"Light is a powerful substance. We have a primal connection to it... I like to work with it so that you feel it physically, so you feel the presence of light inhabiting a space. Japanese Buddhas are traditionally covered with gold not to honor their greatness but to reflect the candlelight in the darkness of the temple."
- James Turrell, artist

LIGHTS consist of three dancers using six-foot fluorescent fixtures in a voluminous black space. Shifting the lights, turning them on and off, continuously transforms the space and illuminates a routine of precise body movements. Structures appear, shift and become blushes of light.

The piece utilizes the idea that what happens in the shadows of a performance space is as captivating and seductive as what happens in the spot light.

Choreography Maria Hassabi
Performers Luciana Achugar, Jenny Argyriou, Maria Hassabi
Set design Thomas Sandbichler
Music Azores
Costumes Stelios Stylianou

Shows

2002
- Athens, Greece - March

2001
- Fringe Tomar International Festival of Contemporary Dance, Portugal - September
- Biennale of young artists of Europe and the Mediterranean, Sarajevo - July
- PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, NY - July
- Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church, NY
- Dixon Place, NY

CREDITS

LIGHTS received funding from the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture.

PRESS

"The sound of a tree crashing down without witness. The falling shapes behind your eyelids. "Lights" is a stunning new dance piece choreographed by Maria Hassabi..."
V MAGAZINE, Ranjani Gopalarathinam, September 2001