Rebecca Lemme and Andrea Gise Team Up for TET4ERING

TET4ERING | Image by Rebecca Lemme and Andrea Gise

On April 13-14, Rebecca Lemme (Dance MFA 13) and Andrea Gise (Dance MFA 14) will bring together their two LA-based dance companies for Live Arts LA. The performance, which they titled TET4ERING, brings together Lemme’s dance company, Acts of Matter, and Gise’s multimedia and choreographic platform, DANCE AEGIS, creating an artistic juxtaposition where each work informs the other, transcending the identity of the individual artists.

Lemme’s Acts of Matter will premiere I/D, an exploration of the different ways identity is constructed—how assumptions about the places we’re from and the way we look impact how we are viewed by others. The piece looks at how the very act of accepting or rejecting these markers becomes a part of who we are. Using the personal stories of the performers on stage, I/D suggests that despite these apparent indicators of distinction, we are united in the recognition that our identities are larger than the sum of their parts.

Gise’s DANCE AEGIS will premiere Fission/Fusion and the dance film TWELVE. Fission/Fusion is a choreographic experiment based on the scientific concept of the same name, in which individuals gather (fusion) and disperse (fission) into different sized social groupings as they move throughout their environment. As group dynamics morph and shift, new meanings and motivations arise. Each section of the work features a new collection of dancers and pulls inspiration from their unique stories. Composer J.C. Scheid’s original music is responsive to the group, assigning each performer their own instrumentation which travels with them throughout the piece.

Lemme founded Acts of Matter in 2014 and the company has performed regularly throughout Los Angeles and Chicago at venues like LA Contemporary Dance Company, Heidi Duckler Dance Theater, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, Los Angeles Theater Center, and the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival.  Additionally, she has toured nationally with contemporary repertory companies like Luna Negra Dance Theater, River North Dance Chicago, and Hedwig Dances. She’s also an assistant professor at California State University, Long Beach.

Gise is a choreographer, educator, and artistic director of LA-based DANCE AEGIS. Her work integrates dance with film, media, and interactive technology. Her choreography has been seen in venues all over New York City, and more recently in Los Angeles. Her dance films and music videos have received national and international screenings. Gise also works as an Arts Integration Specialist, using Dance to teach core subjects in public schools. She teaches dance to students of all ages in studio environments and is currently on faculty at Pasadena City College.

Tickets for TET4ERING start at $15 for students and $20 for the general public.

—by Oscar Burrows-Rangel