Open Dance Project Premieres Retro-Futuristic Panopticon.

For Immediate Release

MEDIA CONTACT

Open Dance Project | Annie Arnoult

annie@opendanceproject.org | 773-398-9532

Open Dance Project Premieres Retro-Futuristic Panopticon

(HOUSTON, Texas, February 14, 2019) — Open Dance Project presents the world premiere of Panopticon — the company’s newest immersive work set in the year 2151. Panopticon is an hour-long immersive production choreographed by Annie Arnoult in collaboration with the performers and inspired by Open Dance Project’s research into the sci-fi world of retro-futuristic dystopias. Set in a world where “citizens” are constantly being watched, a la George Orwell’s 1984, Panopticon follows two would-be lovers struggling with their desire for physical and emotional intimacy in a world where deep, human connection is forbidden.

“Panopticon” refers to a glass prison designed by the 18th century social philosopher and theorist Jeremy Bentham where all (“pan”) inmates could be watched (“opticon”) over by one guard, situated securely and invisibly inside a central tower, unseen by the prisoners themselves. Because the prisoners did not know if or when they were being watched at any one moment in time, the policing power of the guard’s vision was both constant and completely independent of the guard’s actual presence in the tower. French philosopher Michel Foucault seized on Bentham’s Panopticon as the symbol of the disciplinary power of the surveillance state – a central theme in the dystopian classics Brave New World and 1984, both of which provide fodder and inspiration for Open Dance Project’s new work.

Important Note: Panopticon is an hour long immersive production, with audience and set pieces moving throughout. There is no traditional audience seating. The performance is wheelchair accessible.

Press Review Tickets, photos, interviews and open rehearsals available by request. Please contact Annie Arnoult, annie@opendanceproject.org

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WHEN: Runs Fridays and Saturdays, March 15 – 23, 7pm and 9pm

Thursday, March 21, 7pm

WHERE: MATCH, 3400 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002

TICKETS: www.matchouston.org, $20-$35, Group discounts available

STAFF: Annie Arnoult (Choreographer), Garreth Broesche (Music Curation),

Lauren Cascio (Props Design), David Deveau (Lighting and Projection Design), Bryan Ealey (Projection and Sound Design), Ashley Horn (Costume Design), Lynn Lane (Photographer), Ryan McGettigan (Set Design), Christina Maley (Production and Stage Manager)

DANCERS: Annie Arnoult, Brittany Thetford Deveau, Tehillah Joy Hartmann, Taylor

McAnulty, Seth McPhail, Alisa Mittin, Alonzo Moore, Stacy Skolnik, Joseph Stevens, Davis Stumberg, Jaime Vergara

THE COMPANY: Open Dance Project is a contemporary dance-theater company, under the direction of Annie Arnoult, whose ensemble-driven work transforms literary, historical, and community based source material into highly stylized performance experiences. Through a collision of dance and theater, live performance and new media, urban grit and magical realism, Open Dance Project breaks down conventional barriers between artist and audience to make dance more accessible and meaningful for both. Open Dance Project is on the TCA Touring Artists Roster and is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. The company brings high quality interdisciplinary arts education and arts integration to Houston school children through its extensive education and community engagement program and partners with Young Audiences of Houston and the Houston Arts Access Initiative to work towards arts equity in Houston schools.