Have you ever watched a kid do something like a cartwheel or a cannonball or even just jump off the couch, and they demand an audience?
“Look, Mom. Mom. Mom, look. Mom, are you watching?”
That seemingly small plea is the seed of LED’s newest production, Look, Mom! – a peculiar, playful work that asks a deceptively simple question: are you watching?
It’s the third evening-length piece LED has made in four months, and it opens next week at The Dixon.
A quick LED refresher
LED is the genre-blending performance company shaped by husband-and-wife duo Lauren Edson and Andrew Stensaas. Their work lives at the intersection of movement, original music, story, and cinematic design. They put together performances where you walk out feeling like you just visited a different world.
And now that they have a permanent home at The Dixon, they’re doing what they’ve always wanted to do: build big work in a space designed for it.
Performance as survival
Lauren told me the starting point for Look, Mom! came from parenting. Watching their kids clamor for attention and feeling the pull to stop and just watch them.
“From that, there was a confluence of a lot of different things that came into our research and development of the work that kind of underscored this sentiment.”
Lauren heard a bit by comedian Gary Gulman: “You show me a four-year-old on a diving board screaming mommy look to an unreceptive audience. In 14 years I will show you a theater major.”
“I have been a performer and dancing for so long…there is a seed of truth in that,” she said. “What is performance? What is performing for an audience and wanting to be seen?”
Lauren described the work as a meditation that keeps returning to the same tender question: are you watching?
French clowning
Look, Mom! is set inside a lush, theatrical world inspired by French clown traditions. Think oversized black-and-white aesthetic, emotional extremes, and physical comedy that can turn on a dime into something haunting.
To put together the piece, Lauren said they’ve been deep-diving into clowning history and cinema, exploring the worlds of classic French archetypes like Pierrot (the melancholic clown) to the physical storytelling of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
A big part of clowning, she explained, is that the audience can see an easy solution to the clown’s problem, yet the clown simply cannot get there. The struggle builds, the moment stretches, and suddenly you’re laughing…until you realize you’re also kind of devastated.
That tension is the sweet spot.
A show that moves through The Dixon
One of the most exciting details of Look, Mom! is how the performance will use The Dixon in a way LED hasn’t before. This show begins in The Lounge with live music from Andrew along with musicians Matt Fabbi and Michael Mitchell, before the audience journeys into The Theater, led by the clowns.
The music is a defining element of all LED performances, but especially this one. Lauren described this score as more orchestral, cinematic, and rich – a significant tonal shift from the indie-rock energy you might hear in previous LED works. One dancer even told her he couldn’t believe the same person wrote both scores.
This performance also showcases what’s so special about LED having a permanent home at The Dixon: they’re not just presenting work in a venue, they’re building work for the venue. With Look, Mom!, the shadow and light elements aren’t just atmosphere; they’re part of the storytelling. The sonic landscape is immersive. Every detail has been crafted specifically for this room.
Lauren said having the ability to build the work in the same theater where it will premiere is something most dance companies don’t get. Most of the time, you are rushing the technical aspects in the 3 or so days before the show premieres.
“There’s so many technical components to this where there’s a lot of shadow and light that is doing a lot of work within the piece,” she said.
She also emphasized the intimacy of The Dixon. It was designed to bring audiences close. So close you can hear the dancers’ breath, see the sweat, and feel the physicality of the work.
“This piece is incredibly physical,” said Lauren. “The idea of performance as survival, performance to be seen by a parent, an audience or the world, is at the core of this work. To experience that, literally feet away from you, I think just adds to such a visceral component.”
Speaking of the dancers, LED’s crew for this piece is a mix of returning collaborators and new artists. A “special alchemy,” as Lauren put it, of veterans and first-timers building something together.
Lauren also told me her kids (ages 6 and 11) ask her every time there’s a new performance: Are you going to dance in this one? And this time, she is. It’s a small part, but it feels extremely on-theme.
Show details
Look, Mom! is happening March 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 at The Dixon in Garden City. Tickets are available here and going fast.
It’s a piece about being seen. About wanting to be seen. About what happens when someone finally is.
Will you be watching?
Thanks for reading!
With love from Boise,
Marissa
