Autocomplete

Fan Letters, along with a number of collaborators, is developing an ambitious new multi-media opera, titled Autocomplete. Autocomplete is set in a barely inhabitable post-apocalyptic landscape overrun by robotic automation, artificial intelligence, and the effects of climate change. Through this lens, the work explores miscommunication, community, and the limits of technology. The work is divided into two acts. The first act is set in the remains of an abandoned city bus, which the protagonists call home. Through a combination of interactive video elements, music, and dance, the characters debate survival in the tiny, enclosed community. As environmental risks increase, they are forced to leave the relative safety of their makeshift home in search of a better one, and exit into the dangerous outside world. In the second act, electronic audio processing and synthesis paired with unique, custom-built instruments sonically expand the musical themes of the first act. The audience will be surrounded by video projections and spatialized electronics in combination with the amplified musicians. The visual elements are drawn from a wide range of source material, including the aesthetics of contemporary communication networks. As the work unfolds, the meaning of the work’s visual and aural symbols mutate, and the audience’s understanding of this community’s world becomes unmoored.

Autocomplete is being choreographed by The Median Movement:
XAN BURLEY + ALEX SPRINGER, are performers, choreographers, teachers, and arts administrators. Since 2008, their collaborative choreography has been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out (2017 Research Fellows), Center for Performance Research (2016 Technical Residency), Danspace Project’s DraftWork, Movement Research at the Judson Church, University Settlement (2013-14 Artists-in-Residence), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2011 Space Grant), DanceNOW, the 92Y, and Triskelion Arts, among others. They have created work on many university dance departments and professional companies, most recently Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis, MN. Their choreography appears in the feature-length film Frances Ha (2013). Burley and Springer were members of Doug Varone and Dancers until 2017 and have performed extensively with other artists in NYC. They will teach as Artists-in-Residence at the University of Maryland for the Spring 2018 semester. The two received the 2015 Emerging Artist Award from their alma mater, the University of Michigan. http://www.theMedianMovement.com

Artistic Directors
Fan Letters (Alex Nathanson & Dylan Neely)

Choreographers
The Median Movement (Xan Burley + Alex Springer)

Composer
Dylan Neely

Video and Set Design
Alex Nathanson

Dancers
Libby Wolf
James Raney
Amber Morgan
Emma Rumberg

Singers
Emma Orme
Kate Eberstadt

Autocomplete was created in part at The Watermill Center – a laboratory for performance. (2017)