Holding Present

When bodies breathe together, move together, march or protest together, a poetic or even erotic force can arise that leads to collective action. In Holding Present Sickle wants to reveal that experience. Through a weave of new and existing compositions, a group of eight performers, musicians and dancers slowly and consciously build up towards the moment when individuals become a critical mass. Via the use of existing and specially designed new instruments, the finale culminates in a moment of pure togetherness.

Holding Present is a new collaboration between choreographer Ula Sickle and the contemporary music ensemble Ictus. The performance examines how an individual gesture can become a powerful collective act. Weaving a fabric of existing and newly commissioned compositions by Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, Stellan Veloce and Didem Coskunseven, a group of eight performers slowly and consciously build a moment, a momentum, moving toward the breaking point where individuals become a critical mass. The performance stages unusual instruments such as a swinging bull roar, aluminum tubes, handheld rocks and megaphones, as well as a modular synthesizer. The dancers and musicians collaborate to realize both the musical and choreographic score, engaging with each other on new terrain, charting lines of flight in the present. And while they build over the duration of the piece, the audience integrates into the fabric. They too become part of the moment, becoming responsible for momentum. Holding Present is a powerful rehearsal for building the foundations of collectivity.