Liz Santoro and Pierre Godard's Algorithmic Dance For Claude Shannon at The Kitchen

Liz Santoro and Pierre Godard presented For Claude Shannon at The Kitchen in New York from February 18 to February 20, 2016. The performance, held at 512 West 19th Street, translated a sentence by information theory founder Claude Shannon into a choreographic sequence using movement "atoms." Dancers learned the sequence only two hours before each show, continuing the process during the performance itself. Four dancers executed slow, deliberate movements in dress clothes under unchanging lights, creating a soundscape with their slipper shoes. The work incorporated spoken words like "Either," "Accidentally," and "Passage" that gradually revealed Shannon's phrase. An improvisational segment emerged with diagonal movements and heavy bass, contrasting the initial algorithmic structure. The performance referenced Trisha Brown's dance diagrams and Joan Jonas's 1973 work Song Delay through its spatial use of sound. Audience members experienced shifts in air pressure perceived as pitch changes and static crackles.