Picture Sentence Picture

February 2014

How many translations does it take to change the meaning of a story? If more layers are piled on, is the picture more clear? What if we insert swan tossing, dancing in the dark and kitty snacks – does that help? Picture Sentence Picture follows Nigel and Sophia through a tangled mess of corruption and doppelgängers while picking apart their lives and their connection to one another to understand why. Relationships are funny, fuzzy and fickle, especially when examined through multiples of eyes. History, like poetry, is a liar, and though one image may seem to be truth, we can’t help but see it another way.

TriptheDark explores these concepts through contemporary dance accompanied by the music of over 20 Portland bands. You may lose something in translation, but we’re prepared to show you what you gain.

The Story:

Picture Sentence Picture is based on a story that basically goes like this:

Nigel (wears a tie) and Sophia (doesn’t wear a tie) are hedge fund managers who engage in professionally unethical behavior and decide to create clones to take the blame for them (clones wear masks). Unexpectedly, Nigel’s clone and Sophia fall in love, making Nigel jealous to the point that he tries fruitlessly to romance Sophia’s clone who, it turns out, prefers women. In his last efforts, Nigel tries to run over his clone but misses, lands himself in the hospital, where his wife (wears a pink feather) shakes her head in disapproval, unsure how her life got to the place where she is fighting for a man whose only love is money.

But where do the pictures come in?

Picture Sentence Picture is also based on a game where someone writes a sentence, then someone draws a picture, then someone writes a sentence, etc, like the game of telephone. TriptheDark used papers from this game as inspiration for each dance you will see tonight, building on the above story as seen through the choreographer’s interpretation.