The Slip
When choreographer Annie Now and composer Ben Geyer met at a Manhattan jazz club in March of 2008, they immediately noticed complimentary artistic interests. Ben was inspired by Annie’s question-based choreography in which she poses a question and the movements of her dancers offer an answer. Annie was intrigued by Ben’s experimental use of form and theatrical approach to composition. Almost a year later, they met to discuss the prospect of a new project to be called The Slip. By looking at the chemistry of ice, this work shows the unbalanced relationship between the atoms making up the H2O molecule. In the climax of the work, the molecular view is juxtaposed with a human slip, as if the atoms are standing on ice.
The Slip features three dancers as accompanied by Ben’s original score for his Sextet. Each dancer represents an atom in the water molecule: hydrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. The work opens as the atoms’ themes are introduced, derived from their atomic weights and retaining their elemental characteristics: the generous hydrogen contrasts the needy oxygen. As hydrogen gas (H2) dances, it is gradually interrupted by an eerie waltz in which oxygen joins to complete a water molecule. The molecule SLIPS, and is finally blown apart through the energetic explosion of electrolysis, returning the molecules to independent existence.
The Slip premiered at The Tea Lounge in Brooklyn on July 23, 2009.