Year: 2023-2024
DanceForce Member: Margaret Kaiser
Artists: D. Chase Angier; Markéta Fantová; Evelyne Leblanc Roberge
Audience: 63
County: Erie

Letter to the World/Buffalo is the fourth movement/visual stanza of a site-adaptive performance work which will be inspired by Buffalo’s diverse and compelling architecture. Stanzas One, Two, and Three of Letter to the World have been created and presented in Cardiff, Wales, New York City, and Prague, respectively, via the complex relationship between/among choreography, videography & photography, and scenography. The Buffalo Letter to the World/Buffalo will be a two year project, with the first year (2023-24) focused on the continued creative collaboration of three prolific artists whose areas of expertise in video & photography (Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge), choreography (D. Chase Angier), and scenography (Markéta Fantová) will overlap to create a unique Letter to the World/ Buffalo. Much of Year One will focus on these artists developing their ideas by researching architecturally rich sites in Buffalo, both in the natural and built environments, which will result in a movement and visual framework for a performance piece that will be presented in Buffalo in Year Two. Because photography/video is one medium used extensively in their pieces, they are able to evoke an aesthetic experience virtually without bringing in the audiences to particular sites too difficult to traverse. On the other hand, sites will be selected for which an audience will be invited to enter. In is during the R & D (research and development) phase of this project that those decisions will be made. The partnership with Torn Space Theater will continue as we decide when a shared workshop can be presented to the public at which time TST will share their May 2023 experiences at the Prague Quadrennial (PQ), as well as the Letter to the World creative team sharing their PQ workshop presentation. In many ways, this workshop will be a prelude to Year Two, creating an interest within the Buffalo community to either participate in or view Letter to the World/Buffalo. The budget for Year One will be used for travel expenses, artists fees, supplies, and per diem.