Electric Midwife is choreographer Beth Gill's most recent work. Premiering in 2011, it received multiple Bessie awards, and continues to be performed both nationally and internationally. Conceived from a fusion of concept and form, Electric Midwife is a performance of symmetry, in which six women form two trios that mirror each other's movements with a kind of hyper-precision. The dancers' actions create an intricately patterned tapestry in which the lines of their bodies trace the space and outline the two corridors within which they encompass.
Originally performed in the intimate confines of The Chocolate Factory Theater, Electric Midwife is presented as part of the River to River Festival on Pier 15, where the audience is invited to witness this highly formal and structured dance in the open air surrounded by water. Performed to a live sound score by Bessie-award winning composer Jon Moniaci, each performance on Pier 15 takes place at dusk with the backdrop of sunset as a natural light source for the dance.
Additional support for this project was provided in part by funds from American Express, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.
