Apparatus-Coming Summer 2010...

Mirror Neuron Study-This is a duet that attempts to reverse the audience/performer mirror neuron kinesthesia. The audience is asked to explore kinesthetic sensations on their own such that the performers then draw all of their movement impulses from their kinesthetic responses to the audience's explorations. We both injured ourselves.
Presented West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival Curated Evening July 2009

Witness-This is a deconstruction/exploration of the practice of authentic movement, in which one of the participants is prerecorded on video and projected in the performance space such that the live performer appears to be in a deep reverent "witnessing" state and vice versa.
Presented Links Hall Studio, Chicago June 2008

Asynchronous Love Affair-The blocking from a soap opera love scene was learned and then temporally and spatially re-arranged. A camera records the live action and then the footage is rearranged by a computer and returned to its original order when played back. The piece lays bare the way in which films are generally constructed from parts shot out of sequence, etc...A first sketch for an evening length piece called Apparatus to premiere in 2010.
Presented-Counterpulse Theater, SF May 2009 and Links Hall, Chicago June 2009

Panorama-Directed by Lisa Wymore and choreography, sound design and visual design by Sheldon B. Smith, the evening honored the cutting edge collaborations and technological explorations that were the hallmark of the Merce Cunningham and John Cage legacy. Inspired by the seminal set of performances that occurred in Nine Evenings: Theater and Engineering (1966), Panorama brought together dance makers, artists, scientists, engineers, roboticists, and digital game makers to create an evening of interactive and technologically alive theater. Some of the many UC Berkeley faculty who actively pursue multi-faceted modes of research and performance were invited to participate in Panoroma. Those who contributed include: Ruzena Bajcsy (EECS), Ken Goldberg (EECS, BCNM), Greg Niemeyer (Art Practice, BCNM), Abigail De Kosnik (BCNM, TDPS), and UCB Graduate Student in Composition Jen Wang (Music, CNMAT). Company members of Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts performed in the concert and UC Berkeley students performed experts of Cunningham choreography, thanks to a two-week teaching residency supported by Cal Performances.

Somewhere- This duet was an investigation in "live film" and was performed at the Milkbar in Oakland in August of 2008. On a table stage right is a small robotic camera that is programmed to essentially edit the piece live. Elements of this work will be folded into our current work-in-progress Apparatus.

Refuge – This is a duet that was developed utilizing
strategies inherent within electronic communication technology (ie: cell
phone protocol, sentence structure when sending text, multi-tasking,
loss of connection, body response to electronic sound, etc.) The actual
technologies were removed from the work; nothing was on the stage except
for the dancers. This removal created a trace existence of the
technologies within the bodies performing on the stage.
Presented by Ellis Wood and Dancers, Cowell Theater, San Francisco, 2008

Parking Space – The project is a site-specific large-scale
performance/art event, which takes place in suburban parking lots and
involves the communities that use these spaces; addressing the history
and public sentiment around each given site. The goal of the work is to
capture the salient attributes of a suburban community, in one of its
most used but overlooked spaces, in a way that engages the participants
and activates creative collaboration.
4 small residencies and one week long residency in Los Banos, CA,
(throughout the academic year 2006-07)
Final performance event in Los Banos, CA (June 2007)

The Reception – It is an investigation of the visual,
tactile, kinesthetic and proprioceptive fields found within intersecting
virtual and real worlds. The work uses tools from dance choreography and
performance with 3D Tele-Immersion technology to explore a re-visioning
of cyber culture and corporeal presence.
Presented by The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
for the Berkeley Dance Project, (April, 2007)
Self presented: Counter-Pulse Performance Space for the concert A Brief
Appearance, San Francisco, (February, 2007)
Presented for the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced
Collaboratory (HASTAC) InFormation Event (December, 2006)

Stranger – This piece was commissioned by the Chicago Department of
Cultural Affairs for an exhibit entitled Site Seeing. The central theme
of the work is travel both metaphysical and actual. The piece is an
exploration of memory, nostalgia, loneliness, renewal and perception of
identity. All text and images used in the work were taken from public
domain websites on the topic of travel.
Self presented: Counter-Pulse Performance Space for A Brief Appearance,
San Francisco, 2007
Presented by the Digital Dance Weeks Festival, Zurich, Switzerland, 2006
Presented by the Spark Festival, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2006
Presented by Counter-Pulse Performance Space, San Francisco, 2005
Presented by 848 Community Space, San Francisco 2005
Presented by the Renaud-Wilson Dance Festival, California State Hayward
University, 2005
Presented by the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, 2005

Nothing Happens: an evening of disappearing acts – An evening length
piece commissioned by Performing Arts Chicago PAC/edge Festival. The
piece is a multimedia dance theater duet in seven parts all on the
subject of disappearance. The performance utilizes a minimal adaptable
set, innovative video projection, and computer generated interactive
sound.
Presented by the Earagail Arts Festival, Donegal, Ireland, 2006
Presented by the Dublin Fringe Festival, Dublin, Ireland, 2005
Presented by Counter-Pulse Performance Space, San Francisco, 2005
Presented by the University of California, Berkeley Department of
Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, 2004
Presented by Performing Arts Chicago PAC/edge Festival, 2004

DryLand – A new evening length duet that has taken over a year to
complete. "[DryLand] takes grand images from nature and internalizes
them to the point of poetic meditation." - Lucia Mauro, Chicago Tribune
March 3, 2003. Water, desert, thirst and memory are some of the themes
explored.
Self-Produced at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts with Funding from the
Chicago Dancemaker's Forum, 2003
Presented by the University of New Mexico, 2004
Presented by Links Hall-Chicago, 2003
This project is a co-commissioning project by Links Hall in partnership
with Colorado College and the National Performance Network Creation
Fund. The Creation Fund is sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation. The work is also supported by the Illinois Arts Council.

Here we are, get out of the car; adventures in trespassing – A duet made
specifically for the National Performance Network 2002 Conference.
Utilizing site-specific locations at the conference for video shots and
involving conference attendees in the piece.
Presented by the National Performance Network Conference as an Art
Burst-Washington D.C., 2002

Deseret – Inspired by a long drive across the American West. Built
around images of desert, water, Mormons, sleazy motels and Zane Grey
novels.
Presented by the Chicago Cultural Center for the Here and Now
Series-Chicago, 2002
Presented by the Other Dance Festival at Hamlin Park-Chicago, 2002

Motel No Tell – A physically charged duet exploring the moral dilemmas
faced when good people do bad things.
Presented by Dance Chicago at the Athenaeum Theater-Chicago, 2002
Presented by the Chicago Cultural Center for the Here and Now
Series-Chicago, 2002

Inanimate Erotica – Explores the sex lives of inanimate objects in a
humorous but highly physical manner and utilizes video projection.
Self presented: Counter-Pulse Performance Space for A Brief Appearance,
San Francisco, 2007
Presented by the 418 Space-Santa Cruz, 2002
Presented by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art-Boulder, 2002
Presented by Colorado College-Colorado Springs, 2002

Untitled Quartet – Created and performed with Kathleen Hermesdorf and
Albert Mathias of Motion Lab and Sheldon B. Smith. The piece was created
specifically for a shared full-length evening concert between Motion Lab
and Hi! Performance.
Presented by the 418 Space-Santa Cruz, 2002

Radio Duet – A 10 minute Chance Operation. The performers randomly turn
the radio dial during the piece and dance to whatever comes on the
radio. The set is created from found objects in the theater. The entire
work is improvised.
Presented by the Chicago Cultural Center for the Here and Now
Series-Chicago, 2002
Presented by the 418 Space-Santa Cruz, 2002
Presented by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art-Boulder, 2002
Presented by Colorado College-Colorado Springs, 2002
Presented by Links Hall-Chicago, 2002

February 14, 1929 – A duet inspired by the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The piece tells a film-noir inspired story of two lovers caught in the
wrong place at the wrong time; utilizing live video feed with
projection.
Presented by Links Hall and the Hot House-Chicago, 2002

Our Big Looper – 1 and 1/2 hour site-specific work utilizing
improvisation with time delayed and real time video projection.
Presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art Summer Solstice-Chicago, 2002

A Public Display – An evening of new and experimental work influenced by
Contact Improvisation and Authentic Movement. (Co-Choreographed with
Presented by Colorado College-Colorado Springs, 2002
Partially Presented by Links Hall-Chicago, 2002
Presented by Northwestern University-Evanston, 2002