(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – The Big Bang at the Energy Vortex: An Electro-Swing Affair, a large-scale participatory art installation in the form of a costume party staged by IS183 Art School of the Berkshires, takes place at Lenox Commons on Saturday March 9, 2013, from 6pm to 1am. The theme is Space Age meets the New Age, mixing cosmic thought with retro-intergalactic to the beat of electro-swing.
The installation at Lenox Commons is a project three months in development, constructed by a team of community volunteers and local artists. Taking on the Berkshires’ iconic reputation as a spiritual and healing energy zone attracting artists, writers, musicians, mystics and yogis, the installation crew has built replicas of October Mountain, Mount Greylock, and Monument Mountain — the triangular alignment reputedly responsible for the hovering energy field known as the Berkshire Energy Vortex. Enveloping a spiral vortex that also happens to function as a bar, the space will be filled with psychedelic video projections produced by Drew Suto of Dutch Masterson Designs.
Music for the event will be provided by New York and Hudson Valley-based DJs Dave Leonard and Jordan Matthews. The electro-swing genre fuses swing styles with modern DJ production techniques, which are often hip-hop, drum and bass, dubstep or house influenced. Rather than merely “sampling” swing, electro-swing remains true to the tradition of swing and the melodies and styles of the jazz and big band eras — contemporizing the swing genre and creating a new, club-friendly iteration.
The Big Bang’s technical director is Maia Robbins-Zust, whose twenty-plus years of technical theater credits also include Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, Barrington Stage Company, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre Group, Berkshire Theater Festival and Capital Repertory Company.
As a costume event, those in attendance will be decked out in their own works of art — elaborate costumes creatively interpreting The Big Bang/electro-swing theme. Often requiring weeks and months of preparation, the costumes are themselves part of the spectacle. IS183’s biggest fundraising event of the year, proceeds go to benefit the school’s programming mission to enrich the lives of people of all ages, means and skill levels through hands-on experience in the visual arts.
In addition to the dance party, the evening also includes a catered dinner curated by Red Lion Inn’s Brian Alberg, and both a silent and live auction.
Tickets can be purchased online at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires or by calling 413.298.5252 x100.