A performance installation that emphasizes responsible stewardship of nature and questions our dependency on fossil fuels. 3 RITES: Life is a work-in-process, of which this will be the first public showing.
“We have not inherited the earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children.” — Wendell Berry
ABOUT THE 3 RITES PROJECT
The United States Declaration of Independence states that, All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness is a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 3 RITES explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body.
LIFE = FUTURE
LIBERTY = PAST
HAPPINESS = PRESENT
ABOUT THE ARTIST – Edisa Weeks
Edisa Weeks (she, her) with her company DELIRIOUS Dances, creates multimedia interactive work that explores our deepest desires, darkest fears and sweetest dreams. She seeks to erase the barriers between art and life, between performance space and audience space, and between mediums. Edisa is a 2022 Harlem Stage Emerging Artist and a 2022 Creative Capital awardee. Her work has been performed in a variety of venues including the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum, and The Kennedy Center; as well as in swimming pools, storefront windows, senior centers, sidewalks and living rooms, including living rooms in Berlin, Germany, as part of Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s 50th anniversary celebration. Weeks grew up in Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Brooklyn, NY, and has a BA from Brown University, and received a full fellowship to attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she obtained an MFA in choreography. She has had the joy of performing with Annie–B Parson’s Big Dance Theater, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co., Dance Brazil, Homer Avila, Jane Comfort, Jon Kinzel, Muna Tseng, Reggie Wilson Fist & Heel Performance Group, Sally Silvers, Spencer/Colton Dance, among others. In addition, she danced in the 2016 Bessie award-winning performance by The Skeleton Architecture. She is on the Board of Directors for Movement Research, and is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance at Queens College CUNY, where she teaches modern technique, improvisation, choreography, the collaborative process and mentors emerging artists. Learn more at deliriousdances.com.
3 RITES is produced by Marýa Wethers and commissioned and presented by 651 ARTS, with co-commissioners Billie Holiday Theater, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Mount Tremper Arts, and National Performance Network.