Vestigial
Photo by Laniya Smith
November 2023
26 minutes
Music and Sound by Jean C. Roché, P. Bruce, David Boynton, Mariolina Zitta, Pauline Oliveros, Lisa Dillan, Øyvind Storesund and Else Olsen Storesund
Originally performed by Aubrey Conrad, Anna Joyce, Rya Kotarski, Julie Peebles, and Victoria Williams
Performances:
November 17-18 — Coleman Theater, UNC Greensboro UNCG Fall Dances Concert Excerpt
November 16 — Weatherspoon Art Museum Greensboro, NC
After a period of illnesses caused by mosquitos, human deforestation, the introduction of invasive species and numerous hurricanes in Hawaii, the Kaua’i ʻōʻō bird was deemed extinct. The last recording of the bird was made in 1987 by David Boynton. The bird, a male in search of a female, was unaware that he would never receive a reply. Vestigial attempts to express the solitude, desolation and disorder that is experienced by those under the boot of man’s carelessness and greed. What do we need to progress? What do we have? Do we need what we have?
Photos by Laniya Smith
Full length performance at Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC Filmed by Alexa Velez November 2023