Marathonologue.

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics just days away, the entire city is caught up in (pro-/anti-) Olympic fever. Just in time for the Winter Olympics comes Marathonologue, a show which celebrates the athlete in action — specifically, Japanese womens marathon runner Naoko Takahashi who won gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics after taking killer hornet extract.

Marathonologue, an interdisciplinary production inspired by this ultra-marathon runner energized by the killer hornet extract, combines highland bagpipe, Japanese taiko and Balinese gamelan music by composers Michael O’Neill, Boyd Seiichi Grealy and I Wayan Sudirana, in live synchronization with computer-animated projections by Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic. The production brings to life the interplay between the physical landscape and a runner’s internal ‘mindscape’ as it develops and transforms in the experience of running a global marathon.

Of particular interest for me is the fact that the animations were done by two of my former instructors at SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology: Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic. It’s always exciting to see former teachers’ multimedia work, and as part of the Cultural Olympiad, no less.

Marathonlogue plays at the Norman Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver, from February 18th until the 20th. General admission is $20 and can be purchased from Tickets Tonight.

(via Schema Magazine)