Apprehension toward technology and some local weirdness will combine at an upcoming Battlefords Community Players Clubhouse performance.
Free Flow Dance Theatre of Saskatoon is collaborating with local author and musician Cliff Burns to present the modern dance piece, The Atlas Figment, at Battlefords Community Players Clubhouse on June 28 and 29.
Burns is a local full-time author and dedicates, he said, “one per cent” of his creative energy to music, as a way to “break free between projects.”
He makes music with a MIDI keyboard and layers sounds and spacey effects.
“My music is about my fears of this mechanical future and AI is taking over and us becoming less than human, and maybe even enslaved by technology,” Burns said.
Free Flow Dance Theatre put out a call for music a few years ago, and Burns sent in some music. Burns said the dance company “came up with these stunning pieces.”
Free Flow Dance Theatre has produced a variety of shows over the years, referencing a variety of themes and using a number of music genres.
Past performances have included contemporary ballet, dance set to oboes, bassoons, violins and post-punk, and dance featuring helium balloons and large elastic bands.
“Somehow [Free Flow] intuitively found the narrative or the concept within my spacey music and there’s this sense of weightlessness” to performances he’s seen using his music, Burns said.
“They somehow got those misgivings and that disquiet from the pieces and created these incredible dance concepts,” Burns said.
Burns said he knows nothing about modern dance, but “Jackie [Latendresse of Free Flow Dance Theatre] and the gals completely won me over.”
Burns said he’s a Boston Bruins fan, yet encourages people to come out to the upcoming show because it’s likely many people haven’t experienced such a performance before.
“It really is like a science fiction movie that was never made,” Burns said, adding he’s thrilled “to have them come do this in my little home town here.”
Tickets are $20. June 29 will feature a workshop with Newton Moraes, a Brazilian choreographer and a creator of dance-theatre.
