June 20 4:00 pm
Atlas Arts Lab presents Kyoko Fujimoto: Poisoned Apple?
“Poisoned Apple?” A Digital Fairy Tale Where You Decide
Mirror, mirror, on the screen, who gets the most views and likes of all? Poisoned Apple? is a bold, interactive contemporary dance work that reimagines the classic Snow-White narrative through the high-pressure lens of modern digital life. In this world, the fairy tale is not just a story told to you. The audience will decide the storyline together. Whether the protagonist is the soul on stage or the collective spirit of the room, the journey through the digital woods is one we all share.
The Story is in Your Hands
Inspired by the branching narratives of choose your own adventure games and movies, like Life Is Strange and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the performance functions as a real-time experiment in choice and consequence. Please silence your phones, but be ready to vote, as you will be asked to use them when the story asks for your input. Using a simple web link on your device, you will help navigate an age of digital dilemmas overloaded by information. As the story encounters algorithmic pressures, social media noise, and the lure of the perfect online persona, dynamic dancers will depict the emotions, the impulses, and the invisible algorithms that influence our every scroll. Will the path lead toward digital burnout or a much-needed break from the noise? Do these digital devices tools can create healthy apples or are they all poisoned apples? Because each performance follows the lead of the people in the room, no two shows are entirely the same.
A New Reasons to Get Together at the Theater
As a choreographer, Kyoko Fujimoto constantly asks herself why we go to the theater to see dance. In an era where media and devices provide endless entertainment at our fingertips, and where we can watch masterpieces from global companies from the comfort of our own homes, what motivates us to attend a live performance? “Poisoned Apple?” offers a reason to gather in the theater by transforming the audience from passive observers into active participants. By using humor to explore the universal experience of information overload, Fujimoto makes contemporary dance accessible and relatable to everyone, regardless of their prior experience with contemporary dance. Join us for an experimental, thought-provoking performance where the path and the ending is entirely up to you.
Run Time: 1 hour
Kyoko Fujimoto is a Washington, DC–based choreographer whose work is shaped by a rare fusion of classical ballet, contemporary dance, and scientific inquiry. Trained in ballet and musical theater in Japan, Boston, and New York City, Fujimoto also holds a B.A. in Physics from Boston University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, an interdisciplinary foundation that informs her playful, intellectually curious choreography. Her work often explores unexpected subjects ranging from video games to medical imaging and has been praised for its humor and depth.
A recipient of the FY25 Fellowship and FY26 Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Fujimoto uses humor as a universal language to welcome audiences of all backgrounds into dance. During her Atlas Arts Lab Residency, she plans to deepen her choreographic practice through consistent studio access while developing an early-stage prototype of Poisoned Apple, an interactive, game-like contemporary dance work in which audience choices shape the narrative in real time, advancing her commitment to creating inclusive, collaborative, and joy-filled performance experiences. https://kyokofujimoto.com/ | @kyokofujimoto_choreo
Atlas Arts Lab is a program of the Atlas Performing Arts Center that provides a platform for individual artists to develop new work and to serve the community through engagement initiatives that encourage civic dialogue and community cohesion. The program facilitates artistic growth and development for artists whose work explores the ideas and issues of our time. The Atlas Arts Lab prioritizes artists who act as change agents for the betterment of our society, culture, and world.