Miller Rothlein will kick off its 2012-2013 season in the White Space at the Crane Arts Old School with a return to two of their favorite pieces. The program, Double Bill, includes two pieces performed by Artistic Director, Amanda Miller with live visuals and lighting by Tobin Rothlein and James Clotfelter. The performances will run November 1-4 at The Crane Arts Old School, located at 1417 N. 2nd Street (two blocks north of Girard Avenue). Single tickets to MIRO shows are $20. MIRO is offering a $65 Season Pass that includes all-access admission to four productions, exclusive events for season pass holders, and a ticket to Cinco de MIRO, the company’s annual fundraiser. Ticket and subscription information is available online at http://www.millerrothlein.org/ or by calling 267-888-MIRO (6476).

This Double Bill features two MIRO favorites that highlight Miller’s dancing and movement, the video, animation, and visual installation of company co-founder and Producing Artistic Director, Tobin Rothlein, and the lighting and technical design of James Clotfelter. The program features Self Portrait and generate. degenerate. two MIRO works that have toured the country multiple times.

Performed within an installation of relics from the performer’s life, Self Portrait responds to the work of artist Frida Kahlo with a visceral and lo-tech drawing of movement, body, liquid, and line.

A living sculpture, Self Portrait combines live animation, video, still imagery, and demanding physical movement.  Inspired by Frida Kahlo’s paintings and diary, MIRO creates a performance tapestry out of a single dancing body.  Among the personal tokens of a life, the dancer literally becomes a canvas, as vivid color, light, and text are projected/hand-drawn upon her moving surfaces.  The choreography explores containment, revealing the depths below the surface of any self-representation.

With generate. degenerate., Miller Rothlein leaves computers and video projectors behind to create an off-the-grid, multi-medium performance using only the kinetic power generated by three performers, two bicycles, and a hand-cranked phonograph.  A woman. Bicycles. Moving forwards. Backwards. Nowhere. Gone.  The challenge: to make and perform a multi-media piece using only sustainable energy.  In generate. degenerate., the sound, media, and light are powered entirely by the physical actions of the performers.  Aided by a score of vintage country and western, a life is simultaneously told and erased in the telling.

“These pieces are really close to the company and our aesthetic. Both of them are so much about being present in the room with the work.  They must be experienced live.   For the people who have seen them, they have had a strong impact,” said Tobin Rothlein. “We have toured the works, but were aware that a lot of people in our home base of Philadelphia had never had a chance to see these works.  We wanted to provide another chance for us to revisit them and for the community to re-view, or see them for the first time, and get to know Miller Rothlein better.”

Double Bill Schedule
Double Bill            November 1        7:30pm
Double Bill            November 2        7:30pm
Double Bill            November 3        7:30pm
Double Bill            November 4        2:00pm

About Miller Rothlein

Tension. Friction. Synthesis

Company founders Amanda Miller and Tobin Rothlein create works at the intersection of art and performance. They’ve made performance pieces in museums, art installations for the stage, and site-specific works. Miller Rothlein encourages audiences to re-consider and re-evaluate what art and performance can be — and where it can go.

Amanda’s background is in dance.

Tobin comes from visual art and film.

Miller Rothlein strikes a tenuous balance.  And there are sparks.