COLONY

“It comes from another planet. It's like staring into the

spinning blade of a chainsaw until you scare yourself

wondering what it would be like to touch it. Was it

conceived by hornets or humans? One thing is for

sure. When you arrive, it will be waiting for you. It has

always been waiting for you…”

—Scott Sheppard, Artistic Director

Groundswell Theatre Company

Photo by John Muse

Mesmerizing and hypnotic. Mechanical and incessant. Colony considers both the human and the herd. Through a concentrated and athletic commitment to uniformity, the work is a choreographic investigation of rep-etition, duration and synchronization where differing states of awareness and being emerge. Implicating the audience as critical to the creation of the performative event, this intense meditation disorients our expe-rience of seeing and being seen in a shared space. Distance, proximity, power and vul-nerability are at play while your role as watcher is balanced by the tension of being watched. Colony, created and performed by Kelly Bond and Melissa Krodman, is a bass-driven exercise in calculation, compulsion and connection.

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In a society in which perfection is upheld as possible and ideal, uniformity is a pervasive

system of value. Sameness provides a framework of familiarity and any variation denotes

“error,” provoking attention as something to be castigated. Humans have keen eyes for the

tiniest difference in all things predicated as uniform, as if by identifying difference, we can

quash potential threats to our systems of belief. Perhaps the tension that arises through

“error” propels us headfirst into our own feelings and fears of individuality versus the

encompassing capacity of herd mentality, forcing recognition of questions of personal identity

and belonging. Investigation of these questions through live performance generates the

necessity for real-time confrontation with arising feelings and thoughts. Colony highlights

societal functioning through performative and choreographic investigations of tension in

duration, repetition, and synchronization.

Colony is an experimental dance duet that considers both the human and the herd through

continually recreating the critical moment when potentially catastrophic tension gives way.

Upon entry to the space, individuals, rather than the audience as a group, are confronted by

the performers’ mechanically persistent movements, forcing an immediate re-examination of

expectations of distance and proximity, power and vulnerability, and ways of seeing and being

in a shared space. Through incessant repetition and contrasting stillness, differences in the

performers’ bodies, movements, and states of being emerge. While the dancers aim for

perfect synchronization, inevitably moments of “error” occur, and these vacillations between

“perfection” and “imperfection” add layers of tension and complexity to the piece. The subtle

discrepancies in the dance become the focus.

Recognizing that our works present different physical, mental, and emotional demands from

those of modern and postmodern approaches to dance, we are witnesses to the need for an

experiential approach to the work on both the parts of the spectators and the performers.

Inherent to Colony and its development process is research on choreography of the spectator,

highlighting their role as an essential part of the performative transfer. Audience members are

asked to engage with the work outside of the established metronome and spatial parameters

of traditional theatre, assuming their own choices for mobility and recognizing that their

action or inaction, engagement or disengagement, is visible within the space and becomes a

part of the others’ experiences of the work. This work and the discourse that surrounds it

serve as a catalyst for reflection on tensions between inclusion and exclusion within shared

spaces, driving questions of society and individuality, conformity and resistance, desire and

repression.

More on COLONY

Kelly Bond is a choreographer and

performing artist whose most recent

works include Colony (2012) in

collaboration with Melissa Krodman,

Elephant (2010), Splitting the

Difference (2009), and Franko B killed

me or An exercise in self-control

(2007). She holds an MA in European

dance-theatre practice from Laban in

London which she attended as a Jack

Kent Cooke Graduate Scholar. She also

earned a BFA in dance performance

and choreography and a BA in English

from The University of Southern

Mississippi. Kelly was an artist with

Dance/Metro DC’s 2010 pilot program, Forward Five, and a 2009 Young

Emerging Artist of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. She has

been most inspired by her work with the artists of 6MONTHS1LOCATION/

ex.e.r.ce08 under the artistic direction of Xavier Le Roy at the Centre Choré-

graphique National de Montpellier. She has served as an adjunct professor of

dance at The George Washington University and University of Maryland, Balti

-more County. She lives with her partner and daughter in Nashville, TN.

Melissa Krodman is a Philadelphia

-based deviser and performer of

original, experimental theatre and

dance. Original works include The

Sincerity Project with Team

Sunshine Performance Corporation

(in progress, 2014), Colony with

Kelly Bond (2012), Vainglorious

with Applied Mechanics (2012),

Elephant with Kelly Bond (2010),

and Handbook for Hosts with

Happenstance Theatre and

banished? Productions (2010).

Melissa is a graduate of the 2011-

2013 class of the Pig Iron School

for Advanced Performance Training

in Philadelphia where she studied

ensemble devising, movement,

primitive voice, and improvisation.

She recently co-founded the

Sawyer Farm Artistic Residency in

Worthington, MA, focused on

sustainable food cultivation and

laboratory-like research and

development in the experimental

performing arts. She holds a BS in

Film & Television Production from

Boston University.

“so visceral and surprising…

and physically impressive

that it’ll make you feel

something.”

—Washington City Paper

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“...this performance-art piece manages to mesmerize through the hypnotic power generated by one’s need to perceive and focus in on the tiniest details...If you

blink, you really may miss something. “ —Philadelphia City Paper

“Colony is part of an international conversation concerning contemporary

performance....engaging in themes and concepts that drive innovative artistic processes.”

—The Pinkline Project

“The power of performance in Colony doesn’t come from showy, complicated choreography, but from quiet precision….Colony definitely rewards those willing

to give themselves over to the strangeness, the quiet, and the intimacy.” —Southern Glossary

thoughts on

“It is mesmerizing and oddly hypnotic, if not a little unsettling....The performers weave a sort of energy between themselves, as if they are connected by a series

of vibrating strings through which they might be communicating. It feels as though they are holding themselves in trance, and soon enough, feels as though

weʼve been taken in as well....You are a piece of the play, caught in a thick humming molasses that fills the space for 50 melodic minutes…”

—DC Theatre Scene

“Bond and Krodman are highly disciplined performers, athletes with finely tuned senses of drama and play. Colony is an abstract piece ripe for interpretation and projection. However ambiguous and enigmatic it may appear, it's built around a fascinating dramatic arc and structure, and a score that brilliantly weaves in and out of pummeling rhythms to abstract electronics, from pop- song fragments to

simply the sound of the breath....[I]tʼs as simple as it is disarming…” —DCist

“I felt taken care of: I never yearned for meaning or interpretation and, instead,

basked in the artfulness of Colony’s construction and execution. “ —thINKingDANCE

COLONY Press

COLONY Performances

2012

July 12 - 28 Capital Fringe Festival (premiere) Washington, DC

September 14 - 16 Philly Fringe Festival Philadelphia, PA

November 11 - 18 fallFRINGE Washington, DC

2013

March 2 - 3 thefidget space Philadelphia, PA

April 19 - 21 Tactical Bodies/UCLA Los Angeles, CA *Oral presentation of research

September 5 - 7 Abundance Int’l Dance Festival Karlstad, Sweden

November 21 - 24 New Orleans Fringe Festival New Orleans, LA

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2014

January 10 - 11 Thirdbird @ Neighborhood House Philadelphia, PA

March 26 - 27 (TBC) UNCG Dance Department Greensboro, NC *Oral presentation & workshop

June 21 - 23 Lucky Penny/Theater Emory Atlanta, GA *Performance & workshop

Click here for a video excerpt of Colony.

Technical rider, workshop information, and video

of the full work is available upon request.

COLONY

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Choreography & Performance Melissa Krodman & Kelly Bond

with guest performances by Megan Bridge

Sound Design Greg Svitil

Lighting Design

Justin Rose

Costume Design Kelly Bond & Melissa Krodman

Credits

Contact Us Melissa Krodman

202-251-8802 krodmannn@gmail.com

Kelly Bond

202-802-6570 futuremagnolia@gmail.com