The Guests Go in to Supper: SMO’s “Sweet 16” Avant-Garde Prom

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  • Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center
  • 1716 2nd Ave N, Seattle Washington 98109
The Guests Go in to Supper
photo: Sarah Kolat

Sarah Kolat, Curator

SMO celebrates The Guests Go In to Supper (1986), a seminal work featuring text scores and ideas from luminaries of the late 20th-century American Avant-Garde: John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Charles Amirkhanian, and Robert Ashley, and the group’s 16th season. The two-night interactive and multi-media program takes place at the newly-renovated Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center.

Night two is a gala dinner with guest performers, special films, and an invitation to celebrate SMO’s “sweet sixteen” with an Avant-Garde art prom in the irreverent spirit of this groundbreaking text.

SCHEDULE:

6 pm: Cocktail Hour
7 pm: Dinner, interactive multi-media events, cake

Each composer included in the original collection is featured through score exploration, video, or performance. One night one, the ensemble presents Cage’s long-form poem Mushrooms et variationen (featuring curator Sarah Kolat) with new dance by James Kirby Rogers alongside Cage’s Music For ____. This fusion leans into indeterminacy, choice, and chance, while honoring the historical importance of Cage and Cunningham’s partnership and Seattle’s role in bringing the two visionary artists together.