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The Arts Intel Report

Bombyx Mori / Ola Maciejewska

Bombyx Mori, by Ola Maciejewska.

Nov 2–3, 2023
22 E 60th St #1077, New York, NY 10022

Bombyx mori is the taxonomic name for the silk moth. And it was with silk that Loïe Fuller stunned the world, from the 1890s to the 1920s, with a unique form of performance. Manipulating huge swaths of silk with invisible hand-held rods, Fuller skipped, waltzed, but mostly turned, all the while sending dynamic movement through the cloth. She herself was a silk moth, creating images of waves, wings, whirlpools, flowers spiraling open, cocoons curvaceously enclosed. Metaphors were made from material and movement. Colored electric lighting enhanced the effects. In Bombyx Mori, Ola Maciejewska has created a work for three dancers that draws on Fuller’s innovations while commenting on the hybrid nature of things. These performances are part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels: A Festival. —Laura Jacobs

Photo: © Martin Argyroglo