The Tug of War: Where Conflict Resides (August 2014)
A collaborative multi-media performance featuring 40 artists at Billings Open Studio
"We and you ought not to pull on the ends of a rope which you have tied the knots of war. Because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you. I have participated in two wars and know that war ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom, they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence." ~ Robert McNamara qting Khrushchev in the film Fog of War (2003).
Artists: Dan Mont Eton, Corina Kinnear, Dave Caserio, Parker Brown, Troy Kreiger, Matt Taggart, Camille Griep, Ethan Stewart, Ricki Feeley, Amber Nichols, Billie Parrott, Heather Sather, Kersey Voss, Jessica Hannesson, Frankie Parrot, Katie Conrad, Kate Blakeslee, Allison Kazmierski, Heather Sather, Olivia Brown, Hunter Howe, Teal Darkenwald (contributing choreographer), Kira Fercho, Vincent Severo, Jayme Green, Patrick Scott-Wilson, Riley Wisler, Sam Phillips, Dave Schanno, Chris Monson, Nicolle Ament, and students from the Billings Dance Academy. Flagship sponsor: CMYK Community.
PC: Allison Kazmierski + Doug James
“GREAT DIVIDE | CAMILLE GRIEP
In old paintings, the land was shaped just so - cradling our collective dreams. If it were ourselves, our own hearts we’d painted, they’d be as purple as the mountains’ majesty. Half the hearts followed the blue oceans, a coastline of song. The rest stayed to work in the red sun, to build the new and the brave.
They dismiss our music. We eschew their sculpture. All of us fail to write the great American novel.
//translated from “The Gift Outright.” by Robert Frost//”
Heather Sather. Photo by Doug James (2014)
America Simon & Garfunkel | Lyrics by Paul Simon (1965)
Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigarette I think there's one in the raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Cathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
Tug of War: Where Conflict Resides
On your Ear | Audience
Echoed Voices | Ethan Stewart, Allison Kazmierski, Heather Sather, Michelle Chenoweth, and Daniel Mont Eton
Memories Hung | Rope Chorus
A Shovel of Dirt, May I present to you | Kersey Voss, Michael Pasini
Hope | Nicolle Ament (choreographer), Kate Blakeslee and Troy Krieger
Imagine | Nicolle Ament (choreographer), Kate Blakeslee, Hanna Ament, Kayla Sutton, Robbin Sitton, Troy Krieger, Parker Brown
Great Divide | Camille Griep
America | Camille Griep (choreographer), Heather Sather, Krista Leigh Pasini
My Battle | Jayme Green, Olivia Brown, Parker Brown, Troy Krieger
A Terrible Music | Dave Caserio and Parker Brown
Apples to Apples | Matt Taggart, Ricki Feeley and Terpsichore Dance Co.
Inequity of Resources | Rope Chorus
Peacemaker … Die | Corina Kinnear, Jake Batts
Senators Sons | Riley Wisler, Jayme Green, Patrick Scott-Wilson (director), Hanna Ament, Kayla Sutton
A bundle of “nots” | Rope Chorus
From the Kitchen of Helena Wilson | Camille Griep
To the Teeth | Amber Nichols
An Accepted Lot | Rope Chorus
Errant Tension | Jayme Green, Riley Wisler, Hunter Howe
Years | Daniel Mont Eton and Corrina Kinnear
Vermont Etiology | Dave Caserio, Parker Brown and Chris Monson
Gone | Teal Darkenwald (choreographer), Heather Sather, Allison Kazmierski, Kate Blakeslee, Krista Leigh Pasini, Olivia Brown
Clean Slate | Michael Pasini and Troy Krieger
We Ask of You | Full Cast
Apple Bite Bow | Full Cast