Rustling Silk Official Description

Rustling Silk, Avy K Productions’ new multimedia, structured improvisation, dedicates a poetic evening to the lost civilization of the ancient nomadic horsemen. In our exploration, myself, Erika Tsimbrovsky (Artistic Director/choreographer), and co-founder Vadim Puyandaev (visual artist/performer) will try to find traces of this ancient civilization in our urban world and seek to discover whether small fragments remain. The symbol of the horsemen is one which holds deep personal meaning for us, having grown up in inner Asia. We will make a connection with our childhood—yet not solely our past but the past of all humankind, as this vanished civilization represents our deep roots and ancestry—and gather these small lingering fragments to view and delight in as one would a kaleidoscope.

The image of the ancient horsemen is the archetype of nomadic civilization, one that has returned to our contemporary society through technology, particularly the internet. Modern technology allows us to abandon our traditional ideas of roots—home, community, family. Now that we have access to limitless information we create virtual communities and identities and seek out not physical resources, like the nomadic horsemen, but the now more valuable virtual and informational resources.

This multimedia project, demonstrative of Avy K’s signature audio-viusal-kinetic style, involves the collaboration of special guest artist visual artist/photographer Said Atabekov. Atabekov’s powerful photographic images depicting the games of the ancient civilization will be projected into the performance space, linking the past and present. Jeffrey Alfonsus Mooney will provide live music, and Vadim Puyandaev will do live painting and manipulate a changing set installation, creating a physical, kinetic statement from visual art. Myself and dancers—Daisy Phillips, Daniel Bear Davis, Kristen Greco, Mihyun Lee, Vitali Kononov, and Kristina Kirshner—will connect to these media through movement in a structured improvisation, culminating in an innovative, visually rich exploration of humankind’s deep roots in rootlessness.