March 1, 2019

Lewis Center for the Arts presents Edit & ReviseA shared presentation of immersive performances choreographed by Princeton seniors

Yasmine Eichbaum and Michelle Yeh

   Photo caption/credit 1: One of the projections that are featured in senior Yasmine Eich-baum’s new multimedia dance work OS X Ageratum (Turing Test Version). Photo cour-tesy Yasmine EichbaumPhoto caption/credit 2: Senior Michelle Yeh on a visit to Taiwan to conduct research in-forming her new dance theater work “rén(shān/hǎi)”. Photo courtesy Michelle Yeh

What/Who: Edit & Revise, a shared presentation of two immersive multimedia perfor-mances choreographed and directed by Princeton seniors Yasmine Eichbaum and Michelle Yeh, presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in DanceWhen:  March 8 and 9 at 8:30 p.m., March 9 and 10 at 2:00 p.m. Where:  Hearst Dance Theater at Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton University cam-pusFree and open to the public, however advance ticket reservations are encouraged through University TicketingFor more information and tickets: https://arts.princeton.edu/events/edit-revise/2019-03-08/

(Princeton, NJ) The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Dance at Princeton University

will present Edit & Revise, a shared presentation of two immersive multimedia perfor-

mances choreographed and directed by Princeton seniors Yasmine Eichbaum and

Michelle Yeh. Performances will be held March 8 and 9 at 8:30 p.m. and March 9 and 10

at 2:00 p.m. at the Hearst Dance Theater at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton Uni-

versity campus. The performances are free and open to the public, however advance tick-

ets reservations are encouraged.

Edit & Revise represents Eichbaum and Yeh’s independent theses in the Program in

Dance. Although presented as two distinct performances, the themes of boundaries, infor-

mation, and technology weave through both pieces. 

“rén(shān/hǎi),” a working title, is Yeh’s multimedia dance theater piece that explores

and challenges the boundaries of storytelling through dance. The piece questions what is

deemed as “language,” exploring how the body and movement act as storytelling media

to supplement and fill the gap where the written word once stood. The piece begins in

1995 when a college-aged Taiwanese-American adoptee visits her birthplace, Ji-an,

Hualien in Taiwan, looking for answers, and goes missing after a typhoon. What tran-

spires after her disappearance is a meditation on absence and presence, exploring the so-

ciopolitical, historical and colonial implications of written language as a means of intel-

lectual memory and as a vessel of cultural knowledge. By bringing the audience on a

journey through the Hearst Dance Theater, the piece aims to understand what is lost when

language, and the stories it contains, cease to be, asking: How can the body lend voice

and reclaim these elusive narratives? In addition to movement choreography,

“rén(shān/hǎi)” incorporates spoken text, interviews, live music directed by Vince di

Mura, Lewis Center Resident Music Director and Composer, recorded aboriginal Tai-

wanese music, and video projection to create an audiovisual landscape that blurs the lines

between pre-recorded media and live performance.

Eichbaum’s immersive multimedia dance piece that interrogates the roles of the audience

and performer but also ponders the tension between the individual and the collective, is

titled OS X Ageratum (Turing Test Version). The performance begins with the product

launch for a device powered by a novel operating system. OS X Ageratum is a fictional

system software, wherein choreography represents the operating system that directs the

dancers, who comprise the hardware of this machine. Upon entering the Hearst Dance

Theater, the audience will be transported to a new realm. Because of the fluid nature of

the staging, the boundaries—especially the physical boundary—between viewer and per-

former are blurred. The performers alternate between their part as a cog of a larger appa-

ratus and their agency as individuals. The piece asks, how can technology impose news

ways of being? The multimedia experience is underpinned by visual projections of the

choreographic process and music that spans Janelle Monáe’s discography, with music di-

rection by di Mura.

Yeh is a senior in the Department of Comparative Literature from Taipei, Taiwan. She is

pursuing certificates in both the Lewis Center’s Program in Dance and the Program in

Creative Writing, for which she is currently writing a full-length feature film in addition

to her choreographic thesis. Though topically unrelated, Yeh views her two creative the-

ses as one larger comparative project on how stories travel and translate from one

medium to another. She is interested in how the same story can adapt and change to dif-

ferent forms.  Her independent work in comparative literature focusing on modern post-

colonial film and literature of Taiwan also informs her creative endeavors, exploring how

storytellers and artists find voice and language through adaptation, translation, and non-

verbal media. Through the Lewis Center’s Sam Hutton Fund for the Arts, the Eric Pai

Asian American Student Research Fund, and resources provided by the Department of

Comparative Literature, Yeh was able to travel to Taiwan over the past two summers to

conduct research and collect various audiovisual materials that appear in both her dance

and creative writing theses.  

Eichbaum, a senior in the Department of Chemistry, is a California Bay Area native pur-

suing a certificate in the Lewis Center’s Program in Dance. Balancing time between the

chemistry lab and the dance studio, she explains that she switches between creative pro-

cesses in such a way that influences her choreography as she explores common themes of

inquiry in both science and dance. Several years of collaborating on and dancing in Per-

formance Lab pieces have greatly influenced her interdisciplinary and multimedia ap-

proach to dance; Performance Lab is an annual project of the Program in Dance that pro-

vides students an opportunity to develop interdisciplinary performance work under the

extended mentorship of faculty. Outside of the chemistry lab and the dance studio, Eich-

baum also serves as a residential college advisor for Mathey College, one of Princeton’s

six residential colleges.

The student cast includes seniors Claire Chiu, Eric Ham, Amy Liu, and Julia Yu; juniors

Tony Chen, Aleksandra Kostic, Amy Li, Soyeong Park, Jordan Stallworth, and Aleesha

Ye; first-year students Chris Park and Jung Won Julie Shin; and graduate student Peter

Wang. Lighting for the production is by professional lighting designer Madeline Best.

The production stage manager is Mary-Susan Gregson. Tina Fehlandt and Dean Moss are

the project’s faculty advisors.

Due to the interactive/immersive nature of the works, with audiences encouraged to move

in and out and about the performing space, attendees are encouraged to bring a minimum

of personal items to the performances. Seating is limited and guests are encouraged to re-

serve tickets in advance through University Ticketing at tickets.princeton.edu.

To learn more about this event, the Program in Dance, and the more than 100 other per-

formances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts and lectures presented each year at

the Lewis Center, most of them free, visit arts.princeton.edu.

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