Susan Sgorbati

Susan Sgorbati invites visitors to observe her work with an ensemble of six dancers in Emergent Improvisation. She will introduce the concepts behind the work and show how they manifest in dance. The practice and performance of Emergent Improvisation addresses the nature of improvisation in dance and music. In this context, improvisation means the spontaneous creation of integrated sound and movement by performers who are adapting to internal and external stimuli, impulses, and interactions. The phenomenon of emergence is also found in a wide variety of natural settings. Emergent forms appear in complex, interconnected systems, where there is enough order and interaction to create recognizable pattern, but where the form is open-ended enough to continuously bring in new differentiations and integrations that influence and modify the form. Evolution and brain function are two examples. In linking the creative work of art making to the emergent process evident in nature, there is basis for a rich and textured inquiry into how systems come together, transform, and reassemble to create powerful instruments of communication, meaning, and exchange.