EXCESS (2006)

Excess in America is so commonplace that we only begin to take notice after it’s bogged us down.  Our pack-rat culture continues to clutter our time, our environment, our families and our lives.  When will we learn that more is less?  This comic multi-media work features an original music score composed by Abby Aresty, live performance by five dancers, a dozen chairs, and ice cream along with projected video by Jesse Spielman and Smith.

“The multi-media piece ‘EXCESS’ blends the best facets of modern dance, film and sound.  Five tiara-topped dancers wearing maid uniforms made of bubble wrap perform a routine with 17 wooden chairs as a disembodied voice recounts her visit to an acquaintance’s garbage-filled apartment.  Behind them a film plays, showing gigantic, undulating piles of trash.  I immediately started considering what I own that I don’t actually need.” — City Newspaper (Rochester, NY, 2006)Commissioned Original Music by: Abbey Aresty

Video Edited by: Jesse Spielman

Video Shot by: Speilman and Pfohl Smith

Narrated by: Doris Gould

Costumes by: Sandra Cain and Pfohl Smith