The more things change: Miro = Miller Rothlein

What's in a name?

A lot of confusion, says Amanda Miller, when it comes to the company formerly known as Miro Dance Theatre, which she runs with her husband, Tobin Rothlein.

They started it in 2004 with thoughts of combining their names. The "Mi" in Miro was for Miller, the "Ro" for Rothlein. Easy peasy.

But not everyone got it.

"If you don't know, you don't know," Miller says. "It's not about the Spanish painter, it's about us."

Even the "Dance Theatre" part was too restrictive: Miller is a former Pennsylvania Ballet dancer, and it described much of her work; Rothlein, on the other hand, is a video and visual artist. When his projects involved neither dance nor theater, he often took them outside the company. And after 13 years of working together (they were also two of the four directors of Phrenic New Ballet from 2000 to 2004; the others, Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox, formed BalletX), that wasn't what either wanted.

So Miro is out, and on Thursday the company is performing for the first time as Miller Rothlein. But only the name has changed.

"The company is still the company," Miller says, "the mission hasn't changed. It's the intersection of dance and visual arts, how we can explore all its iterations, making work in museums, on stage, on a sidewalk, you can find us in the middle of a city and explore what we're doing."

Miller Rothlein jumps in with both feet in Still Life: Just Under 42 Very Small Performances and Installations.

"What is a still life?" asks Rothlein, who is finishing a master of fine arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and leading up Still Life. "What would a series of still lifes in motion feel like? What's beautiful? What's picturesque? What do you want to have on your wall? A cornucopia of fruit, hunting scenes or the bounty? What would those things be about if they weren't about belongings? What if it's a feeling or a moment in life?"

With those questions in mind, Miller and Rothlein developed several small performances, videos, and projects combining video and sculpture. There's a cast of five performers, including Miller, and a sixth appearing only on video. But even the dancers perform in a way that's visual art as much as movement. "The dancers," Rothlein says, "I'm thinking of them sculpturally. I work with them as a material."

The show - "You can call it a show," Rothlein allows - has audience members exploring sections through a gallery. "Some stuff exists purely on video," he says. "Others combine sculpture and video, two large projections that face each other."

Just Under 42 is a random number Rothlein chose, partly because he's 41, and also because it refers to the meaning of life in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The actual number of pieces hadn't been set as of two weeks ago. Rothlein said it wasn't necessary, maybe not even possible, to see all. Audience members will go through the gallery at their own pace.

"We're trying to open the doors for ourselves and our audiences," Miller says. "I think it has a lot to do with expectations. I think people come to the theater with certain expectations, and if they don't get that, they're disappointed. Don't come to this and expect a dance-theater performance. We want you to walk into the world."

Contact writer Ellen Dunkel at edunkel@philly.com.