Isabella Rossellini, Andy Bright, and collaborators return to ArtYard a year after a performance of Darwin’s Smile to develop a new work, Onward, which builds on their many years of collaboration and draws from their Green Porno and Seduce Me episodes. The residency culminates in a one-night-only work-in-progress presentation on Onward.

Performance Residency

September 2024

In celebration of their many years of creative collaboration in both film and on stage, Isabella Rossellini and Andy Bright present Onward, a continuing exploration on how art can be used to interpret the various animal behaviors of the birds and the bees. Drawing from the collection of Green Porno and Seduce Me episodes directed by Rossellini and using them as visual inspiration, the performance explores how movement and dance patterns in certain animals and insects can be represented with the language and expression of the theatrical stage.

Written collaboratively by Isabella Rossellini and Andy Bright, and under the choreography of Laurie Sefton, Onward envisions six new vignettes interpreting different animal species’ use of dance to communicate, to seduce and to mate.

Presented through dance and film, puppets and projected animations, as well as commentary by Isabella Rossellini, Onward playfully illustrates some of the ethological discoveries that have continued to move the the cycles of life in the animal kingdom forward.

CREDITS

Isabella Rossellini,
Co-writer, co-director, performer

Isabella Rossellini grew up in Paris and Rome and moved to New York City when she was 19 years old. She had a very successful modeling career, appearing on numerous magazine covers such as Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. Ms. Rossellini made her cinematic debut as an actress in 1979 in the Taviani brothers’ film Il Prato (The Meadow) and has appeared in numerous other films, including Blue Velvet, White Nights, Rodger Dodger, Cousins, Death Becomes Her, Fearless, Big Night and Joy. She has worked with wide-ranging directors including Robert Zemeckis, David O. Russell, David Lynch, Robert Wilson, Taylor Hackford, Marjane Satrapi and Guy Maddin.

Rossellini is also a successful television actress and filmmaker, with a keen interest in animals and wildlife conservation. Her award-winning series of short films, Green Porno, Seduce Me, and Mammas, offer comical and scientifically insightful studies of animal behavior. Rossellini earned her Master of Arts degree in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in New York City and has received a Ph.D. Honoris Causa from the Science Faculty at University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM).

She has toured internationally with her theatrical shows Green Porno Live, Link Link Circus and most recently, Darwin’s Smile. Rossellini runs an organic farm in Brookhaven in association with the Peconic Land Trust and the Post Morrow Foundation. She is a mother of two and resides in Belfort, Long Island.

Andy Bright
Co-writer, co-director, artistic director, music, performer

Andy Bright is a Los Angeles, California-based artist who works through the mediums of sculpture, music, performance art, and film. As a filmmaker, his roles include director, production designer, costume designer and composer. Most notable are his 17-year collaborations with Isabella Rossellini on the Green Porno series and its subsequent films and theatrical performances. His work and performances have been exhibited at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; The Wolfsonian, Miami; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto: Selfridges, London, England; Filmhaus Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany; The Ulrich Museum, Wichita; The Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington DC; 21C Museum in Cincinnati, OH. Andy has done commercial prototyping, store design and installation for company’s such as Victoria’s Secret, J Crew, American Express and Target. Andy received his BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in Ceramics from the Ohio State University.

Laurie Sefton,
Choreographer, assistant director

Laurie Sefton is an award-winning choreographer, director, and creative thinker. A Los Angeles native and granddaughter of a Cuban immigrant, she sees issues through an emotional lens. She trained with original Lester Horton Company members Elle Johnson and Don Martin and studied with Ronald R. Brown, Kai Ganado, Matt Mattox and Ido Tadmor. She has created over 30 works for her company which include the concert stage, site specific, dance for film and VR 360. Her choreographic work focuses on conveying complex ideas and themes that impact us, emotionally and intellectually. Each of her works is created with a different process, and it is said that, no two look alike. Her work often includes collaborations with other artists. In most recent years extending to traditionally non-performative artists such as visual artists, media artists, photographers, film makers and poets/spoken word artists. She has been the recipient of grants, commissions, and residencies from foundations, universities, and professional dance companies. Her choreography has been performed throughout the USA, and in Europe.

Highlights of her work include Concert Walls, an immersive experience with live music for audience members around the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Breathe, an interactive choreographic work for audience members in their cars, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, with costumes that shed and The Mythology of Self, a work about how we represent ourselves on social media with visual artists onstage drawing over photographers taken in real time and projected behind the performers. Laurie is currently in process on a new
immersive work incorporating tattooing, motion sensors and dance.

Leah McCall,
Dance Artist

Leah McCall is a freelance professional dancer based in Los Angeles, California. She trained on full scholarship with Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Alonzo King Lines Ballet as well as with Boston Ballet School, Miami City Ballet School, The School of American Ballet, and the National Ballet Academy of Denver. She was a company member with Los Angeles Ballet from 2016-2023 and Boston Ballet 2014-16. Leah currently dances with Ballet Project OC and Laurie Sefton Creates, as well as other project-based dance companies. She has performed featured roles in repertoire by George Balanchine, Aszure Barton, Alejandro Cerrudo, Menghan Lou, and Christopher Wheeldon. Leah has appeared in Jennifer Lopez’s Vax Live Global Concert, FIDM’s Virtual Fashion Show, The Masked Singer Season 6, and Kevin Hart’s ‘What The Fit’ online video series featuring Los Angeles Ballet. She recently had the opportunity to perform live at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, during The Driver Era’s 2023 concert tour. Leah is represented by Bloc Talent Agency.

David Prottas,
Dance artist

After 10 years with the New York City Ballet, David joined the first national tour of An American In Paris before making his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning revival of Carousel. He continues to work as an actor, dancer and coach based in LA.

Hayley Book,
Dance artist

Hayley Book is a professional ballet dancer from Los Angeles, California. She began her ballet training at age 3 with Marin Ballet in the San Francisco Bay Area. At 16 she was accepted into The Colburn Academy in Los Angeles and trained under NYCB’s Jenifer Ringer and Zippora Karz. She received her first professional contract at age 18 with Nashville Ballet and went on to dance with City Ballet of San Diego. Hayley is currently a freelance dancer in Los Angeles and works with The Realm Company and Laurie Sefton Creates.

Nathan Dixey,
Composer, musician

Nathan Dixey is a musician from Kansas City, Kansas. He has also lived in Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas. Frontman of The Dan Ryan, he has also played with Hospital Ships, Colony Collapse, and Your Friend.