March 15-16, 2024 at 7 p.m.
Cube, Moss Arts Center

"The Memory Palace Project," a dance, percussion, and cinematic production, explores how the mind and body respond to —  and remember — significant moments in both an individual’s life and the greater cultural consciousness.

The 70-minute production in the Cube will feature Annie Stevens, percussion soloist, and Rachel Rugh, dance soloist and choreographer, on world premieres by Eric Lyon (percussion solo) and Emma O’Halloran (percussion quartet performed by the VT Percussion Ensemble and dance students), as well as the epic percussion solo, "Memory Palace," by the Grammy nominated composer, Chris Cerrone, notable for its inclusion in the New York Times article, "5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Percussion."

As the performers traverse the space, the Cube transforms into a memory palace, embodying relentless, aggressive, beautiful, sensitive, and somber moments. Original cinema created by Charles Dye and Karl Precoda will explore themes that emerge from all of the works, beyond mainstream representations. Audrey Reeves, a political scientist and classically trained dancer, will provide support in bringing this program together as a seamless production of three diverse works, drawing on her research on the politics of memory and performance. The co-investigators’ creative exchange will run alongside, and intersect with, the ASPECT graduate seminar in CLAHS, “The Politics of Memory”, co-taught by Reeves.

This performance is at the frontier of artistic expression, captivating the audience through the unique and beautiful sounds of a live percussionist, the thoughtful and intentional movement and choreography, the serene images of nature as projected media, the vastness of the spatial audio system, and the dialogue giving witness to the research by Reeves.