The Matter of Origins September 10, 2010

Commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Matter of Origins opens the season with what Liz Lerman describes as “a performance, a conversation, a floor show, a quiz show and a chance to meet big minds.” The work uses science as its point of departure but even though the company has engaged physicists to help them explore the topic, The Matter of Origins is not just a dance about physics but a lively meditation on the capacity of the human mind to imagine, discern, speculate and
draw conclusions.
Act One is a dance performance illuminated by video and a vivid soundscape, exploring the nature of beginnings and the physics that underlies the origin of matter. Lerman has conducted extensive research into historic and current points of reference including the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Act Two will incorporate tea and conversation as Dance Exchange cast members serve tea and chocolate cake made from the famous recipe of Edith Warner, the Los Alamos local whose tea house was a gathering spot for the scientists at the Manhattan Project. This experience will allow audiences to respond to what they’ve seen and contribute their own insights to the spirit of discovery at the heart of The Matter of Origins.

Funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation.