Imagine recreating the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, using only a black-draped table for a stage, and two human hands. Acclaimed British director and performer Andrew Dawson accomplishes such a feat when he performs Space Panorama at The Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater on Saturday, July 18, for two shows only, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. A talk-back with the artist will immediately follow each show.
Space Panorama is a free event. Tickets are limited to four per person, and are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office or via phone at (202) 467-4600 or (800) 444-1324. For those who purchased tickets, refunds will be made at the point of purchase. For more information, call (202) 467-4600.
Space Panorama has been called "utterly absorbing and very funny" by The Australian. Throughout Space Panorama, which comes to Washington just prior to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Dawson uses only his hands to create a constantly entrancing documentary of the entire mission. Accompanied by Shostakovich's 10th symphony and a dramatic, lively narration, Dawson takes audiences from Houston to the moon and returns them safely to earth, conveying the colossal distances and the risks involved simply through his skilled hand movements. With wry facial expressions, Dawson transforms from President Kennedy in one moment to an aw-shucks Neil Armstrong in the next.
Dawson has performed Space Panorama, which he created in 1987, at theaters and theater festivals throughout the world. The Times (London) declared, "Dawson's long mobile hands, like wave-particles in a nuclear physics, contrive to be one thing and its opposite, rigidly suggesting ship or rocket, incredibly undulant for anything watery. His movements also convey scale. This is real artistry, finely imagined and brilliantly executed." According to The London Evening Standard, "Anyone who had trouble creating a rabbit show on a wall will be astounded by
Andrew Dawson's creation of life, the universe, and everything using only his hands."
In 2000, Dawson performed Space Panorama at a reunion dinner for astronauts in Houston, receiving accolades from
Buzz Aldrin and
John Young, among others.
Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission - to perform a manned lunar landing and return safely to earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow.
For more information visit
www.spacepanoramalive.com.
Andrew is a theatre director, performer, Feldenkrais practitioner, and hand model. He studied dance with Merce Cunningham in New York and theater in Paris with Phillipe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux, and Jacques Lecoq. Andrew created and performs Space Panorama (1987), the story of the Apollo 11 moon landing told with only his hands; Quatre Mains (1998), which was recently revived for a season at UCLA, Los Angeles, in December 2008; and his award-winning solo show Absence and Presence (2005), which is a deeply intimate and touching portrayal on the death of his father. He also created and directed the stage show of Wallace and Gromit (1995), Amnesia Curiosa for Rainpan 43 (2008,
Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C.); and fabrik Potsdam's award-winning Pandora 88 (2003). He directed and co-devised The Idiot Girls with Redcape Theatre Company, which won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival 2008 and is currently on tour.
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