6 minutes 14 seconds

from Endless Songs 2002
suite of three videos
20 Minutes

dance improvisations by
Mary Anne Santos Newhall
music composed and performed by
Joan La Barbara
mask by Nancy Reyner

Egon Schiele honors the figures of Egon Schiele, the Austrian Expressionist painter, and Mary Wigman, the German Expressionist dancer. It is the second in a suite of videos, Endless Songs, that seeks to combine the creative expression of the past with contemporary voices. The dance improvisation is inspired by a re-creation of Wigman’s Hexentanz and by Schiele’s fearless exploration of the emotional landscape of the body. The dance video is a contemporary response to the kinetic information in historic work and reflects an ongoing dialogue with that time period, the original choreographer, the painter, and the gestural ideas of expressionism.

This project emerged through collaborative improvisations with choreographer, dance historian, and performer Mary Anne Santos Newhall. Composer and extended vocal techniques pioneer Joan La Barbara created and performed the original music, blending movement and rhythm with the mood of the background artwork. Visual artist Nancy Reyner made the mask.