LIZ LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE
Molecules meet movement on the genetic frontier

As molecular science pushes against the biological boundaries that have always defined humanity, something is pushing back. Once-theoretical questions are fast becoming very real ethical dilemmas: How far should we go with genetic engineering? Will the pursuit of “perfection” eventually doom diversity? Do we really want to live forever?

Acclaimed choreographer and performance artist Liz Lerman has pondered these questions for years, and she explores them brilliantly in Ferocious Beauty: Genome, a multimedia work performed by her nationally known ensemble, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

For three decades, the Dance Exchange has taken an innovative approach to its work, defining dance as a multi-generational and multi-disciplinary art form that combines movement, music, video, and the spoken word. In this two-act piece, which premiered in 2006 after three years of collaborative research with a team of scientists, ethicists, and other artists, Lerman’s troupe presents a thought-provoking tapestry of sight, sound, and movement that explores both the promise and the threat of the new biological age.

The work takes several different perspectives and employs a variety of artistic techniques to explore a thoroughly modern space: the frontiers of molecular biology. It’s an area that is both fascinating and a bit terrifying for Liz Lerman, a renowned artist whose penchant for innovation and passion for social issues earned her a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” fellowship in 2002.

At its core, Ferocious Beauty: Genome is a creative and intriguing lens: a provocative prism through which we see where science is today and where it might lead us tomorrow.