What do drag queens, smartphone addiction, art installations, and an old luggage shop have in common? 

According to longtime Seattle choreographer Alana O’Farrell Rogers, a lot. 

“There’s no dead time anymore,” says Rogers, explaining how the proliferation of smartphones fills the empty spaces that once served as time for rest or connection. Where we snuggled in bed before sleep, we now scroll social media. Where we gazed at the faces of our neighbors on the subway, we now read email on the way to work. 

For centuries and across cultures, that “dead time” was revered as a valuable breeding ground for creativity and connection. What happens when it’s gone? 

“You never have emptiness,” says Rogers. And in true artist fashion, Rogers enlisted an army of creative talent to bring light and humor to daunting current events. The result? SENSORIUM, an eight-week celebration of immersive art that examines and parodies the role of smartphones in our personal lives. 

SENSORIUM runs from October 23 through December 14 in Belltown’s former Bergman Luggage store, now a performance and art space known as Base Camp Studios 2. Dancers perform in a series of eight rooms designed by visual artists Esther Loopstra and Alaina Stocker to mimic common settings of modern life: an office, bathroom, bedroom, living room, dining room, video game room, a sleeping pod, and the subway.

Rather than watching from assigned seats, audiences move together through the rooms, experiencing the performances from different perspectives. Each room is wheelchair accessible, and ushers will provide seats to audience members who need them. 

Alana O. Rogers Dance Company performs Fractured at Base Camp Studios 2.

Photo by Ernie Sapiro

The first weekend of SENSORIUM (October 23-24) features Rogers’s company, Alana O. Rogers Dance Company, performing her original work Fractured. A series of duets, two solos, and a big group performance, Fractured spotlights regular people doing regular things: getting into bed, brushing teeth, waiting for the subway. Instead of connecting with other bodies in the intentional manner usually seen in dance performance, dancers gaze into a phone screen or look past the performers around them. No one makes eye contact. Despite its focus on couples and community, Fractured is intentionally the opposite of romance, a potentially devastating look in the mirror. Yet Rogers’s choreography is subtle, less a lecture than a collective sigh at the current state of affairs. Based on how deeply our senses and relationships are influenced by the collective dependence on smartphones, SENSORIUM seeks to acknowledge tech culture without bashing us over the head with it.

Performers will rotate weekends, with Alana O. Rogers Dance Company opening the series, followed by local drag acts including Glory Hole, High F@ggotry, TUSH, and dance production company CO-. Be sure to check the schedule to catch the shows you want to see.

TUSH

Photo by Olivia ZG Photography

If you’re not familiar with the names of the performance collectives listed in the SENSORIUM roster, don’t fret—I wasn’t either. Individual drag performers include the increasingly beloved Miss Texas 1988, Londyn Bradshaw, Anita Spritzer, Rowan Ruthless, Betty Wetter, Queen Andrew Scott, Moscato Sky, and Pussy Willow. Contemporary dance collective CO-, the group behind Performance + Party, features performances from artists Cameo, Keyes, ATM, and BLUESCREEN. The visual artists behind SENSORIUM’S design are Esther Loopstra, Alaina Stocker, Maayan Haim, Nahom Ghirmay, Nadia Ahmed, Marisa Manso, and Cam Smith.

Sunday gallery-only viewing is available for a suggested donation of $15. Tickets for full weekend performances are priced on an income-based scale from $19-$52.50. More information about SENSORIUM and the performing and visual artists is available here, with tickets through Stranger Ticketing.