Mei Yamanaka in Christine Bonansea’s OnlyHuman at Danspace Project. Photo by Gaia Squarci.

ONLYHUMAN is a dance theater piece by a French-born, NYC-based artist Christine Bonansea. Inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s aphoristic volume Human, All Too Human, the work investigates the stark contradiction between our race’s capacity for beauty against its most destructive tendencies. ONLYHUMAN also deals with the various perception of a body, from human to post-human. Developed in a close collaboration with a stellar group of international artists, the show is wrapped into a ultra-modern, Matrix-like, futuristic layer of striking multimedia visuals, featuring the lighting design by Solomon Weisband (who recently worked on a major operatic production with Robert Wilson), with visuals by acclaimed photographer Robert Flynt, video and multimedia by Yoann Trellu, and music by Nicole Carroll. The dance and features virtuosic, gravity-defying solo part performed by the Japanese dancer Mei Yamanaka; other  performers include Alvaro Estado, Maya Orchin, Becca Loevy, Amelia Heintzelman, Ichi Go, Cameron Mckinney, Charles Gowin, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal, and Malcolm Betts.
OnlyHuman was presented as part of Danspace Project’s Community ACCESS.

Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
Nov 15-17, 2018

Interview with Christine Bonansea in Dance Enthusiast

7 Questions with Christine Bonansea in DanceUS

“An arresting, existential look at human identity… Careening through fog-machine haze, and accented by Nicole Carroll’s droning soundscapes, Robert Flynt and Yoann Trellu’s pixelated projections, and Solomon Weisbard’s searing lighting, Yamanaka resembles an overworked machine, driven to combustion but unable to stop herself…  Yamanaka and the ensemble show [that] this struggle can also be beautiful, producing stimulating tension and uncanny feats of strength and skill.” – Emily Cordes, Theatre Is Easy

OnlyHuman is odd, but that’s praise more than quibble…it’s refreshing to see dance with raw energy and almost no unison… Enhancing the oddness are live sound design by Nicole Carroll and lighting design by Solomon Weisbard. Both are sparse but really innovative, never predictable but never obtrusive. – Quinn Batson, Offoffoff.com