Performances

Status: Project cancelled / archived
Originally scheduled: Saturday, July 25, 2026
Location: Buffalo, NY

Bridging Acts: A Dialogue Between Motion and Media

Originally conceived as a one-day interdisciplinary performance directed by Léwuga Tata Benson, this project explored the tension and harmony between the human body and digital mediation through a two-part structure: live performance (Act I) and a rapid, edited “afterlife” (Act II). The project has been cancelled for Summer 2026 and this page remains as an archive of its development, conceptual framework, and planned collaborators.

Director / Curator: Léwuga Tata Benson Performer: Alexandra Light (Ballerina) Media Artist: Clayton Colin Development Support: NYSCA
Bridging Acts was developed as an extension of my interdisciplinary practice—sound, projection, and immersive staging—shifted into performance: the body became the central “artifact,” and mediation became visible in real time. The work foregrounded presence vs. translation: what happens when motion is captured, framed, and transformed into an image with its own agency.
Project Update (June 2026): Due to a combination of funding shortfalls, logistical challenges, and scheduling constraints, Bridging Acts will not move forward in its originally proposed form for Summer 2026. This page remains online as an archive of the project’s development and conceptual framework.
The work was built as a two-act system:
  • Act I: Live choreography unfolds alongside real-time filming, making the act of watching and being watched part of the event.
  • Intermission: The media artist rapidly edits captured footage into a re-interpretation, not a literal replay.
  • Act II: The edited video is presented as projection—an “afterlife” of the body rendered through light, memory, and mediation.
This structure was integral to the project’s meaning: translation becomes the narrative engine.
The planned staging emphasized surveillance, authorship, and vulnerability:

Act I Setup

A clapperboard introduces “Take One,” the stage drops to darkness, and a single bench anchors the action. Breath and physical exertion are subtly amplified through discreet mics, collapsing distance between performer and audience.

Camera as Antagonist

The media artist films in close proximity, shaping power through framing. The asymmetry is intentional: the performer is mediated; the filming body stays largely unexamined.

Alexandra Light

Principal dancer and choreographer with a research-based practice and commissions/residencies. Her work supports a movement language that can hold intimacy, endurance, and narrative ambiguity.

Clayton Colin

Video editor/animator with extensive post-production experience in Premiere, After Effects, and Blender, supporting the core premise: rapid transformation of live footage into a mediated “echo.”
  • Planned rehearsals: July 6–21, 2026
  • Planned artist talks: July 22, 2026 at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center / July 23, 2026 at Buffalo AKG Art Museum
  • Planned one-day performance + reception: Saturday, July 25, 2026
The project was cancelled prior to production and will not take place on the dates listed above.
Planned venue:
  • UB Center for the Arts Black Box — selected for its potential to support intimate, high-contrast staging and audience implication.
The performance was conceived for a layout that implicated the audience as witnesses from multiple angles.
Venue discussions were underway prior to the cancellation of the project.
The project was planned to include documentation that reinforced the theme of mediated visibility: event photography, video capture including audience reaction, and an edited output that would become part of the project’s archive and future touring/presentations.
Development support provided by: New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).
This project was developed with fiscal sponsorship support from Art Services Inc. and planning support from institutional partners including Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.
© Léwuga Tata Benson
Last updated: June 2026