Biome

choreographed by Jodi Lamask. premieres on 10 November in La Gran Via, San Salvador

Credit: MEL LINDSTROM PHOTOGRAPHY

To a literalist, dance is a celebration of the human body. Of course, it can also allude to other organisms — even, in the case of San Francisco-based choreographer Jodi Lomask, to the relationships between them. Biome, a new work by Lomask's company Capacitor, has its premiere in San Salvador this week. Like her previous pieces, it began with research scientists — here including the tropical-tree ecologist Nalini Nadkarni — sharing their insights.

The result, Lomask stresses, does not attempt to convey scientific concepts; it uses the ideas as a jumping-off point. Audience members preoccupied with looking for metaphors will find themselves frustrated. The goal, says Lomask, is to “draw attention to open spaces and the importance of pristine biomes”.

Ecological phenomena are strongly referenced in the show's preview film, shot in the Monteverde cloud forest of Costa Rica and screened at this year's meeting of the Ecological Society of America in San Jose, California. A naked dancer unfurls herself towards the Sun, capturing with uncanny precision the jerky grace of a plant in a time-lapse movie. Another creeps, vine-like, up a huge tree; yet more lithe bodies cram themselves into a hollow trunk, like a colony of fungal parasites. “Both artists and scientists are working to show what's really there,” says Lomask.

Engaging with the biological community is a change of direction for Capacitor. Her previous shows Digging in the Dark and Within Outer Spaces were inspired by geology and astrophysics. With performances at universities, theatres, nightclubs, schools, corporate events and fringe festivals, the company has reached a large number of people. The new show will add a shopping mall in Central America to that list.

Capacitor's next piece, called Urban Canopies, premieres in December 2008 at the opening of the new California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park.