Weekend Performance Art: Aerial, Dance, Installations & Pyjama Art Parties

ticktock dance vs. Perseus. Photo by Nikolai Lesnikov.

ticktock dance, ticktock vs. Perseus (Sat., 4:45 and on, Karkeek Park, free). A couple months ago, ticktock dance came to New York to perform as part of an aerial dance festival. The idea behind "aerial dance" is to bring the choreographic vision to what's otherwise an--dare I say it--ossified circus art. Lots of people love the idea in concept--who wouldn't?--but in practice, it's often a failure. The aerial artists on hand at the festival performed one band gimmick after another. Except for ticktock.

Comprised of lovelies Liza Rose and Jill Marissa (of the Aerialistas) and Bridget Gunning (a frequent collaborator of Keely Isaak Meehan's Manifold Motion), ticktock's work is fascinating and boundary-pushing, making broad use of the space and thinking far outside the circus box when it comes to making a show. All of which is to say that whatever the crew is planning to do when they install themselves on Miguel Edwards' Perseus statue in Carkeek Park this Saturday for a series of performances at 4:45, 5:45, and 6:45 p.m., it's going to be worth seeing.

Josephine's Echopraxia, It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating (Fri. & Sat. 9:45, Project: Space Available, free). I saw a bit of Marissa Rae Niederhauser's current show at Project: Space Available when I was in Seattle last, and it was, to put it bluntly, disturbing. A series of tableaux vivants, entitled It doesn't matter if it has been said before some things bear repeating, the first iteration featured Niederhauser performing being subjected to a brutal domination by one of my favorite local actors, Paul Budraitis.

The second installation, Your morality tales are ignorant and arrogant and I am sick of hearing them, goes up this weekend, and continues Niederhauser's exploration of the objectification and exploitation of women through troubling imagery. As the show progresses (her residency lasts through the end of October), each previous work will be installed through video and other techniques, so that the show builds on itself. (P:SA is located on 10th Ave. near E. Pike St.; enter the building through the door next to Sweatbox Yoga and follow the hallway back to Studio D.)

RandAll Dance, Box of Chocolates (Sat. & Sun., SANCA, tickets $9-$15). Rachel Randall's company is one I've never had the chance to see, but have been curious about for a while. This weekend, RandAll Dance presents Box of Chocolates, a mixed rep evening of work by Randall and some of her collaborators, including Markeith Wiley, who's impressed me as a dancer on a couple occasions, though his choreography was--on the one occasion I've seen it--a bit academic. But he's young, and half the joy of seeing work is watching artists develop over time.

Hedreen Gallery, Face Time With Eli Hansen (Sat. 8 p.m.). The Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University is in the middle of a fascinating line-up of all-night events called Face Time, each one hosted by artists and allowing visitors to spend an entire interacting with performance. Up this Saturday is Tacoma-based sculptor Eli Hansen, whose work has shown everywhere from LA to NYC.