ECHO: Heather Gordon and Justin Tornow

A collaboration between visual artist Heather Gordon and dancer and choreographer Justin Tornow, ECHO is part of Gordon’s series The Algorithms for Intimacy, which maps interpersonal relationships through visual and performance art. Using data sets based upon personal information like geographic locations and birthplaces, and times and dates of correspondence between close friends, Gordon creates an elaborate, reflective, geometric map covering the walls and floors of 21c Durham’s vault gallery. This transformed, intimate chamber becomes a site for a performance by Tornow whose solo dance is based on the structure and origin of an echo. Tornow’s movements are reverberations that reflect and morph based on the original structure of her surroundings, which deviate or repeat based on the artistic choices of the dancer. The performance is an assessment of the self in process, in moments of regeneration and, simultaneously, under surveillance. As in relationships, each moment offers a choice; an opportunity to renew the path or change course.

Heather Gordon received her BFA from the University of Florida in 1990 and her MFA from New Mexico State University in 1995. She lives and works in Durham, NC.

Justin Tornow is the artistic director of COMPANY, a producer of the local artists series PROMPTS, and co-founder and co-organizer with Durham Independent Dance Artists (DIDA). Tornow received her MFA in choreography from UNC-Greensboro in 2010 and lives and works in Durham, NC.