”Seeing is enough to create…” THE OBSERVER EFFECT.

In this richly layered performance a dancer, two musicians, and a video artist respond to the quantum puzzle that there is no passive witnessing in the universe, and we are at once subject and object of our own creative forces. Created collaboratively by four artists, the piece is both structured and improvisational, with the performers responding to a spacious and alive score that supports moment to moment decision making. Inviting, visceral and abstract this interdisciplinary work deeply engages the viewer in an otherworldly and dream-like experience. Dancer/choreographer Tracy Broyles grew up in Maryland and is a 1995 UMBC graduate, returning for the first time to the area to perform. She is working with live musicians Adrian Hutapea and Lisa DeGrace, and video artist Stephen Miller.

THE OBSERVER EFFECT originally premiered at the Headwaters Theater in Portland, Oregon, and was created with support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and residencies at Studio Two and Water in the Desert.

Tracy Broyles is a choreographer and performer based in Portland, Oregon. Over the past 16 years, she has created dances for living rooms, forests, dirt boxes, abandoned warehouses, stairways and bars, as well as studios and theaters. She has numerous grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and created 7 evening lengths works to date. She participated in the 2010 Deborah Hay Solo Commissioning Project in Findhorn, Scotland, and performed the subsequent solo in San Fransisco, Oakland, and at the 2012 Risk/Reward Festival in Portland. She has been in artist residency throughout the Northwest at Caldera, Water in the Desert, Studio Two, and Signal Fire. Broyles’ choreography has been called “transformative, rich with psychological lures,” (Portland Mercury) and her performances are “mesmerizing and compelling.” (Ultra/PDX). She is a sought after teacher and workshop facilitator, earned her B.A. in Dance at UMBC in 1995, and is very grateful to Carol Hess and the UMBC community for support in bringing her work back home.

Lisa DeGrace primarily creates and performs music for dancers. She describes her work as “environmental soundcapes,” developed from layers of vocal manipulation, sound clips, and live & recorded instrumentation. Her scores offer grounding for narrative, movement, and mood. Current sound interests include tree bark, rocks, subways, and train bells. And voices. Always voices. DeGrace has developed scores for and performed in almost 20 moody little works over the past 10 years, and is only getting moodier. She has a degree in composition from Hampshire College. In addition to composition work, DeGrace creates performance pieces steeped in her training as a clown. Don’t be scared.

Adrian Hutapea is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and performer. Currently his work is mainly rooted in collaborations with dancers, creating space and conscious intent for movers. Hutapea has worked in bands, as a solo live electronic artist, and in interdisciplinary artist settings. He has composed for dance pieces over the past 10 years including We Two Boys (2011 & 2012), Being Moved(2013, 2014, 2015), The Observer Effect (2013), and Rhinoceros (2014).

Stephen A. Miller was born and raised in Portland, and discovered photography early on as a way to express himself. Through the past 22 years, he has covered a wide variety of subjects, while steadily becoming more interested in unearthing the human psyche, pointing his lens at the “invisible subjects” in his life and the world. In the last two years he has created several installations using still photography and video, both as solo projects and as collaborations with other artists. Recent work includes collaborations with Tracy Broyles (The Observer Effect), Meshi Chavez (Rhinoceros) and Liminal Theater (Stein). His most recent original work is Adaptation.

Image credit: Jill Marie