Amidst the turmoil of the past week in Los Angeles, “A/VOID” was an immersive, healing experience featuring unique sounds, raw emotions from dancers and audience alike, and fluid dancing. Taking place at the unique venue of Chromasonic Field and directed, choreographed, and produced by Comfort Fedoke and Zoe Rappaport, the event I attended on June 13, 2025 was moved earlier due to its proximity to the downtown Los Angeles curfew zone. Chromasonic Field is a “light & sound installation where color becomes audible and sound becomes visible.”
The night started in the lobby of the space with a bar and light conversation. When it was time for the event to begin, Fedoke and Rappaport introduced themselves and then turned things over to Victoria Ayad who introduced us to Chromasonic Field. From Ayad’s introduction, it was made clear that we as an audience would have lots of choices to shape our experience. We were invited to sit, stand, move, and enter the dancers’ spaces, as long as we did not touch them. Ayad led us into a vestibule between the lobby and the field, where a recorded voice guided us through a breathing exercise to ground ourselves. The vestibule had walls made of folded paper that I imagine are meant to contain or enhance sound in some special way.
Entering the field, there was ambient pulsating sound, shifting lights, and rows of semi-translucent white rectangular boxes, the size of large phone booths with gaps to enter and exit at two of the corners. In many of these boxes, dancers moved by themselves. I heard clapping from further in the space and it felt like an invitation to investigate. The costumes, done by Lorae Russo, were all white, with layers around the neck and gauzy pants that seemed to match the walls of the boxes.
“A/Void” by Comfort Fedoke and Zoe Rappaport – Photo by Elena Kulikova.
The movements of the dancers were fluid and gestural, often seeming to initiate from the spine and from their breath. Sometimes there were moments of repeating isolations or tremors, as well as frequent movements that seemed to be yearning and reaching. The dancers’ gazes were intentional but it felt like they were seeing something that was not there.
While watching the beginning, I wondered about the creation process and how much of what I saw was choreographed, fully improvised, or improvised within a structure. As the piece progressed, there were moments that were clearly choreographed, but the movement was always organic and the transitions between sections flowed together. The fifteen dancers, listed below, were all beautiful movers and their commitment brought this experience to life.
“A/Void” by Comfort Fedoke and Zoe Rappaport – Photo by Elena Kulikova.
As the experience continued, the dancers found each other, starting with simple mirrored movements between pairs of dancers and turning into columns of dancers moving in sync. As the dancers wove in and out of the boxes, the tone seemed to shift and the dancers seemed more trapped and stuck as they moved in their own spaces. Later, as I found myself gathering with most of the audience around a group lift happening in the center, I was impressed with how Fedoke and Rappaport were able to create subtle ways to draw attention where they wanted. The dancers reached and writhed, their limbs extending and moving like seaweed floating in water. From here, the dancers showed their strong performance abilities and their gaze shifted; now it felt like they suddenly saw us and were suspicious. In a light moment, a few dancers joined the audience, arms crossed and watching the movement in the center.
As tension seemed to grow, with flickering lights and faster pulsing sounds, the dancers broke apart and most of them began to run around the space. I noticed how we as the audience were in the boxes and the space where the dancers had started, and the dancers were now on the outskirts where we had started. As they returned into the center of the field, they moved with more vigor as if they were pushed and pulled, and then they started to fall, and then crawl down the lanes between boxes, eventually finding each other and helping each other up. The sound and lights calmed and settled.
“A/Void” by Comfort Fedoke and Zoe Rappaport – Photo by Elena Kulikova.
The dancers separated and returned to boxes, moving with hopeful smoothness. I witnessed more moments of intimate interaction between audience members and dancers sharing space inside the boxes. I could sense the ending coming, and I found myself walking around even more to soak up every last bit of the experience. The sounds of breath returned, and it felt like coming full circle to our opening breathing exercise. As the dancers exited, some audience members exited right away to the reflection space, and others took their time. Throughout the experience, watching the audience and the different choices each person made was another layer in and of itself.
As I exited into the lobby, the curfew notification on my phone and the distant sound of sirens brought me back to reality. This event reminded me how art can be so healing and why it is so important to support and make time for, especially in challenging times. “A/VOID” featured stunning dancing, and this was just one layer of an incredible immersive, well-produced, and cathartic experience.
The dancers who were a part of this experience were Dpayne, Gbari, Mazaria, Nazar, Julio César, Victoria Ayad, Arielle Bash, Jenna Laspinas, Moriah Miller, Chelsea Moore, Gina Rechul, Jesse Smith, Sky Stokes, Amber Tran, and Tai Ryan White.
To learn more about Chromasonic Field, please visit their website.
Written by Rachel Turner for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: “A/Void” by Comfort Fedoke and Zoe Rappaport – Photo by Elena Kulikova.
