The Zero Effect

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More About

• Choreographer Keith Hennessy
• John Cage
• Dance
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

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Choreographer Keith Hennessy and his performance troupe, Circo Zero, are known for "intimate spectacular circus," a style that mixes a scintillating arte povera ("art of the poor") ambience of participatory art with a limber aesthetic that makes audiences marvel as much as it makes them think. As a luminary of modern dance, Hennessy's back in black, in a manner of speaking. He and his performers present Sol Niger, which translates to "black sun." It's not just a pretty reference to cosmic phenomena, though. Hennessy's work is far from a simple palliative -- the title refers to the eclipsing of truth that's at the empty center of contemporary politics. A mix of dance, music (ranging from electro beats to John Cage to Broadway ditties), video, and puppetry appears on stage, in moving examinations of war, torture, and their many justifications. In revealing how truth gets obscured and manipulated, Circo Zero's approach is almost meditative, blending the transcendental nature of art with the speciousness and absurdism of politics.
Sept. 20-29, 8 p.m., 2007