URSA-X, 2023
A muliti-media/ ImMersive performance

URSA-X is an immersive and interdisciplinary performance about change and transition(s). Inspired by the notion that transitions arrive and take on many formations throughout our lives, Liz Rosenfeld and their International team of intergenerational collaborators look at their own notions of transitions beyond binaries of gender, loss and expectations of what life brings our way.

In a fusion of cinematic and performative elements, performers R. Justin Hunt and Liz Rosenfeld encounter URSA in a choreography that understands their own flesh as collaborative material and experiments with practices of physical transmission. Together they reflect on how bodies are alway in a state of flux.

Inspired by the Greek Myth concerning the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, also known as the big a little bear, Liz Rosenfeld shares an immersive cinematic experience about two bodies in various kinds of transitions, deep intimacy and kinship. A special kind of love letter to Rosenfeld's obsession with holes, URSA- X navigates the story of an unfillable hole called URSA. Performers and artists Liz Rosenfeld and R. Justin Hunt have been queer kin and artistic collaborators for over a decade. Both hail from backgrounds in various performance practices and theory, as well film and text. Invited by Liz, URSA- X was created with a team of collaborators who have responded to the questions of transitions, holes, desire, and longing through their expertise and practice in light, sound, text, dramaturgy, costumes and stage design. Visual Artist Sadie Weis, with construction and visionary support from Tech Director Elliott Cennetoglu,  has envisioned a landscape inspired by the holy landscape of Mercury, the only ungendered planet in the solar system. Through light, designer/ artist Joseph Wegmann responds to desire and how holes can serve as timeless portals. Creating a cyclical filmic score, sound artist Neda Sanai has designed a sonic journey with no specific end or beginning. Additionally, sound artist Shara Heshiimu supports this vision, with a special track created for this landscape. Writer Johanna Linsely explores the obsession and nature of holes in a commissioned text for the stage. Together dramaturg an*dre neely and access dramaturg Noa Winter have considered how the bodies of this hole can be seen and supported creatively.  Costume designer Marquet Lee approaches our bodies as skin, and the becoming of what shedding and regeneration can be. Producer Anna von Glasenapp and Artistic Assistant Alex Piasente hold this hole together.

There is a hole and the hole is called URSA.

URSA- X is a 75 min. performance work that takes place in an immersive installation environment. The installation can also be it’s own piece, left as a visual artistic work post performance. Remnants of the performance are left in the space, along with sound, light and videos. URSA- X can be performed and installed in locations such as galleries, museums, theatres, and alternative performance spaces. *There will be a forthcoming publication of the production process, text, images, sound, and set design.

A production by Liz Rosenfeld in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE Berlin and Kampnagel Hamburg. Supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

Credits:
PERFORMANCE/CONCEPT/ DIRECTOR Liz Rosenfeld PERFORMANCE/ARTISTIC COLLABORATION/CHOREOGRAPHY R. Justin Hunt STAGE DESIGN Sadie Weis COMPOSITION/SOUND DESIGN Neda Sanai LIGHT DESIGN Joseph Wegmann ORIGINAL TEXT Johanna Linsley DRAMATURGYAn*dre Neely ACCESSIBILITY DRAMATURGY Noa Winter COSTUME DESIGN Marquet K. Lee TECHNICAL DIRECTION Elliott Cennetoglu ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE Alex Piasente-Szymański ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL SOUND Shara Heshiimu ORIGINAL AUDIO DESCRIPTION Ursina Tossi, Nicole Meyer DISTRIBUTION Kira Koplin/ Groundworkers  PRODUCTION Anna von Glasenapp / High Expectations 

Premiere at Sophiensaele Berlin, April , 2023
Additional performances:
Kampnagel, Hamburg, 2024

FOR BOOKINGS PLEASE CONTACT:

Anna von Glasenapp, High Expectations: anna.vonglasenapp@gmail.com
Kira Koplin, Groundworkers: info@groundworkers.at, www.groundworkers.at
Liz Rosenfeld: liz.rosenfeld@gmail.com