Past Performing Arts

Ann Carlson

The Symphonic Body/Food

Artist Residency

Ann Carlson, foreground, conducts an orchestra

The Symphonic Body/Food is an orchestral dance work built entirely from gestures. Instead of using instruments, individuals from many corners of the food system in Columbus create evocative portraits onstage constructed from the movements they do every day—from sitting in a meeting to teaching a cooking class to pulling a carrot out of the ground. Part social sculpture and part jazz improvisation, The Symphonic Body/Food offers a one-of-a-kind window into the breadth of labor, passion, and struggle that makes up the complex web of how we nourish each other and ourselves.

The Symphonic Body/Food marks Carlson’s return to the Wexner Center. One of our first Artist Residency Award recipients, the celebrated choreographer and performance artist premiered her work WHITE here in 1992. She is completing this latest project working in residence at the Wex and with several community partners. The cast of performers spans individuals from across campus and Columbus—from members of Local Matters, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, NNEMAP Food Pantry, Ohio State’s Department of Dance, and the university’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation to local growers, a hunter, a chef, breastfeeding moms, food pantry volunteers, teens from Godman Guild, and staff from the Wexner Center itself.

Each performance features a film produced by the center’s Film/Video Studio and directed by Studio Editor Alexis McCrimmon as well as a complimentary, light vegan meal prepared onstage by Columbus’s Willowbeez Soulveg.

Please note: special event parking ($5) is available in Ohio Union South Garage for the Friday, April 12, performance. Free parking is available all day in any Ohio State garage Saturday, April 13. Please allow extra time for travel and parking.

Ann Carlson, foreground, conducts an orchestra

Ann Carlson, The Symphonic Body, photo: Toni Gauthier, courtesy of Stanford Arts Institute

Ann Carlson, center stage, conducts an orchestra

Ann Carlson, The Symphonic Body, photo: Toni Gauthier, courtesy of Stanford Arts Institute

Ann Carlson’s Wexner Center residency and The Symphonic Body/Food are made possible by a grant from The Ohio State University’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT), a Discovery Themes program. Generous support is provided by Cardinal Health.

MAJOR SEASON SUPPORT FOR PERFORMING ARTS
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

EVENT SUPPORT
Ohio State’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT)
Cardinal Health

ACCOMMODATIONS
The Blackwell Inn

SUPPORT FOR ARTS ACCESS AT THE WEXNER CENTER
Cardinal Health Foundation
Huntington Bank

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT FOR THE WEXNER CENTER
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation

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Past Performing Arts

Ann Carlson