A b b y   B e n d e r

Evolved from a site-specific collaboration in a room slated for demolition, the performers sculpt a visually visceral work intended to honor places that will be/have been abandoned - a particular room, or a particular room in our hearts, or a particular heart.  The characters who inhabit this house of mirrors are richly drawn - from a gum-snapping teenage misfit, to a dedicated scientist witnessing the extinction of a species and they grapple with love and loss in myriad forms. With dances stolen from vaudeville, songs borrowed from nature, and a vow of eccentric simplicity, secret exchanges grounded in deeply physical humor become a social event. Using a flawed barter system, the duo trade both voices and histories, allowing joyful glee to amplify intimacy as they confront multiple disasters natural, personal and imaginary. Totally Other is a work that "gets outside itself in some rather remarkable ways" while revealing in precise detail the awkwardness and beauty of the personalities we all carry inside us. Choreographed, written, and performed by Abby Bender and Cassie Tunick.