‘TREMENDOUS COLLABORATORS’
‘Walking on Eggshells,’ an experimental performance art collaboration, coming to Fusion
There are times in life where it may feel as if you are walking on eggshells and that is why Fusion is staging “WoE: Walking on Eggshells” at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 5.
This event is an experimental performance art collaboration between Kristine Maltrud and Keely Mackey.
The pair are part of Albuquerque’s Urban Enhancement Trust Fund (UETF) Resiliency Residency artists.
“WoE: Walking on Eggshells” explores the idiom through layers of meaning and expression, including etymology, personal narrative, historical events and current global predicaments.
“They can expect to see something that they have probably not seen before,” Maltrud said. “I mean, some people who have really explored dance and theater, especially in urban areas in Europe might recognize this style, but it really is kind of a postmodern form is what I do, and I think that they will be surprised and hopefully delighted and it will help them think about the world and their lives, and it’s a work in progress.”
Maltrud is a life-long dance/theater performer, teacher and choreographer who has performed, studied and taught in the United States, Europe and Asia.
“I was told by my parents that I danced before I walked, so I was twirling around at cocktail parties, so it was just a natural thing,” Maltrud said. “I started dancing when I was really young and I left for New York City when I was 17, which is where I really got plunged into both dance but especially in theater.”
Mackey, whose artist name is Celloquacious, plays electro-acoustic cello, and has developed her own style of cello performance spanning over four decades of classical training.
Her work draws inspiration from deep-time in nature and in contemplative silence.
“We had not worked together for very long at this point, just a couple of months,” Maltrud said. “We just jumped in, and I just love to collaborate together and I love to improvise together and there’s lots of structure underneath it, but Keely and I are both very practiced improvisers, so that’s gonna be there too.”
Following the performance piece is a talkback with the audience.
“For people who want to stay we’ll have snacks and wine and sparkling water and ask them questions about their experience,” Maltrud said.
Maltrud conceived of “WoE: Walking on Eggshells” during two artist residencies in British Columbia, Canada in 2018-19..
Due to Maltrud’s layered, improvisational sound and movement scores, Mackey made a memorized sound sketch from observation, collaborative discussion and improvisation.
“We just met because we were both artists, and then we found out we had a lot of things in common,” Maltrud said. “So we started working together and we have ended up being really tremendous collaborators.”