Against the Odds Echoes On

by karen Krolak

Although it ended over a month ago, Against the Odds: Stories of Adaptation, Translation, and Survival continues to provoke discussions at dinner parties, rehearsals, and apparently around the Internet. In the past few weeks, Against the Odds has been mentioned in a webinar from the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University called Inspiring Online Audiences: Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive and in Toronto's Creative Trust blog. In the webinar, Lisa Niedermeyer, Virtual Project Manager for Jacob's Pillow, explained that Monkeyhouse's use of Dance Interactive in Against the Odds is "hands down the deepest level of engagement that [Jacob's Pillow' Dance Interactive] could hope for."  I am truly humbled to hear such praise for our ideas from an organization that recently won the National Medal of Arts.

Oh, and starting next week, Hannah Verlin's installation for Against the Odds, Between Wave & Sky, will appear in her solo show, Knowing Not Knowing, at the Boston Sculptor's Gallery.  I loved that Hannah referred to this show in a recent email as "continuing the evolution" of Between Wave & Sky.  

Earlier in my career, I would often measure the success of a performance by the ticket sales or reviews. Since launching Monkeyhouse, however, I have discovered that these unpredictable reverberations provide much more satisfaction and are re-shaping my definition of success. Please contact me if there are other ways that Against the Odds sparks conversations or influences artistic works. I would love to know more about them.