by Stephanie Leslie

Yacov Sharir has the kind of passion and creativity you only wish could be bottled and sold. As the founder and artistic co-director of Sharir Dance Company, the company-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin, Yacov has found a way to merge the art of dance with virtual reality. The results of this merger are what Sharir calls "cyber humans," computer-generated creatures who dance through virtual reality. These cyber humans, in addition to the physical dancers on stage, are the stars of his latest project, the Cyber Human Dances Series, due out this spring.

The Cyber Humans, in conjunction with several other abstract art pieces, will be making its way to a theater near you. From May 1 through May 3, Sharir Dance Company (SDC) is finishing off their season with a 15th anniversary celebration, a retrospective tribute to Yacov Sharir titled Yacov Sharir -- Selected Works, Past & Present. The program will showcase Yakov's major accomplishments as a choreographer and artist since the SDC's founding in 1982. For SDC, this anniversary celebration also commemorates the company's 15th anniversary of educating the public on new dance, art, and music through production, presentation, and promotion.

Yacov, along with the dedicated dancers and staff of SDC, grabs the audience's attention through innovation and iconoclasm. However, Yacov asserts, the intention behind his work is not necessarily to grab the audience's attention. More importantly, he says, art is about self-expression and, "when it is successful, it is also entertaining." The nature of art, he continues, is "to tell us about who we are -- it's about memory and culture." The connection between the audience and the SDC's dance productions, he says, is made on a "visceral level -- the audience really cares for the physical aspect of it, the movement, the ambiance, the atmosphere."

Though it may not be his intention, he has caught the attention of the public on a local, national, and global level. In addition to collaborations with many internationally renowned companies, the SDC has participated in international festivals in France, Israel, Spain, Canada, Holland and Portugal. However, SDC is far from forgetting the community where they have their roots. In 1988, SDC collaborated with Merce Cunningham and the Cunningham Dance Foundation of New York. The mission of this partnership was to localize the art of dance, music and choreography through education in diverse areas of the population.

The importance of community support and interaction within the new art sector is not something Sharir has lost touch with. An area of utmost importance to SDC is the maintenance of "a unique sensitivity to the climate and energy of our community." One way SDC is successful in maintaining a close relationship to the Austin community is by seeking to incorporate Texas dancers, especially graduates of the University of Texas, who also place value within the community. Whether you're in Austin, Europe or cyberspace, the abstract performance art of Yacov and SDC are certain to lure you in on a physical, spiritual or technological level.