Thank you to everyone who joined us for In The Presence of Chasms. It was a joy to share our work with you and we are honored by everyone who came to Hamlin Park to see the show.

Special thanks to Aurora Tabar and the Existential Coat Check!

If you missed the show, writer Lauren Warnecke wrote a review of the show for the online Chicago Tribune, and you can find it here.

Check out the preview of In The Presence of Chasms! Chicago Magazine reporter Brian Golden interviewed Megan and Tanniqua-Kay; you can find the article on page 40 of the November 2017 issue.

Contrast, coupled: Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan and Megan Rhyme join their disparate styles in a new suite of dances
By Brian Golden

Megan Rhyme remembers being mesmerized the first time she saw Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan dance. It was at a Hairpin Arts Center showcase in January, and Buchanan was performing her piece A Man Was Lynched Yesterday. "She had a really powerful message," recalls Rhyme. "Her aesthetic was very theatrical and dramatic." Rhyme was particularly taken by the way Buchanan translated difficult subject matter into muscular, narrative-driven art.
In her own work, Rhyme leans more toward more ethereal pieces. Thinking this contrast could lead to a striking collaboration, she asked Buchanan to work with her. The result: In The Presence of Chasms, a suite of five dances that alternates between Buchanan's topical pieces and Rhyme's abstract musings. Buchanan's Myuz, for example, was inspired by remarks made by the mother of Philando Castile after he was shot to death by a police officer, while Rhyme's Won't You Care explores the gaps between, as she puts it, "speeches, speaking, and being heard."
The two women never actually dance together during the 90-minute performance. That's because Rhyme sought to structure Chasms like a dialogue rather than a merging of minds: "I want the audience to see two difference voices and ask what separates us and, also, what unites us. The goal is to make space for conversation."

Join us for In The Presence of Chasms, an evening of dance works by Megan and choreographer Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan. The two choreographers explore the idea of chasms -- chasms between private behavior and public speech, between cool and warm colors, and between hope and dread -- in a collection of new and remounted works.

The works to be presented include:
Myuz (Buchanan): A look at the evolution of the black woman, the stages of change, separation and the inevitability of relapsing;
3 (Buchanan): Inspired the structural strength of a triangle in architecture
#Grey (Buchanan): Inspired by Color Theory, where is the grey area when a cool color and warm color meet?
Drought (Rhyme): The tension between hope and dread during periods of uncertainty
Won't You Care? (Rhyme): The gulf between public, political communication and the dynamics of our most intimate relationships

Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne, Chicago, IL 60618
November 30 and December 1, 7:30 p.m.
$15/$10 students, seniors, low-income
Buy Tickets Here

Supported in part by a grant from the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation.
This program is part of the Chicago Moving Company Performance Project. The Chicago Moving Company is in residence at Hamlin Park through the Chicago Park District’s Arts Partners in Residence Program, which unites artists and communities in Chicago’s Parks.

Meet Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan! Tanniqua-Kay will be presenting work in Megan's fall show and we are very excited to have her on board.

Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan, dancer|designer, received her Bachelor of Science degree in Dance and a minor in Community planning with a design emphasis from Kansas State University. Her thesis, The Black Dancing Body explored through color theory -social experiment was presented at the National Dance Education Organization conference (2015) in Phoenix, Arizona. Tanniqua-Kay was a Guest Artist this year at the Hairpin Arts Center (2017) and Kansas State University Ebony Theater Arts Festival (2017) with her “A Man Was Lynched Yesterday” Choreography and continues to be a teaching artist and freelance dance artist in the Chicago-land area. Her Choreography is a hybrid between two worlds. As she strives to build curriculum based on art integration, Tanniqua-Kay works on developing her own organization, [Muse] dance + design, a organization committed to bridging cultural gaps of both disciplines by exploring the intersections of dance and design. She will embark in her Masters of Urban Planning and Policy degree from the University of Illinois of Chicago this Fall 2018 with a concentration on Spatial Planning and Urban Design.

Megan is very excited to announce that she will be presenting a new show in the fall! Titled "In The Presence of Chasms", this show will feature new work by Megan, as well as work by emerging choreographer Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan.

The show will be presented November 30 and December 1 at Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theatre, 3035 N Hoyne Ave, Chicago, IL 60618. Stay tuned for more information!

Megan, along with her collaborators physicist Elizabeth Hicks and composer Roger Zare, were excited and honored to have been interviewed on the Tech Scene Chicago- Radio Show on August 19, 2016. Thanks to Melanie Adcock and Lumpen Radio for having us on the show!
If you'd like to hear the interview, you can check out the entire 2-hour broadcast online here. The interviews of the other two guests. Emile Cambry of Blue1647 and Deena McKay, are also wonderful and are highly recommended if you're interested in hearing about the awesome things they are doing with the tech scene in Chicago. But if you'd like to jump straight to hearing Elizabeth, Megan, and Roger, you can forward to 54:05 in the broadcast. Hope you enjoy!

Far From Equilibrium: Curiosity, Creativity, Uncertainty was recommended by the Chicago Reader! You can find a digital copy of that issue from June 23, 2016 here - You'll find us on page 5!

We are very excited to announce that the Far From Equilibrium project will continue in 2016! Our first happening will be a weekend of performances June 24th-26th at Links Hall. We are especially delighted to be working with composer Roger Zare for this version of the project!


Far From Equilibrium: Curiosity, Creativity, Uncertainty
June 24-26th, 7:00pm
Links Hall, 3111 N Western Ave, Chicago IL 60618 www.linkshall.org
$10 online, $15 at the door

What drives research in science and in art? Curiosity? Uncertainty? Creativity? Perseverance? What are the similarities and differences between scientific and artistic research processes? In Far From Equilibrium, a choreographer, a composer, and a physicist work together to explore these questions. The first half of the evening is our creative collaboration: a 20-minute modern dance accompanied by original music. Both the dance and the music explore turbulence, a chaotic, complex, unstable twisting and stretching of fluid that is mysterious, even to scientists. In the second half of the evening, we invite you to join our research and carry out your own exploration. Enter our immersive research environment, filled with physics, dance, and music activities. Ask your own questions about the double pendulum, generate your own turbulent flow, improvise your own turbulence dance, or write your own composition. Question the show's dancers, musicians, and creators. Record your impressions on our question boards. Work with other audience members to create a piece of art. Unleash your curiosity and experience research, creativity and collaboration in a whole new way.

Megan and her collaborator Elizabeth Hicks were mentioned in Northwestern Magazine!

Check out the awesome Gizmodo feature on Far From Equilibrium! The fantastic Jennifer Oullette, senior science editor at Gizmodo, interviewed Megan and Elizabeth and you can see her article here:

gizmodo.com/far-from-equilibrium-translates-turbulence-into-dance

Megan's most recent project is a collaboration with astrophysicist Elizabeth Hicks, an artistic exploration of turbulence titled Far From Equilibrium. Turbulence is in most places in the universe: in cream stirred into coffee, in the raging, swirling flames of forest fires on Earth, and even in massive explosions of energy from the surface of our Sun. However, this chaotic, complex, unstable twisting and stretching of fluid is mysterious, even to the scientists who study it. Choreographer and scientist work together to interpret and embody the fundamental motions of turbulence, and invite audiences to immerse themselves in the beauty of turbulence and consider uncertainty, complexity, and how motion underlies form.

This work was be performed at the Museum of Science and Industry as part of their Science Works event, an annual STEM career celebration, on October 17, 2015. This performance was also a part of Chicago Artists Month. The 20th Annual Chicago Artists Month highlights the work of hundreds of artists throughout Chicago with performances, exhibitions, open studios, tours and neighborhood art walks, and is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

For more information about Far From Equilibrium, please visit the project website at
epsilondeltalabs.org/far-from-equilibrium or find us on Facebook

For more info on Chicago Artists Month, please visit chicagoartistsmonth.org