“In the Ether” is a multimedia contemporary dance duet exploring the limiting and empowering mythologies around womanhood in collaborators’ Claire Lane and Caroline Bradbury’s religious upbringings. The work draws heavily from Roman Catholic iconography of biblical women depicted in visual art to trace how organized spirituality has impacted the lives of women in history and in the dancers’ personal lives. The performance will be followed by a participatory artist talk-back.

detritus dance is a collective focused on feminist story-telling through contemporary dance, animation, collage, and text. Founded in 2021 by Massachusetts-based collaborators Claire Lane and Caroline Bradbury, detritus dance has presented work throughout venues in Boston including the Center for the Arts at the Armory in Somerville, MA, Jamaica Plains Porchfest, and The Dance Complex in Cambridge, MA. They teach professional-level classes with Urbanity Dance Company and Midday Movement Series, and have taught community workshops at José Mateo Ballet Theater. Their inaugural duet “in the Ether” has been supported through the Somerville Arts Council ArtAssembled Artists-in-Residence Fellowship and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation. Claire and Caroline bring a breadth of international perspectives including Gaga, Flying Low, and Physical Theater in their approach to contemporary dance technique. Currently, detritus dance is expanding its research sourcing text from historical and contemporary feminist authors as choreographic portals.

in the Ether was funded in part by New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation.