outside and sheltered locations. Please note that this performance will occur before, during and after sunset. Please be prepared for the colder weather with layers. The audience will follow dancers throughout the performance and be asked to walk, stand and occasionally sit to watch. Please be warned that this is a moving performance. For more information about parking and shuttles, please see the website.

Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at (858) 534-4574.

The cast features Alice Astarita, Abby Button, Avery Yiwen Chen, Ella Jong, Mari Kawamura, Aurora Lagattuta, Dulce Rodríguez-Ponciano, Kathryn Schulmeister, Alisha Solan, Jade Solan, Jasper Sussman, and Dianna Valdes-Contreras.

The creative team includes Aurora Lagattuta (Director), Yi-Chien Lee (Scenic Designer), Dorottya Vincze (Costume Designer), Minjoo Kim (Lighting Designer), Zhongran Wang (Sound Designer), and Willie Mae Michiels (Production Stage Manager).

About the director: Aurora Lagattuta has choreographed and performed across The U.S., Europe and Asia. Her work has been described as being, "bizarre and beautiful" as well as "transformational" and "otherworldly" by the Huffington Post. Lagattuta has been presented at Theatre Row and Movement Research in New York City, Electric Lodge and Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, Cindy Pritzker in Chicago, k77 in Berlin, The New Space in Brussels, La Caldera in Barcelona, Café de las Artes in Santander, Spain, Shiro Oni in Japan, Aratoi Gallery in New Zealand and by Malashock's Engagement Ring, Vanguard Culture and the Mingei Museum in San Diego. She has been awarded residencies at Bali Purnati in Bali, Indonesia; Palacio de Festivales and Forn de La Calc in Spain, Ponderosa in Germany, Shiro Oni in Japan and most recently at Pacific Studios in New Zealand. She danced for various companies in NYC, Portland, Germany and Spain and holds a BA in Theatre Directing from Fordham University at Lincoln Center, NYC. Her solo, Inside the Whale, toured throughout Europe, Chicago, Los Angeles and at the United Solo Festival on Broadway in NYC, where she was awarded, The Best Multi-Media Solo Award and the United Solo Award. The United Solo Award hosted Lagattuta's solo performance at the United Solo Europe Festival in Warsaw, Poland. She is an Academy Member for United Solo, NYC, a member of the New Space Collective in Belgium and a member of San Diego Dance Connect. She currently is a MFA Contemporary Dance Making and Performance candidate at UC San Diego, where she has received the prestigious San Diego Fellowship.

Director's Statement: This particular work stems my graduate research in place, time and dance as an embodied knowing of oneself with the world. It also originates from my own life story. From a young age, I struggled with feeling comfortable in my body. Perhaps due to the dance room mirrors, abuse, or sexual assault, I struggled with anorexia. I emerged from this deep inner self struggle and hatred through the kindness of others and through the unconditional love of nature, in particular with water. These generous moments of connection are what inspire my dancing now as a means to face inner and outer hatred. This work is an offering to the people and places that remind us of who we truly are and the power, importance and love found in these connections.

Choreographically, I am inspired by my research with the oceanographers. I am looking at various energy patterns from waves, clouds and light frequencies. The patterns of deep ocean waves, surface waves, cloud formations, light wave frequencies and pendulums all reveal information about the exchanges between diverse elements. I am also researching the patterns of body fluids particularly in the work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Throughout these patterns, the differing components work to instill a greater systemic harmony. I am curious about the underlying nature of fluid and energy to find itself through "other-ness." This complimentary opposition has been a framework for creating choreographic material with the dancers. This data also connects to an over-arching interest in things which connect, link and weave us: spider webs, stories, breath, light, water, sound, women, dreaming, hugs, the senses, and...

I see dance as a means for social and environmental improvement through the act of felt interconnection. My work turns to dance to create open, inclusive, diverse and compassionate dancing places. For me, dance is an embodied knowing of oneself, others and the environment. To dance is be in a sometimes silent, moving, irrational exploration with place and other. Thus, I am interested in untamed and natural human movements with place, particularly places we live within. These dancing places are both within and without us, evolving with every breathe and re-meeting us in each moment as they unearth the unknowable threads between us. The practice of dancing responds with a gentle attention, a kindness and a responsible freedom in this intimately vast world that we dance together.