Occultation

In collaboration with Argentinian writer, Tomás Downey, this duet responds to Downey’s short story Astronaut. When one character finds herself losing her relationship to gravity, she delights in and fears her new, unbound perspective. Through an attention to falling, levitating feet, veiled separation, shadow bodies, and impossibility, the duet grieves what is lost and reaches towards something new. The dance features intricate gestures, intimate partnering, and rhythmic pairing, using the theatrical elements of the stage space to attempt impossible relationships to gravity.

I wonder what will befall me as I approach the window and look up. What’s beyond the grey sky? Will I burn like an asteroid or drown in the void of space? How quickly will I rise?

Performance by: Madison Burkhart and Ruby Gentzler
Text written by: Tomás Downey
Music by: San Ignacio

Space Place Theater, Iowa City, IA
Duration: 7:20
October 2025