Contemporary art and dance joined forces Saturday, October 8, in a site-specific dance performance at Rochester Contemporary Art Center. The event was conceived and coordinated by Rochester Contemporary Dance Collective and Bleu Cease, executive director/curator of Rochester Contemporary. The dance companies involved in the edgy event responded to installations in the gallery's latest show, "Scapes," which opened to the public earlier this month and addresses connections and interactions between natural landscapes and human form through use of digital media.

"Both RoCo and the ‘Scapes' artists created such a rich environment in which to explore similar concepts of inner and outer landscapes from a body and movement perspective," said Missy Pfohl Smith, artistic director and choreographer of Rochester's BIODANCE and a RCDC board member.

Smith and fellow BIODANCE member Julie Schlafer performed briefly in the gallery's store-front windows, sliding and slithering along the full-length glass window panes, and drawing incredulous stares from passersby.

"I am definitely inspired to continue working with artists in a variety of disciplines in unusual and intriguing spaces," Smith said.

The 50 or so in attendance that night seemed more excited than unsettled at finding themselves in the midst of a performance lacking any physical barrier between dancers and audience. The dance companies moved from one installation to another, performing simultaneously. Almost all of the groups improvised, creating their pieces on the spot as they reacted to the art; art most of them had not even seen until earlier that evening.

"It was a gallery of moving art," said RCDC Board of Directors member Heather Roffe of Futurpointe Dance Company, another rapidly maturing Rochester dance force. "I hope this kind of interaction between dance and the visual arts becomes a regular part of First Fridays."

The raw energy, good-natured humor, and unbridled athleticism of Futurpointe offered a striking contrast to Spokane, Washington artist Jamie Hahn's series of still, slightly shifting landscapes. At first, the dancers strolled from piece to piece, the quintessential portrait of happy museum-goers. But then their interactions with the art became more extreme. At one point, Guy Thorne, one of the group's founders and co-directors, leaned back and back and back as he studied one of Hahn's pieces. Eventually, his body was so arched that his head was only inches from the floor. Not even in New York City's Museum of Contemporary Art have I seen anyone do that before.

One of the most compelling responses to a piece of art was a chillingly sensual duet performed by Geomantics members Nanako Horikawa and Whitney Denesha in response to the video sculpture "Redress" by Rochester-based artist Sterz.

"Redress is about seeing yourself renewed over and over again," Sterz said. "Over and over again and more enlightened each time." The dancers moved within a thoughtfully construed structure provided by Richard Haisma, artistic director and choreographer of the Rochester company.

"Sterz's work is about perception on a scale that most of us do not experience in our daily lives," Haisma said. "It conveys a kind of moral authority in addition to its physical beauty in that is asks humans to slow down and see, really see, again."

"I wanted to know if my vocabulary in describing movement and dance could be translated into effective action for the dancers and, at the same time, complement the visual installation in a way that would not appear to be shouting over it, so to speak, but, rather, whispering along with it."

The dancers' somber, hyper-controlled movements brought to mind Japanese butoh dance, but without the element of grotesque. Instead, the two women moved tenderly through a series of sustained organic shapes, demonstrating an intimate awareness of the other's body and an intuiting of the other's movement - an appropriate evocation for a piece examining the infinite power and variety of nature, according to the artist's statement.

Musical accompaniment from several members of Handmade Orchestra, a Rochester band using strange, Dr. Seuss-like instruments that produce unfamiliar sounds and unusual cadences, performed during the Geomantics' piece, adding aural texture to the work.

"Read," another piece from Sterz, has a different energy and elicited a radically different reaction from dancers. Whereas "Redress" featured almost undetectable movement, something akin to molecules colliding, "Read" offers up vicious crimson bubbles, seemingly lobbed lazily out toward the viewer, expanding and then retreating. Sterz created the work in tribute to his son, 9-year-old son Calder Norte, who, like his father, is dyslexic.

"The piece speaks to not being able to pigeon-hole him because of his dyslexia," Sterz said. "Not being able to ‘read' him. Calder is brilliant in so many ways."

Charmese O'Callaghan of Mone Dance Company, led by Nikita Wheeler Mone out of the Niagara Falls area, imbued her interpretation of the piece with playful inquisitiveness and a waiflike appeal. Her eager exploration of finger movements as she experimented with forming hand shadows over the glowing fuchsia images conveyed distinct childlike wonder. So, too, did her sudden escalations of movement, executing a circle of leaps or spins before stretching out contentedly on her stomach, chin in hand, to gaze at ‘Read' with the absorption of a child lost in a favorite cartoon.

Performing at the same time, in a small enclosed space behind O'Callaghan that made viewing awkward, was Rose Beauchamp, artistic director of Influx Dance. Beauchamp moved reverently among hanging, columnar paper cocoons and the shadows they cast, changing levels frequently to interact with the sculptures on different planes. The installation of Christina Laurel, another Rochester artist, features mostly black-and-white imagery of kimono, ginkgo, and butterflies that she drew, painted, and collaged onto woven and folded paper.

The artist's statement explains that the piece, "Ethereality," is meant to capture the tenuous nature of time, movement, and beauty, and it does so elegantly. When Beauchamp dreamily blew onto one of the cocoons, setting it ever-so-slightly a sway, she added human perception and redirection to the mix.

Also participating in the event were dancer/choreographer Sarah Cooldige, dancer/choreographer Mariah Maloney, and Treeline Dance led by Jenny Showalter. Artists Jason Bernagozzi and Debora Bernagozzi, both of Rochester, also each have work in the exhibition that elicited varied responses from the dancers. Jason uses electronic media to address the liminal states of language, memory, and perceptual experience, according to his artist's statement; while Debora's video work navigates between the experimental and the informative.

"Scapes" remains open through November 13. "This exhibition was a perfect fit for staging a smart dance event," Cease said. "I think the audience had a wonderful time and was surprised by a unique event. I hope to do this type of collaboration again."

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