èßäAV

Extreme Length Productions

Extreme Lengths Productions (XL) is a DC-based arts collaborative led by Ben Levine that focuses on technology-driven, movement-based performance experiences with design at the core. Since 2019, XL has created interdisciplinary artistic projects that shake up notions of how to experience performance. Recent performances include People Watching, a performance viewed with binoculars from a balcony in Navy Yard (co-produced with CulturalDC, 2021); Filament in Georgetown GLOW (2019-2020), a light and performance installation viewed through a peephole; and I made this dance and nobody cares but you, a series of performances experienced by a single audience member at a time (Dance Place, 2019).

Ben Levine (he/they), Producing Director of XL, brings over a decade of experience to his roles as a DC-based artist. He is a freelance lighting, scenic, and projection designer, as well as the Director of Production at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Production Manager at the National Performance Network. Levine has been named "Best Up-For-Anything Technical Director" by the Washington City Paper. In 2016 he created the Kitchen Sink Fest, a mega-collaborative one-minute dance extravaganza featuring DC’s 22 most daring dance makers. In 2017, Levine was awarded a Sister Cities grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) which enabled them to travel to Pretoria, South Africa to collaborate with Usuthu Arts Productions for a performance at the South African State Theater. Additional recent awards have included the DCCAH Artist Fellowship (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), DCCAH project grant (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), and Anacostia Arts Center Incubator Artist in Residence (2019). In 2022, Ben received a choreographic commission from AXIS Dance Company. He is a recipient of the 2023 Hewlett 50 Commission in Media Arts.

Description of Work: Over/Under is a series of works viewed from unexpected perspectives. The audience is enveloped by a large-scale scenic environment to view performances above and below them, exploring notions of what our society looks up to and down upon.