Chicago Dance Makers Forum 2010 Lab Artist Erica Mott and the Chicago Park District present The Victory Project Trilogy — a series of performance installations, solos, duets and trios focused on the female body as a representation of the nation state and victory in art, political propaganda and literature addressing specific moments in time from the ancient Greco-Roman era to present day. This evening length work, to be held October 6 – 9, 2011 at Northerly Island, incorporates image, text, movement and elements of puppetry to dismantle body parts and allegories that fuse and confuse patriotism and perversity.

The Victory Project Trilogy features movement by Joy Davis, Silvita Diaz-Brown, Suzy Grant, Karen Faith, Melissa McNamara and Erica Mott developed through intensive research and training in Mott’s unique interdisciplinary methodology. Influenced by Bunraku puppetry, Jacques Lecoq, Phillip Zarilli and Euginio Barba of Teatro Odin, Mott developed a hybrid choreography highlighting the energetic relation between dancer site and object. Award-winning Chicago composer Ryan Ingebritsen adds a shifting soundscape generated directly from the dancers’ movement and mixed live.

“My choreography highlights the curious body in unusual and often transformational moments, allowing a journey into an ever-evolving landscape for the viewer. Sometimes warped, often political and irreverent this world invites the spectator the re-view and re-envision their own environment,” said Mott.

The Victory Project started as a series of conversations Mott had with female veterans of the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf War in addition to interviews with women living during World War II including some of the original Rosie-the-Riveters. These casual conversations left her wondering if victory is truly a gendered notion and if so what does that mean for women as we become more integrated into a male constructed and dominated military? Deeper historical and theoretical research followed in an attempt to address the complicated relationships between the female form and notions of victory.

The Victory Project Trilogy runs Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 7pm from October 6 – 9, 2011 at Northerly Island Visitor Center, 1400 S. Lynn White Drive, Chicago. CTA bus line #146 (Marine-Michigan), CTA Red/ Orange/ Green Line to Roosevelt & State Station. Parking available in the north parking Lot. Bike rack also available. Tickets are $17/$12 Students. Bicyclists receive a $10 discount price – bring your helmet as proof ($2 from each ticket price goes toward Chicago Park District Programming). For more information contact [email protected] or purchase tickets online. Visit www.ericamott.com for more information about The Victory Project Trilogy.

Erica Mott is a choreographer, puppeteer, performance maker, and cultural organizer who utilizes body based sculptural forms (mask/costume/object), and transforms discarded materials and disregarded spaces. Using the tools of humor and surprise, she captures and heightens the magic and mystery of the mundane and invites communities to re-view and re-envision shared spaces and practices. Erica’s recent site-specific performances were featured at Ingenuity Fest (Cleveland), SOMArts/Performance Art Institute (San Francisco), NES (Iceland), Museo del Ferrocarril (Mexico), CAD Special Exhibitions Space/Artopolis. Erica performs with Synapse Arts Collective, Blair Thomas and Company, and has collaborated nationally with Tim Miller, Eighth Blackbird, Sharon Bridgforth, Coman Poon/re[public] in/decency, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena. She continues to work with Gomez-Pena’s collective, La Pocha Nostra as a core troupe member. Erica recently was awarded The Santa Fe Art Institute Residency and the Chicago Dancemakers Forum Fellowship. She is funded by the City of Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program, The Driehaus Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council. Erica serves as the Director of Education and Community Programming at Links Hall, Chicago.