Colorado College dance majors Dolo McComb and Arob Dickerson’s live dance installation “Madam and Evening” (closing Sunday, April 15, 2012) opened in the Hybl Screening Room. It combines visual, video and choreographic arts. Inspired by personal experience, Surrealism, Antonin Artaud among others, McComb and Dickerson seek to make the personal space of one’s dream into “a spectacle.”
Here is an interview with the artists:
Question: What is the original premise for the show?
Dolo + Arob: We’re creating four hours of a dream for people to experience, and playing with the idea of living and experiencing a dream together — which is not typical in dreams because they’re usually so personal.
Q: What is so appealing about dreams?
D + A: We’re both attracted to it because its surreal and grotesque. We view dreams as a representation of our subconscious. The creativity is subconscious in dreams – you don’t have to cultivate it, it just happens to you. It’s anything we can imagine because we are framing it in this absurd, other-worldly way. We’re exploring different layers and complexities of beauty and the different ways it can be perceived.
Q: How do you describe your artistic partnership?
D: I really liked solo work and just being entirely independent. I finally found someone I got along with well and it made me re-evaluate the potential of collaboration. You can’t dissect parts that are Dolo-influenced or Arob-influenced [in our choreography]. It’s all just DoloArob because I do things with him that I’d never do on my own.
A: We are two in one. We’re like chianti! We like wine.
Q: Why did you want to perform at the FAC?
D: It was the upper echelon of where I wanted this installation. It’s a perfect place for the bridge I’m trying to establish between performance and visual art. I liked the idea of an actual art gallery. I’m attracted to the idea of performance in a non-traditional setting.
Visit the artists’ web site for more information, photos and fun media!