NASA Collaborates With International Artist On Performance Combining Hard Science With Art

Susan Hendrix
Susan.M.Hendrix.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
Phone: 301-286-7745

Aurora/2001: Dance of the Auroras, Fire in the Sky, a visionary international performance event that relates the story of the auroras with
a strong emphasis on real time interactive visual elements, will be performed February 3 at the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space
Museum in Washington, D.C.

Aurora/2001 will relate the story of auroras. Performers will use a wireless mouse to manipulate the projected surroundings, interacting
with constantly changing constructions, animations, solar images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and other
missions, and films and footage of Earth’s elusive auroras provided by NASA’s Polar spacecraft and ground-based cameras.

The project is the brainchild of choreographer and video artist Maida Withers, an international artist and master of dance
experimentation. Artists and scientists from five continents have contributed their unique accomplishments to create this combination of
live performance and interactive virtual space.

Nicola Fox, International Solar Terrestrial Physics science and operations coordinator at Goddard, and Pal Brekke, ESA SOHO deputy
project scientist at Goddard, will provide opening remarks at the Feb. 3 event to be held in the Air and Space Museum’s Einstein
Planetarium in Washington, D.C. The 6 p.m. EST presentation is free to the public, but seating is limited.

Additional productions of Aurora/2001 are scheduled for Feb. 15 and 16 at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C., beginning at 8
p.m. EST. Tickets for this event are available at all Ticketmaster locations, or at the Lisner box office, Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.
through 5 p.m. EST.

Withers conducted five years of intense research, traveling the globe to observe the aurora phenomenon, consulting with numerous
scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and others
in an attempt to comprehend the challenging mysteries of auroras.

For more details about Aurora/2001, contact Susan Hendrix at 301-286-7745, or visit the Aurora/2001 web site at:
http://www.danceaurora.org