PERFORMANCE.WORK
AGAIN, BUTH THIS TIME WITH FEELING
(2018)
Is there anything more terrifying in human existence than failure? In her third evening-length work, Durham artist Anna Barker presents a series of dance-theater vignettes exploring the ways in which we experience failure, either by writhing in the discomfort of it or by avoiding it at all costs. Presented as a foil of her recent work Feature Presentation (2016) that examined success and how we curate our own self-image, Again, but this time with feeling exposes the other side of the same coin- the darker, more difficult side.
SITES
(2017 & 2018)
SITES Series is a performance-art map of Durham's rapid development and revitalization efforts, Seeking to illuminate the tensions between the human body and “the civic landscape we are so rapidly revising,” Stephanie Leathers (founder) has expanded the scope of SITES to invite other local dance artists to collaborate and respond to Durham's ever-changing cityscape. Anna Barker performs at the Durham Skate Park.
WHAT ABOUT THIS & OTHER FALSE STARTS
(2017)
This solo exposes a confrontation of self-criticism and self-doubt that exists within the echo chamber of a solo creative process.
FEATURE PRESENTATION
(2016)
"Feature Presentation" was the second full-length work from RLP, which premiered June 10-12 2016 at the Trotter Building in downtown Durham, NC. The show explores themes about how we perform, both on an off stage. Tangling themselves in everything from exercise as egotistical performance to the tangled web of social media creating social comparisons, Barker and Wilks plumb serious depths.
IT'S NOT ME IT'S YOU
(2014)
"it's not me it's you", premiered at Motorco Music Hall in downtown Durham on November 8-9 2014. "it's not me it's you" has been shown subsequently as part of the American Dance Festival, the North Carolina Dance Festival, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, APAP NYC, among other venues across the US.
(MIS.)
(2014)
This theatrical duet explores the awkwardness surrounding miscommunication and expectation in relationships. The work is intimate, gestural, idiosyncratic, and vulnerable.
WORD VOMIT
(2014)
This solo, best performed in an intimate
setting, questions the language of love. It examines the nature of expectation in relationships. It suggests that society's carefully-crafted idea of a meaningful partnership is, in practice, unrealistic. It explores how we use language to define our commitments and our boundaries.
DOWNARD SPIRAL
(2014)
This work draws on the human experience of spiraling- be it physical, mental or emotional. This duet, largely performed in unison, moves in and out of synchronicity and disorder. Its large physicality exposes the shock, frustration and anger associated with the abrupt end of a partnership, and the visceral fallout thereafter.
