Astara is the Best Thing Happening This Weekend

We spoke to Robin Cantrell about ‘Astara’, the amazing performance she and the Indelible Dance Company are throwing this weekend.

Sometimes, we get members who reach out with some awesome projects we’re happy to plug in our Digests. This time, however, when Robin Cantrell of the Indelible Dance Company hit us up about their new performance— Astara— we didn’t just want to pay it lip-service, we wanted to go full-blown “GO SEE THIS, IT STARTS TOMORROW” hyped up.

So we asked her a couple of questions, and her answers only got us more excited for this wonderful show. The performance is only running for three nights this weekend, so get your tickets now and head on down to Brooklyn to let Astara blow. your. mind!

Tell us about the Indelible Dance Company and what you’re trying to accomplish.

I started the company in 2010. I’ve been a dancer my entire life and a professional dancer for a long time. And while it’s great to do other people’s work, I felt like I was never experiencing a dance performance the way I wished it could be.

I think people spend most of their day sitting in a chair and looking at a flat screen. So when you go to a show at night and end up sitting in a (theater) chair and looking at a flat stage, it just seems so anticlimactic.

So how are you incorporating that view into the company’s performances?

I really like to create these fully immersive events. Where I’m in control of the entire experience: from a secret, interesting, non-traditional performance venue, to what the audience gets to eat and drink when they arrive.

I prefer to let them move around during the show instead of siting in one place. I like for the environment to surround them. I think comfort is key when you’re watching a dance show. Especially if that’s not something you’re familiar with. I like for people to be able to drink a beer during the show, or take an Instagram pic with their phone, or stay for a DJ dance party after the performance.

I want my peers to be excited about attending a dance show the same way they would be excited about going to a really cool music show. I try to take away all of the stuffiness associated with dance and add in all the magic and coolness.

From the look of it, you’ve really gone all-out exploring that idea with Astara.

I dreamed up the entirety of our upcoming show in the shower last year in the midst of mounting your last show. I was really into Colleen’s album, ‘Captain of None’ at that time, and I thought it was just begging to be danced to.

My initial idea was to have a space that was segmented into zones with different atmospheres that the audience could move through. I was also reading a lot at that time about plans to colonize Mars.

So I put the two together and it became a journey story about a character named Astara. Her planet is dying and she needs to travel through the universe to find a new habitable home. Each planet is a new environment and is accompanied by a track from Captain of None.

And you’ve collaborated with some really interesting and creative people to put this all together.

I also love collaborating with other talented local artists, so my sister-in-law creates a lot of the costuming, Noah Kalina who’s an amazing photographer is just getting into film and we shot this video portion of the show on his land in upstate NY. Jon Shapiro from Data Garden is going to be playing a plant in real time. Yes, a plant. And Looking Glass Factory who make 3D holographic displays out of a space in Greenpoint created a special installation for this.

And then there are the dancers. I’ve been in this industry for so long that I have an amazing pool of super high end dancers that I can pull from. They’re all my friends and they’ve all trained their whole lives in classical dance. Plus they all happen to be extremely good looking. So that doesn’t hurt.

Plus we have astronaut ice cream. So basically it’s just a really entertaining and novel experience where you can see extremely high quality dance up close and personal. The run time is only an hour, you can drink alcohol while you watch and you can stick around for a dance party afterward. It’s basically the best thing happening this weekend.

Thanks for answering our questions, Robin!

There you have it. From start to finish, this is legit the best thing happening this weekend. Buy tickets immediately!

Astara is running at 8pm the nights of September 8th to the 10th at The White Out Factory, 55 North 9th Street, in Brooklyn. See you there!