Comfort Tone is a solo work presenting both the humor and horror in obsession. Combining increasingly absurd text-to-speech “agents”, compulsive repetition, and multiple versions of Pink Martini’s earworm song Sympathique, Comfort Tone displays the effect of being “on a pedestal”, both literally and figuratively.
Comfort Tone was one of three pieces premiered at A-WOL (Portland, OR) on January 26-30, 2022, as part of Solo Trips, Graham Cole Performance’s first production in Portland.
Choreography and Sound Design: Graham Cole
Lighting and Scene Design: Christopher Annas-Lee
Costume Design: Virginia Belt
Performance: Lindsay Dreyer
Music: Pink Martini
Additional Sound:
”Dial Tone Panned 10 min .wav” by freesound.org user gggtrew
”Telephone Pick Up.wav” by freesound.org user Analog Bleep Ten
”Flushing a Toilet” by freesound.org user deleted_user_7146007
”Dial Tone String.wav” by freesound.org user reactorplayer
”estate February NL Haanwijk 130217_00.flac” by freesound.org user klankbeeld
Photography: Jingzi Zhao
Exhaustion pulls a variety of self-care techniques into the absurd, answering the question: at what point does abundant self-care become stressful? Layering breathing techniques, tea brewing, guided meditation, and so much essential oil, this solo dance work follows the progression from winding down to coming unwound.
Exhaustion was one of three pieces premiered at A-WOL (Portland, OR) on January 26-30, 2022, as part of Solo Trips, Graham Cole Performance’s first production in Portland.
Choreography and Sound Design: Graham Cole
Lighting and Scene Design: Christopher Annas-Lee
Costume Design: Virginia Belt
Music: Ryan Wolfe
Performance: Jordan Kriston
Additional Sound:
”Rainstorm V2” by freesound.org user esh9419
”Tea kettle boiling whistling.wav” by freesound.org user sethlind
”Water, carbonated, pouring into glass” by freesound.org user giddster
”Harmony Bell” by freesound.org user newagesoup
”Lotus music.wav” by freesound.org user nemaavla
Photography: Jingzi Zhao
Good.Grief.Gil picks at the universal frustration of wading through the American healthcare system on a telephone. Artificial, disingenuous voices are reminiscent of hours spent on hold. Repurposed protective gear captures the hard shell we develop as a result of struggling through life injured. The work culminates in a song sung to escape.
Good.Grief.Gil was one of two pieces premiered at Gibney (New York, NY) on June 25th, 2019 during PROUD/weak, Graham Cole Dance’s first self-production.
Choreography and sound design: Graham Cole
Performance: Zoe Warshaw and Graham Cole
Sound:
"Four, as in X" by Zendesk and "Busy office-call center" by Freesound.org user dnlburnett, with text-to-speech generated by TTSMP3.com and filtered through voicechanger.io
"Knock me Off the Chain" by Graham Cole
Photography: Jeremiah Cumberbatch
Crestfalling uses a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of water to highlight the lows and highs of a manic mind. The performer drives through cycles of singing, coughing, gargling, and choking to arrive at a state of spent absence. Crestfalling was inspired by the hours spent in front of a computer screen during a debilitating injury.
Crestfalling was one of two pieces premiered at Gibney (New York, NY) on June 25th, 2019 during PROUD/weak, Graham Cole Dance’s first self-production.
Choreography, costume design, and sound design: Graham Cole
Performance: Rebecca Van Dover
Sound:
‘All Star’, by Smash Mouth
(1) Remixed by Youtube.com user Meme Suprememe
(2) Arranged for recorder by Fiverr.com user John Mann
Photography: Jeremiah Cumberbatch
Auto Bon is a multi-disciplinary work combining dance, theater, and poetry to tell a story. Michelle and David, two interdependent siblings, embark on an interstate road trip to illegally retrieve medication through Oregon's Death with Dignity law. Auto Bon highlights the empathy and care within their relationship, while also digging out layers of what remains unsaid between them.
Auto Bon was originally performed Dec. 16-17, 2016 in Lincoln Center's Clark Studio Theater.
Writing, Direction, and Choreography: Graham Cole
Additional direction: Ethan Nienaber
Cast:
Samaria Nixon-Fleming
Mason Hensley
Vanessa Knouse
Honza Pelichovsky
Ethan Nienaber
Lighting Design: Jennifer Fok
Musical Selections: Dinah Washington
Sound: Courtesy of Soundjay
Additional sound from Freesound:
Ambience, Night Wildlife by InspectorJ
Car Burning by Hssmusic
Car Crash by squareal
Rbh Mpls Bird by RHumphries
Sound arrangement and editing: Graham Cole
Production Management: Leigh Walter
Auto Bon was produced as the culmination of Graham Cole's William R. Kenan Jr. Performing Arts Fellowship with Lincoln Center Education. The Kenan Fellowship is an initiative of Lincoln Center Education and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. The Fellowship is made possible by generous support from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.
Docent Dyad was an interactive performance commissioned by the Cameron Art Museum to complement their "Response is the Medium" exhibit. It was originally performed on Oct. 11th and 15th, 2015 by Graham and Daniel Smith, a Wilmington-based dancer/choreographer. The piece was inspired by observing the carefree and un-self-conscious way children interacted with the exhibit, and was produced with the goal of replicating the same feeling in adults. The performance explored the extended techniques and movement potentials of the following art works:
SoundForge - Gabriel Craig and Michael Remson
Darwinian Straw Mirror, Selfish Gene Mirror, and Mirror No. 12 - Daniel Rozin
MICRO - Purring Tiger
Healing 1 and Healing 2 - Brian Knep
Eiscen Taer'a Voyd represents particle physics. The space is a vacuum which, until the very end, none of its six occupants can leave. The movement through space is particularly inspired by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which accelerates particles by swirling them before colliding them into one another. The dancing is constructed around the idea of momentum gathering and then dispersing naturally. The piece is also influenced by the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching. The title is an abstracted combination of two phrases, "Eyes enter a void" (which references the many moments of eye contact throughout the piece) and "I center, avoid" (a reference to the Tao Te Ching).
Eiscen Taer'a Voyd was originally performed Nov. 18-22, 2014 in UNCSA's Agnes de Mille Theatre, presented as Graham's 4th year choreography project as part of UNCSA's Emerging Choreographers concert.
Choreography: Graham Cole
Music: Composed by Dan Trueman, recorded by So Percussion
Lighting design: Ryan O'Mara
Costuming: UNCSA Dance costume shop
Dancers:
Erin Burt
Kimberly Fulmer
Rebecca Klaft
Jordan Medley
Gabrielle Oquendo
Tareake Ramos
(Not pictured: Alayna Acosta, Alvarez Delgado, Heidi Langner)
Shaduets, as well as the gala during which it was performed, was inspired by and dedicated to the work of Eric Fertman.
Shaduets was originally performed in the main gallery of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) on May 2, 2014. The pair of duets was commissioned by SECCA to be performed during their Silhouette Gala.
Choreography: Graham Cole
Dancers: Madeline Gulledge and Graham Cole
Lighting design: Christopher Annas-Lee
Special thanks to UNCSA's schools of Lighting and Production for their invaluable contributions
Anything but Cool is the result of an obsessive process. The piece is largely comprised of one six-count stepping phrases repeated forward, backward, and sideways. The dutiful repetition is inspired by a personal experience with prescription steroids and manic insomnia. The theme of restlessness is personally connected to past nights spent playing old computer games, so the lighting follows the progression of an 'all-nighter'; the darkness of night is permeated by a screen-like glare that passes with the break of dawn. Computer games also inspire the black and white costumes, the 'side-scrolling' nature of the work, and the epic synthesized music.
Anything but Cool was originally performed May 1-2, 2014 in UNCSA's Freedman Thrust Theater, presented as Graham's 3rd year choreography project as part of UNCSA's M3 Spree concert.
Choreography: Graham Cole
Music: Laura Reynolds
Lighting design: Adam York
Costuming: UNCSA Dance costume shop
Dancers:
Christina Aguilera
Elizabeth Barnhouse
Kristen Hedberg
Rebecca van Dover
Timmerai was an original production commissioned by “the Cirkus Project”, a collaboration between Cirque du Soleil and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Timmerai's creation process was highly collaborative; many of the artists listed below contributed to most elements of the piece in some way. However, for brevity's sake they are credited for their most prominent contributions. Timmerai's movement and character development inspirations included the dancing of Dick van Dyke, the anime One Piece, and the many sailor's superstitions involving cats.
Timmerai was performed in the Agnes de Mille Theatre on August 23 & 24, 2013.
Choreography, character development, and cat performance: Graham Cole
Dramatic coaching, character development, set design, and costume design: Chiara van der Goltz
Music: Eric Schwartz
Boy: Cameron Fillingame
Sea Captain: Vanessa Knouse
Make up, hair, and costume design: Loryn Pretorius
Prop and set construction: Lauren Williams
Set construction and technical direction: Mike Auchter
Sound design: Jaechelle Johnson
Lighting design: Ansel Hollis
Costumes: UNCSA Design and Production costume shop