Catching Waves:
Oblique Strategies as a Choreographic Process

Premiere: September 18, 2022

Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA

Costumes: Angela Sigley Grossman

Lighting: RJ Craig

Performers: William Brazdzionis, Dani Curtin, Rachel Halkias, and Thalia Mendez, with Becky Joy and Magdalene Larrabee

Synopsis: In 1975, musician Brian Eno and painter Peter Schmidt developed Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards containing suggestions for new ways of approaching creative work. In the Fall of 2021, Angela Sigley Grossman was granted sabbatical leave to research the Oblique Strategies as a choreographic process. While not originally intended to be physically embodied, the cards became the prompts for movement explorations, utilizing the body as the means of expression. This performance is the culmination of the embodied choreographic research. Throughout the process, cards were randomly pulled from the deck, and movement sequences were choreographed in response. 62 cards were pulled in the creation of this work, some twice. These separate movement sequences were then developed, manipulated, and combined to create the work performed today. At the heart of the movement explorations is the spirit of experimentation. This work was not developed with a theme or narrative in mind. Viewers might (and are encouraged to) create meaning for themselves about what they see.