The Set Up is the second movement of Rachel Bernsen’s loose performance suite, Novel Formats. Each movement invites a different group of artists to experiment with a fluid vision of performance, utilizing their range of expertise and individuality in the service of enacting her improvisational and choreographic structures. Novel Formats #2: The Set Up uses the dynamic of three as its defining structure to explore synthesis, harmony, and discord within the construct of an interdisciplinary performing ensemble.
Many of Rachel Bernsen’s projects are investigations in collaboration and improvisation. Her series, Novel Formats #1-7, is a set of seven performance events, each prompted by the desire to rethink the understanding of and experience with improvisation as a form of performance and explore the boundaries between real time decision making and overt theatricality.
Ellen Smith Ahern – dancer https://ellensmithahern.com/
Julian Barnett – dancer https://www.julianbarnett.com/
Rachel Bernsen – dancer/director/instigator https://rachelbernsen.com/
Kyoko Kitamura – vocalizer, keyboards https://www.
Mac Waters – electronics, violist https://macwaters.