Waterman Theatre will host “Weight of Water,” a multidimensional music and dance performance, on Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

The show will be around an hour long and centers around local bodies of water and their impact on the community, according to Paul Leary, an associate professor of music at SUNY Oswego and one of the creators of the project. “Weight of Water” will feature both live and recorded music, dance, still imagery, locally recorded video and poetry.

“I love multidisciplinary stuff,” Leary said. “I love working with other professors, and making a project immersive and large with other things besides music.”

Leary said he and others filmed all the imagery for the show themselves using drones and handheld cameras. The videos were shot at Rice Creek, Fallbrook and on the shores of Lake Ontario, according to a press release.

Leary worked closely with Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp from the University of Rochester on the performance, who is an associate professor for the program of dance and movement. The two originally began plans for the show three years ago but were delayed twice due to COVID-19.

“In some ways I think it’s going to be way better than it would have been because I’ve had so much time to work on stuff,” Leary said. “I would not have had time to get all of it done if [the show] was at an earlier time.”

Despite COVID-19 pushing the performance back, Lowell Hutcheson, the assistant director of arts programming at SUNY Oswego, said they were still able to include some of the dancers that are no longer at SUNY Oswego in the film elements.

“The cast has changed a lot,” Hutcheson said. “We had some student dancers from SUNY Oswego, all of whom have graduated at this point, which is a shame. Some of the professional dancers from the University of Rochester had to leave and we have had new ones come [in].”

Assistant professor of English and creative writing Soma Mei Sheng Frazier contributed three poems to “Weight of Water,” but due to her debut novel’s upcoming release date in 2024, Frazier said she knew she would not be able to fully commit to the show after it was pushed back.

“I offered to step down from Weight of Water, but my collaborators graciously allowed me to scale back my role instead,” Frazier said in an email. “So, I entrusted the musician, choreographer and visual artist with three poems to do with as they pleased.”

Frazier also said that where the project ended up is not where she originally saw it going, which was partly due to the pandemic and how much time the show was delayed.

“The show was conceived in 2019, with the original intent of involving SUNY Oswego poetry students and dance students in the live performance,” Frazier said in an email. “Then, the pandemic hit. By the time it was possible to conceive of a live show again, the original dancers had graduated, I was no longer teaching poetry and my availability had shifted … Fantastic student dancers are captured in the video, but not onstage, and my poetry students’ voices are missing too.”

Though “Weight of Water” has less student involvement than planned, Leary, who wrote all the music for the show, said how crucial it is for him to be an active composer for the sake of his students.

“It’s really important to me for my students to see me make things and do things,” Leary said. “Not just talk about writing music, but actually do it.”

 Hutcheson agreed with Leary, saying that cooperative performances like “Weight of Water” allow students to gain real-world experience under less pressure.

“We are at a university and everything we do here should be for the benefit of the students,” Hutcheson said. “It is a safe environment for them to learn with minimal risk. If something doesn’t go as planned, it’s a learning experience, that’s expected. The stakes are a lot higher when you are in a job.”

A major part of the show is a wooden wheel that was built by Leary, which is seven feet tall and took him several months to complete. The wheel has sensors on it that play music when the dancers interact with it.

“I tend to make these big monstrous instruments that’s kind of this wow-factor with electronic music,” Leary said. “It’s definitely an experience to have that on stage.”

Due to the complexity of the performance, Hutcheson said she is excited to see the piece come together after waiting for many years.

“This is a really unique performance,” Hutcheson said. “I haven’t seen many performances that have so many aspects to [them]. I think there is something for everybody if they are interested in art, photography, dance, music, electronic music, creative writing or poetry.”

Despite taking a lesser role in the show, Frazier said she is still looking forward to watching “Weight of Water” come to life.

“As a nerdy, clumsy writer, I am always wowed by dancers,” Frazier said in an email. “And I can’t wait to see Paul Leary’s 7-foot musical wheel!”

“Weight of Water” is a free performance open to the public and SUNY Oswego students. Visit Oswego.edu/artswego for more information. 

Image via Paul Leary via YouTube