Lily Bo Shapiro

In this sensitively crafted documentary, choreographer Hadar Ahuvia explores the roots of the Israeli folk dances she grew up dancing with her mother. Facing romanticized stories about her grandparents, Zionist ‘kibbutznik’ settlers in Palestine in the 1930’s, she begins a personal endeavor unpacking and confronting the appropriative origins of this inherited dance. Through this vulnerable, personal story a larger weaving of powerful artistic portraits emerge— Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian dancers living in New York City question what is inherited and what we choose to carry forward.

A prismatic and polyphonic invitation to join us in an ecological, embodied and ethical approach towards transhumanist evolution amidst climate catastrophe. We embracing the cephalopod (octopus, squid, cuttlefish, nautilus) as the model (role model species; myths are also models) for human evolution.  Scientists, engineers, dancers, and synchronized swimmers on the brink of adulthood all train for human enhancement through the adoption of three key cephalopodic intelligences: embodied; shapeshifter; and distributed.  Transhumanist Cephalopod Evolutionwas developed by Miriam Simun at the MIT Media Lab, in collaboration with choreographer luciana achugar. The work is simultaneously a richly visual oceanic journey; a document of a training and research process; and an attempt to transmit tactile, proprioceptive sensation via the flat medium of video.