My Body Is An Instrument

Opening the Festival with Dance and High-Fidelity Sound 

What if the body’s movement makes the music?

Mike Tyus and Luca Renzi make breathtaking use of choreography to generate a score in real-time, flipping the typical relationship between movement and music.  Athletic, visceral, and vibrant, this performance opens your senses to a new experience of dance as maker of movement and sound challenging your assumptions about who is driving what.

Artist Profile

Mike Tyus is an award winning dancer, choreographer, and creative director from Los Angeles California. He has been performing and creating dance works for the stage and screen for over 15 years. As a performer Tyus has worked with Cirque Du Soleil in “IRIS” at the Kodak Theater in LA and “KOOZA” as “The Trickster” – “a devilish ringleader” and lead character. Tyus Joined Pilobolus Dance Theater in 2013 performing works by Sidi Larbi Cherkoui, Penn & Teller , Israeli choreographers, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollack and Spanish choreographer Javier De Frutos, while also creating company repertory that is still performed today. He recently performed “Trio A with Flags’ ‘ by Yvonne Rainer at the Broad Museum in LA. He is a founding member of Jacob Jonas The Company and an Associate Producer for Films. Dance, a platform focused on dance film creation through unconventional collaboration. In 2020, Tyus created Mike Tyus & Co, a dance company that focuses on the creation of Tyus’ work with over 13 films and 3 live works. 1 specific creation called “Hunger” was developed at Orsolina28, a dance residency in Moncalvo Italy. Tyus’ choreographic works derive from techniques and styles from his past. Circus theater, acrobatics, ballet, and greco-roman wrestling are abstracted and synthesized to create something unique. He has created works for dance companies, museums, pop-stars, and universities alike. Recently Tyus has worked for Visceral Dance Chicago, Chicago Repertory Ballet, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, Manhattan Youth Ballet, Ziru Dance, Utah University, Vassar College, CLI by Teddy Forance, Alonzo Kings Lines Ballet, TL Collective and Hedwig Dances Chicago. In 2020 Tyus directed and choreographed a dance film called ELSEWHERE on Whim W’him Contemporary Dance Company that was showcased on PBS. He’s created dance films for The Broad Museum in LA that were featured on StandardVision billboards throughout the city. Tyus was selected to create a work for the Joffrey Ballet Academy for the Winning Works program presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art. He also choreographed a Facebook commercial directed by FKA Twigs that now lives in the MOMA’s archives because of its cultural significance. Tyus has choreographed music videos for Nigerian Pop-Star Adekunle Gold and new comer Anna Margo, and assisted Daniel Ezralow in the creation of an art film for actor and musician Jim Sturgess, bringing art-world sensibilities to pop culture. As a creative director Tyus has developed branded campaigns for Vaara, Anthropologie, Veuve Clicquot, Club Monaco, SONY, Apple, and Abercrombie & Fitch, focusing on the relationship between dance and commerce and utilizing his large social media network to share the power of dance worldwide. Community and Creation are at the core of Tyus’ mission and continue to drive his efforts in crafting work that feeds the human spirit and reflects the times in which we live.

Luca Renzi is a choreographer, movement /creative director and video artist. He was born in Bern, Switzerland and is based in Los Angeles. He trained at the University of Zurich under Jochen Heckmann (Germany) and Andrea von Gunten. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts with his Masters of Fine Arts in Dance with a concentration in Choreography & Dance / Technology under the direction of Sean Curran. Luca was a member of the Vivo Ballet Contemporary Dance Company in New York. He recently made his debut as a dancer with Jacob Jonas the Company in spring 2023 in Los Angeles. Luca is the founder of the Choreographic Research LAB, a laboratory that he uses to create his own work and develops choreographers. Luca joined Mike Tyus & Co. full time in 2022 and is assisting the creative director Mike Tyus in Choreography, Management and Development. Lucas’ work can be found on Stage, Music Videos and Film. For more information: @luca_francesco_renzi

Credits

Choreography & Concept   Mike Tyus, Luca Renzi

Dancers   Layne Paradis Willis, Gretchen Ackerman, Luca Renzi, Mike Tyus

Music Engineer/Creative Technologist   Chris Tse, Rahm, Sensor Technology provided by Instruments of Things