By Erin McDonough ’14
Video still from PERMA(culture) by Marie Guex.
The showing: Choreographer Jill Sigman ’89 *98 will hold two work-in-progress showings of her new piece, tentatively titled PERMA(culture).
Dates and location: October 18 at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 W 37th St., New York, NY 10018, Studio 4A.
The Artist: A Brooklyn native, Sigman came to Princeton after having studied classical ballet for 11 years at the Ballet Center of Brooklyn and the Joffrey Ballet School. At Princeton, she majored in philosophy and began practicing modern dance for the first time. In 1998, she founded her own company, jill sigman/thinkdance, which presents conceptual dance that asks questions through the medium of the body, often using non-traditional environments, formats, and ways of engaging the viewer. This fall she has a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, where she is working on PERMA(culture).
The work: “Intrigued by permaculture, an approach to landscape and community design informed by the systems that occur in nature,” Sigman wrote, she began her artistic process by applying permacultural principles to movement structures. She is interested in “whether there is some essence of sustainability in the movement that results.” PERMA(culture) is a multi-phase research and performance project. During the summer and early fall Sigman worked on the piece in outdoor locations in New York City and up the Hudson in Manitou, N.Y.
Read more: PAW’s story about Jill Sigman ’89 *98 in the Jan. 25, 2006, issue.
Have you published a book or do you have an upcoming performance, exhibition, or other arts-related event? Let us know.