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"This work makes me really think about my daily life and the loops and patterns I find myself in."
— J.J. Kovacevich, Performer, Troika Ranch
What is the moment that allows you to break free of your repetitive patterns? That question inspires a grueling two-year quest by an award-winning international dance-theater-media company to create its next great work.
Troika Ranch dancers rehearse in Berlin, Germany.In loopdiver: The Journey of a Dance, filmmakers go behind-the-scenes to follow the members of Troika Ranch as they struggle with the extreme physical and emotional demands of creating an experimental new work.
What begins as an experiment involving the loops and repetitions created by today's computerized modern world evolves into a complex exploration into the repetitive patterns in which ordinary people find themselves trapped. Over the course of two years, company members struggle with their own inner turmoil as they master the work’s complicated choreography.
The development of loopdiver begins with a simple idea: to explore the concept of loops. Real-life inspiration comes when company members visit a rehabilitation hospital and see first-hand the repetitive motions some patients must perform in an effort to regain mobility and function. The same motion-sensing technology used to create the dance work is used by the patients to control music and video as part of their own rehabilitation. As the team witnesses "the looping" among the rehabilitation patients, it has a dramatic impact on the creative work.
Company members perform "loopdiver."Out of this experience, Troika Ranch creates loopdiver, a live, avant-garde multimedia dance work for six performers that interweaves looped choreography, music, interactive visuals and lighting in an effort to explore the challenges of breaking free of the loops and patterns people encounter in everyday life.
The program travels with the company to Berlin, Germany, and follows their artistic residency in Lincoln, Nebraska, as they create and perform this difficult and emotionally powerful new dance work.
Find additional information about the documentary, including video extras, at http://www.netnebraska.org/extras/loopdiver/.
Discover more about the Troika Ranch and its members at http://www.troikaranch.org/.
