Ann Carlson

The Symphonic Body/Food is an orchestral dance work built entirely from gestures. Instead of using instruments, individuals from many corners of the food system in Columbus create evocative portraits onstage constructed from the movements they do every day—from sitting in a meeting to teaching a cooking class to pulling a carrot out of the ground. Part social sculpture and part jazz improvisation, The Symphonic Body/Food offers a one-of-a-kind window into the breadth of labor, passion, and struggle that makes up the complex web of how we nourish each other and ourselves.

The Symphonic Body/Food marks Carlson’s return to the Wexner Center. One of our first Artist Residency Award recipients, the celebrated choreographer and performance artist premiered her work WHITE here in 1992. She is completing this latest project working in residence at the Wex and with several community partners. The cast of performers spans individuals from across campus and Columbus—from members of Local Matters, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, NNEMAP Food Pantry, Ohio State’s Department of Dance, and the university’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation to local growers, a hunter, a chef, breastfeeding moms, food pantry volunteers, teens from Godman Guild, and staff from the Wexner Center itself.

Each performance features a film produced by the center’s Film/Video Studio and directed by Studio Editor Alexis McCrimmon as well as a complimentary, light vegan meal prepared onstage by Columbus’s Willowbeez Soulveg.