Contemporary Dance Performance in Art Installation “States of Meditation” (SF)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Local artist Erin Zhao and contemporary dancer Moscelyne Parkeharrison, collaborate on a performance centered on “States of Meditation”.
About this event
Please join us for an afternoon performance by Moscelyne ParkeHarrison in collaboration with local artist, Haoyun Erin Zhao and her most recent site-specific installation at Heron Arts, “States of Meditation”, with music by Daniel Berkman. Tickets are donation-based. Please donate what you can to support the artists and the space for this event.
The performance will feature two 24 minutes sets from the contemporary ballet dancer, Moscelyne ParkeHarrison, with music by Daniel Berkman. The installation is composed of 24 sheets of silk cyanotype created by Zhao. The work reflects upon the idea of change through a non-linear visual narrative that parallels different states of meditation, from restlessness and mind-wandering, to concentration, stillness, emptiness, and everything in between.
Seats are limited. Please arrive early to reserve a seat. Please email us ahead of time if you require assistance.
Working with light-sensitive fabric, Zhao utilizes her body and wood cutouts as UV resists to express in an alternative language, resulting in images that dwell between figure and amorphousness. The process relies on chance and control. The artist worked closely with ever-changing natural elements, like light intensity, wind speed, and time, while deliberately choosing the labor-intensive process of treating, dyeing, washing, drying, and sewing hundreds of yards of silk organza.
Through this highly experimental and process-driven work, Zhao explores the connections between physical and non-physical mediums while further contemplating the interrelationship between self, other beings, and the environment. Visitors are encouraged to walk around the installation and sit on a meditation cushion placed within the work to experience it from various perspectives.
Bios:
Moscelyne (she/her) is a graduate of The Juilliard School (’19) where she received the Joseph W. Polisi Award for Artist as Citizen. Moscelyne pursued additional training at Hubbard Street Pro (’20) and Walnut Hill School for the Arts (’15) and summer workshops including b12, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Jacob’s Pillow.
Moscelyne’s choreographic works have been performed at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Alice Tully Hall, the Hudson Guild Theater, The Studebaker Theater (Chicago), the Foundry West Stockbridge and Triskelion Arts. She has received support from the Anthony Quinn Foundation Fellowship, Berkshire Taconic Foundation, and Metropolis Ensemble for her choreography.
Moscelyne dances professionally on the East and West Coast with Post:ballet, David Michalek, Francesca Harper, Liz Gerring, and Helen Simoneau. She is director of NEFA and MassCulturalCouncil award winning dance collective BODYSONNET. The collective has created and premiered nine site specific works in the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, New York City, and Northwest Arkansas and premiered three dance films since launching in 2020.
She moved to the Bay Area in early 2022 as a company artist with Post:ballet, and faculty member at Berkeley Ballet Theater. Her world premiere ‘say i am you’ was performed by Post:ballet at BAMPFA in March 2022. Shortly after Moscelyne was named Choreographer in Residence. She looks forward to dancing and creating in the Bay Area with Post:ballet, and pinkslip her duo with composer Trey Makler, as well as continuing her work as director of the solo series ‘please come alone.’
Haoyun Erin Zhao is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Francisco, California, working in printmaking, painting, sculpture, and installation. Growing up in Southern China where ethnic art and cultures inspired Zhao’s early interest in how hand-repetition involved creating intricate patterns and forms, she was motivated to develop a creative expression that unifies body and mind. The artist’s relocation to the United States at the age of seventeen introduced her to a new set of cultures and influences. As her exposure to eastern and western influence grows and intersects, it led her interest to explore and investigate multicultural influences on human psychology, aesthetics, and activity. Rooted in her study of Eastern and Western Philosophy, Zhao’s work explores the intangibility of perception through the physicality of her materials. Paying particular attention to the interaction of light, color, and form, Zhao uses transparency and abstraction to mimic the ethereal and elusive nature of human consciousness. Through her practice, the artist continues to experience and explore the connections between physical objects and non-physical mediums (e.g., light, emotion, consciousness, etc.)
Commissioned by IBM in 2020, Zhao created a mixed media installation that explores the relationship between art and blockchain technology to promote sustainability. She’s the recipient of Facebook Open Arts/Artist in Residence, Edition/Basel Printmaking Residency (Basel, Switzerland), Kala Art Institute Artist in Residence (Berkeley, U.S.), Mission Gráfica Printmaking Residency (SF, U.S.), In Cahoots Residency (Petaluma, U.S.), Hearts in SF Project by Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, Thousand-Island Lake Art Project (Zhejiang, China), etc. The artist’s work has been published in various magazines and exhibited in museums, galleries, and art fairs at venues such as de Young Museum, Art Santa Fe Contemporary Art Fair, International Print Center New York, Galerie Kuchling Berlin, Root Division SF, Sanchez Art Center, Glass Rice Gallery, The Compound Gallery Oakland, etc. Her work is in the collections of Facebook, IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Boston Children’s Hospital, Guizhou Minzu University (China), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (NYC), Kala Art Institute, and numerous private collections.

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