ABOUT US
Matter Darkly is a new circus-theater company that aims to tell stories that matter with dark humor, compassion, and honesty. Working through the mediums of circus, theater, and dance, we strive to highlight the human challenges of the everyday through the juxtaposition of superhuman feats of circus, putting a new lens on the everyday trauma of life and showing the comedy hidden inside of tragedy.
Working from our home base in Somerville, MA, we bring together diverse movement backgrounds to find the intersections of ground and air, gravity and levity. We lean into the imaginative space of invented apparatus and non-linear storytelling. Our collective skills range across aerial acrobatics, aerial dance, burlesque, clowning, partner acrobatics, Cyr wheel, contemporary dance, ballet, tap, jazz, and figure skating.
PROJECTS
The Best Cancer (working title)
A darkly comedic exploration of the everyday human elements of living with breast cancer, challenging the audience to recognize their own experiences in the mundane, bizarre, devastating, and darkly amusing vignettes pulled from survivors’ actual experiences and transformed through the mediums of circus, dance, and burlesque. Often overwhelming, frequently hilarious, and sometimes tragic, these stories are as varied as the characters living them and the disciplines used to convey them. Our goal is to show that from diagnosis, through treatment, and to whatever comes “after,” there is a common human experience that we can all relate to, despite the enormity of CANCER. And a lot of it is downright hilarious!
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When: This project is currently on pause due to the pandemic.​
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Embodied (working title)
Circus is inherently about physical connection, to our own bodies and our fellow performers, but the pandemic has severed most physical connection. In our next work we seek to restore this connection by focusing on the body, a common experiential bridge that we have even when we’re not able to physically connect. In this work we will also be exploring a new medium - circus created and performed digitally, across distance. Rather than taking live performance and moving it to digital, we’ll start from digital and use it to evolve what circus is and can be.
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When: Streaming to a device near you in summer or fall 2021.
ARTISTS
Lee Vincent
Founder, Performer
Lee came to circus in 2016, as a way to reclaim her body and soul after treatment for breast cancer. A student in Esh's Professional Preparatory Program, she can usually be found on her aerial hoop. She approaches circus with a spirit of playful exploration and inquisitive introspection, creating work that ranges from cheeky, light-hearted entertainment to deeply personal stories of adversity.
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