Speak Out. Act Up. Move Forward.
DeAnna Pellecchia
Ingrid Schatz
Shaw Pong Liu
Alison Kotin
Speak Out. Act Up. Move Forward. was a multimedia contemporary dance performance created by 10 Boston public high school students in partnership with acclaimed choreographic team DeAnna Pellecchia and Ingrid Schatz, digital media artist Alison Kotin, and composer Shaw Pong Liu.
Teens and their adult mentors developed a cross-disciplinary, genre-blending dance performance highlighting the challenges young people face in learning to stand up for their beliefs, express themselves, and defy social expectations and peer pressure. For four months teen dancers worked with Pellecchia and Schatz to create original choreography and text, responding to historic and contemporary acts of civil disobedience from Occupy Boston to the Tiananmen Square protests.
Working with Liu and Kotin, students contributed to the development of an original music score and an interactive digital sound stage that opened to the public in Urbano’s gallery after the project’s final performances. Teens from project partner Medicine Wheel Productions worked with Urbano’s teen artists, creating a dynamic, human-powered stage set from moveable sculpture components.
Speak Out. Act Up. Move Forward. was performed for the public at the Massachusetts State House, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and in Urbano's gallery.
DeAnna Pellecchia is a dancer, athlete, aerialist, actress, and choreographer committed to collaboratively creating multi-sensory works of live art.
Ingrid Schatz is a Boston-based dancer and choreographer.
Boston-based violonist, Shaw Pong Liu creates performance collaborations which interplay improvised music, narration and audience interaction.
Alison Kotin's work explores the interplay of performance and digital media through motion and touch-activated pieces modeled on musical instruments.