“Animalia” at the House of Yes. — Photo by Andres Jauregui
"Animalia: Stories of Collapse, Calamity and Departure," a surreal aerial/musical event performed at the House of Yes on Saturday, mixed dreamy premonitions of ecological collapse with haunting melodies, honeybees, makeshift sailors and trapeze. Created by multimedia artist and musician C. Ryder Cooley, the performance took place in an aerial theater at the House of Yes known as the Sky Box, and I spotted several attendees in the room still decked out in glitter and shells from the Mermaid Parade that occurred earlier in the day.
The night began with the airing of Bill Daniel’s Sunset Scavenger, a collage-like video installation focusing on the themes of sustainability and ecological catastrophe. Although the original plan was for the installation to be projected onto 20 foot sails connected to Bill’s 1984 van, the rainy weather forced the installation inside, where hanging sheets and darkened lights transformed the studio into a DIY movie theater. Sunset Scavenger featured men and women who build their own boats, including survivors of Hurricane Katrina, off-the-grid travelers, and even a street preacher who retells the story of Noah’s Ark.
After the video, hanging sheets were pulled aside to reveal the performance art segment of the evening. Todd Chandler, Ryder Cooley and Rachel Winard provided live music on accordion, upright bass, singing saw, and violin, and for parts of the performance Cooley and Natalie Agee from Ruby Streak Trapeze Studio wowed the audience with aerial acrobatics on trapeze. Described by Cooley as an "interspecies fairytale," the narrative loosely followed one woman’s attempt to "fly away" by joining the circus, only to reject her humanity in exchange for a life as a deer. Video projections of animals and costumes with feathers and antlers added to the strange, melancholy beauty of the performance, and overall the event maintained an old-time feel while alluding to the rather contemporary dilemma of the disappearing natural world.
Although the music and visuals alone made the night worthwhile, the trapeze acrobatics were definitely the highlight of the evening. It would be easy to say the performers’ elegant movements made maneuvering a trapeze seem effortless, but that wouldn’t be quite true — it looked beautiful, incredibly difficult, and insanely fun.
When the performance ended, the general consensus from the audience seemed to be, "Damn, I want to try trapeze, too." As it just so happens, the Skybox offers trapeze lessons for beginner levels — all the more reason for me to come back.
