Laura Katz Rizzo holds a BA in History and English, an Ed. M. in Dance, and a Ph. D. in Dance and Women’s Studies. She has performed with several ballet and contemporary dance companies, and as an independent performer and choreographer. Her screen dance, Takako Vs. 9 Lives, has been selected and screened at film festivals across the world. Laura is author of Dancing the Fairy Tale: Producing and Performing “The Sleeping Beauty” (Temple University Press, 2015, and many other publications. An experienced teacher of ballet, certified in American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum, Laura has delivered master classes at dance institutions worldwide. Currently an assistant professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, she has also taught at universities and dance schools around the world.
Director Statement
Ionic Resonance is part of a larger project that uses hybrid, gestural, minimalist ballet-based movement vocabulary to evoke each of the universal elements (earth, air, fire, water and ether). The dances use formal frameworks like repetition, accumulation and acceleration as a foundation for generating different energetic states or frequencies, thus embodying the qualities and vibrations of these states of matter, and reflecting the beautiful and complex textures and patterns that exist within multidimensional space.
The universal element of WATER is captured in this dance film. The choreography takes inspiration from the motif of the triskelion, also known as the tri-spiral or Spiral of Life. The three spirals represent balance, harmony and continual motion indicative of the flow of life. The formal structures of this work reflect water’s flexible and responsive nature, and evoke water’s flow, fluidity and balance in asymmetry. Both fascinating and beautiful, is also the way in which the film captures light; as it is refracted, conducted and reflected through both water and and the camera’s lens.
Experimental Film & Music Video Festival 