The Paper Project: May I See Your Papers, Please?

Beacon Dance kicks off a year-long investigation of paper in The Paper Project, on February 21st, with two performances at 5:00 and 7:00 PM, in the CORE Studio Theater at 139 Sycamore St, in downtown Decatur. In this first installment, May I see your papers, please?, 8 movement artists will engage and entertain during the course of this 50 minute work. Drawing inspiration from the tactile properties of paper, the sounds of paper and the paper making process, the artists seek to introduce the year-long project to the public through this interactive opportunity. Audiences will participate in a variety of ways in the performance, and will contribute to the performance sound score as well as the thematic content of the movement vocabulary. At the conclusion of the performance, a facilitated discussion will bring audience and artists together to discuss the form and the thematic content of the project. “We are looking forward to sharing where we are in this process and to gain insight and feedback from the audiences as we continue to shape and craft how the project will continue to live over the next year or so,” shared project director and Beacon Artistic Director D. Patton White. “We have been experimenting and researching this material for the past four months and are ready to see how it impacts others.” Joining White in the performing ensemble are frequent Beacon performers/collaborators Eleanor Brownfield, Jaehn Clare, Juana Farfan, Jessica Gaines, Lynn Hesse, Susan Keller and for the first time, dancer/choreographer Alex Spitzer. Over the course of the coming year, the project will seek to develop a narrative script that traces a ‘hero’s journey’ and that mirrors the process of paper making. “We visited the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum on the Georgia Tech campus several weeks ago, and found all sorts of new inspiration from the various ways that paper has been manufactured over the centuries,” adds White. “It has its own unique life-cycle, which includes processes of destruction and creation, or as one might say, life and death.” Reservations are encouraged but not required, by emailing info@beacondance.org, or by calling 404.441.9243.