The Efficiency Project

The improvisatory work of D.C.-based performer, choreographer, and artist Jane Jerardi is characterized by weighted, whole-body action and a distinct vocabulary built on movement and gesture. She draws inspiration from everything in the world around her including music, visual arts, the written word, and such abstract themes as time. As part of Washington Performing Arts Society’s 40th Anniversary Season, Jerardi presented the world premiere of her latest experimental work, Efficiency, on Saturday, October 22 at the GALA-Tivoli Theatre. Jerardi’s choreography uses video of fast-paced D.C. life as a backdrop for her exploration of the tension associated with society’s ongoing quest for “free time.” Efficiency was one of four dance projects commissioned by Washington Performing Arts Society during the 2005/2006 season.

Jerardi’s newest project was inspired by a Washington Post article that inspected the concept of efficiency from its roots in the industrial revolution to its larger impact on modernism. In contrast to the hyper-efficiency that has permeated today’s society, Jerardi taps into humans’ occasional need for inefficiency. The unpredictable Jerardi uses this work to arrive at points in space in the most and least efficient ways possible, while acknowledging what happens to human relationships along the way. The new work features an original music score by multi-media composer Scanner (aka Robin Rimbaud) and video visuals created by D.C.-based videographer Michael Wichita. Dancers Brian Buck and Nicholette Routhier joined Jerardi onstage.