Avant-garde performance mixes music, dance, multimedia

Icarus Refried

An evening of live music, dance and multimedia awaits audiences of Icarus Refried at 8 p.m. April 28 and 29 in the Clifford E. White Theater on the Northern Arizona University campus.

NAU’s John Masserini, assistant professor of clarinet, and the University of Calgary’s associate professor of dance Melanie Kloetzel join forces with NAU lighting designer Benjamin Alexander for an evening of wit, irony and surprising beauty.

Icarus Refried presents original collaborative avant-garde and performance art works created by Masserini and Kloetzel to offer a fresh, poignant, sometimes dark, and humorous look at the chicken-versus-egg dilemma.

“We wanted to put together movement and sound to create an embodied and aural agency for both of us,” Masserini said. “I become a dancing musician; Melanie is a noise-making dancer.”

Paired with Alexander’s innovative lighting design, the evening also includes works by dance filmmaker Jeff Curtis and Canadian visual poet Derek Beaulieu. The multimedia performance features the music scores of composers Robert Cogan, Joan Tower, Eric Mandat and Olivier Messiaen.

Individual tickets are $20 for adults, $12.50 for seniors and NAU faculty and staff, $5 for children, and free for NAU students with an ID. Tickets are available through the Central Ticket Office online or by calling (928) 523-5661.