Anna Halprin> Ant Farm> Antarctica

I Google “Antarctic choreography” and find an installation project, Antarctica (working title):

Told in 100 chapters, Antarctica recounts fragments of stories about friends becoming lovers, birds being poisoned, glaciers becoming oceans, and planes flying to Antarctica or Oregon….

We’ve been experimenting with creating an inflatable iceberg that will be both set for the piece and container for the audience and dancer(s)…

I’ve been pouring over the Ant Farm DVD and learning how they made their large inflatable structures for their lectures and collaborations with choreographer Anna Halprin back in the ’70s…

we are working on ways to texture the plastic sheeting to create a greater sense of depth. The pattern simulates the cracking of ice. I realize that the concept of an inflatable iceberg is paradoxical, but it came out of the project’s logistical parameters. The set needed to be something that could easily and quickly be assembled/disassembled, it had to be light enough that I could build it in Ohio and send it to Portland for the show, and it needed to create the largest impact on the atmosphere of the performance space. It literally envelopes the audience and the distinction between performer and audience disappears.