An “ethno-poetic sound threat” is how Octavio Campos describes Kitchen Monkey, one of the bleeding-edge performances scheduled as part of the Miami Light Project’s Here and Now: 2007 at the Carnival Center’s Studio Theater. The Miami Light Project is doing what it does best — shining a light on edgy local talent. The showcase will feature performances and multimedia works by Campos, Lucia Aratanha, and Jojo Corvaia.

Campos’ new work explores “intercultural performance techniques and vocal gymnastics within an urban jungle,” inviting audience members to take the stage and participate in the hijinks. As part of his boundary-blurring bonanza, he has also integrated the Ketjak, a 2,000-year-old Balinese ritual known as the “Monkey Chant,” and performed by a cast of over 40 students from the New World School of Arts. Meanwhile Aratanha’s dance piece weaves notions of motherhood with symbols drawn from ancient Sumerian myth to revisit the power of the feminine suppressed in Western culture. Corvaia’s multi-instrumental music and video installation will investigate sound, voice, and breath, using strategically placed iPods.
March 27-31