“intoxicating...they demand attention revelling in the laughter and their sexual allure. The games and battles may be abstract, but we have been promised “pelvic ridiculousness” and there is a lot of thrusting and gyrating, turning posteriors into booty treasure.”
“beautiful, funny, and intense...There is something childlike and pure and raw about their dynamic, something we don’t often see in this isolated yet playful form. And their energy is infectious…an experience, something in which to immerse oneself, and then come up for air.”
The work of North America’s artists has been presented in Toronto, New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston at venues/presenters including Movement Research, ODC Theater, CounterPULSE, Dance Mission Theater, SOMArts, Series 8:08, Golden Gate Park Bandshell, Casa Del Prado Theater, and Mobius. North America was an Artist in Residence at The Headlands Center for the Arts (CA), Videofag (TO), and The Garage (SF) as well as the recipients of a Fort Mason In Performance Grant (Hewlett Foundation).
Who We Are
NORTH AMERICA is the performance group headed by Ara Glenn-Johanson and Matthew Milo. We make visceral and intellectual, genre-smashing performance that never for an instant resembles something we could watch on our phones. We create living abstractions that inspire audiences to feel more and to reflect, using their own lives as the narrative with which to interpret the images put before them.
We take a flexible, un-precious approach to our quite serious experimentations, discovering new terrain by connecting pre-modern and post-modern performance practices.
We seek increased sensation and liveness, and encourage all — audience and performers alike — to revel in it.