Rituals of Becoming

a performance project in dialogue with the exhibitions of Preston Singletary and Tori Karpenko

Saturday, April 19, 2025 | 3:00 - 5:00pm

This site-specific performance project emerges in response to Raven Is as Raven Does by Preston Singletary and Where Water Becomes Sky by Tori Karpenko—two exhibitions at Traver Gallery that explore the interwoven nature of transformation, storytelling, and perception. Through an interplay of classical and contemporary dance, live music, and spatial awareness, the performance will become a living conversation with the themes present in both visual artists’ work.

Created and performed by Leah Terada (Pacific Northwest Ballet Soloist and Choreographer based in Seattle, WA), Vijay Palaparty (Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Spilling Ink based in Washington, DC), and Ramya Kapadia (Director of Natyarpana based in Knoxville, TN), among other artists, this collaboration is rooted in the act of response of listening deeply to what is seen, felt, and remembered. It is a layered offering of movement echoing myth and migration, sound reflecting both the stillness of deep water and the sudden flight of a raven, and of presence shaped by what lies beneath and beyond the visible.

At the center of the performance are themes central to both exhibitions: the evolving nature of story and how it is held, reshaped, and revealed; the interplay between reflection and transformation whether through glass or water, body or voice, and; the tension between groundedness and motion between what remains and what shifts.

Drawing inspiration from Singletary’s sculptural storytelling and Karpenko’s refracted landscapes, the conceptual dance unfolds as a meditation on interconnection. It honors Indigenous narratives and natural rhythms, inviting audiences into an experience where boundaries blur between past and present, solidity and fluidity, art and witness.

This is not a fixed performance. It is an offering of movement and sound in relation with the artwork, with space, and with the stories that continue to ripple outward.

Join us for this shared exploration of what it means to see, to remember, and to be transformed.

Program

3:00 - 4:00pm | Artist Talk with Preston Singletary
4:00 - 5:00pm | Performance Presentation

Venue

Traver Gallery
1100 West Ewing Street
Seattle, Washington, 98119

Free admittance
RSVP requested | (206) 587 6501 or samantha@travergallery.com