Modern Dance Fan Club: RAWdance’s CONCEPT series: 28
By Jill Randall
I had the opportunity to interview RAWdance co-directors Katerina Wong, Wendy Rein, and Ryan T. Smith a few weeks ago, so I was primed, prepped, and excited to see the CONCEPT series in person on Saturday, March 26th. I am highly impressed and appreciative of RAWdance’s longevity with the series - 15 years strong - and the key idea behind it all - a regular platform for works in progress. Fun, playful, unapologetic sharing of new ideas and first sketches. The CONCEPT series brings “the dream of the audience” into the artmaking process and has organized nearly 30 iterations bringing together dancemakers and dance enthusiasts alike.
Paralleling the CONCEPT series premise - of a space with breathing room for new ideas and experimentation - I also will offer some initial ideas and first drafts as my written response to seeing and feeling CONCEPT series: 28.
Photograph/Poem/Paragraph
Here, I will share 3 ideas around each of the 7 dances on the bill:
- First, photographer Hillary Goidell captured the entire show. I am grateful to share an image for each dance.
- Second, inspired by the haiku form (3 lines, with 5-7-5 syllables…), I would like to offer tiny notes about each dance in poetic form. I love this format (i.e. poetry), as it is a cousin to modern dance in its abstraction and phrasing.
- Last, I will share a paragraph or two of ideas percolating post-performance.
From Here (Corey Michael Brady)
Draws us in, calm
Multi-sided, sculptural
Strong embodiment
Corey Michael Brady started off the evening with a solo. The choreography worked well with the two-sided audience seating. Brady’s movements - whether seen from the front or back - are sculptural and 3-dimensional. He is calm and so strongly present. The offering of a solo - created by an artist and performed by the artist themself - is always a humble and vulnerable offering. Brady stirs the energy of the room as the evening begins and invites us to watch, settle in, and delight in the whole body in motion before us in real time.
Photo by Hillary Goidell.
Four by Four (Emily Hansel)
Still dancing with masks
Yet coming back together
Improvised or set?
Next up - Emily Hansel offers a quartet. The dancers keep their masks on, so I settle back into this reality - presence but preservation. The two duet sections are quite stunning in their intricacy and how they move together. I wonder if the choreography is set or is this section improvised? I look forward to seeing Hansel’s full length work in a few months. CONCEPT series fulfills its mission here - offering a platform for a work in progress, and connecting with the audience so they are excited to see the full idea in a few months’ time.
This Might Be Hard to Believe (Molly Rose-Williams)
A letter, story
Then sorrow cracking open
Feeling weight, weighted
Molly Rose-Williams, a compelling solo artist, invites us into her latest exploration of movement and text. The recorded words quickly take us down a path of sorrow - a story of a lost sibling (miscarriage?) and souls, memories, and daydreams. Rose-Williams frequently uses humor as a key component of her work, so it takes me a few minutes to shift expectations and open my heart to a darker piece in front of me. I feel, hear, and see a story of wondering. And at the same time, I embrace the real-time experience of this live performance and the focused attention of the crowd of dance lovers. A generative tension with past and present.
Bibo no Aozora (Sawako Gannon)
With two energies
One person - two personas?
One cool, one vibrant
Sawako Gannon and Kelly Del Rosario offer one of the duets on the bill. Again maskless, I am poised and eager to see this duo relationship unfold for us in the work. I am most curious about the energetic choices for the two dancers. Del Rosario moves with vibrancy and animation. Gannon moves with a cooler tone. The story in my head explores a solo figure who has two different personas at play. Are these personas at odds with one another?
Reverberation (The Major S)
With music splices
There are changing qualities
Solo confidence
The title "Reverberation" aptly expresses the nature of The Major S's playful, short solo with a mashup of music selections. I delight with each change of music and how Vetsch transitions into a variety of ways of moving. She is agile and a stunning mover to experience. Like Brady’s first solo of the night, I harken back to the simplicity and power of the solo performance form. To have a soloist share their current musings, fully present, in a room full of folks…I am grateful for the offering and vulnerable act of performing your own solo to be witnessed and taken in.
Photo by Hillary Goidell.
Begin Again (Katerina Wong)
Make paper airplanes
An invitation to throw
Finding your footing
As an interactive audience experience, we are invited to write on a piece of paper (the prompt I no longer remember), make a paper airplane, and launch it towards Wong as she dances. Maybe our gesture of the airplanes towards Katerina is the symbolic act for dodging so much, and at the same time, standing on one leg, traveling through space, and moving onward. In addition to the paper airplanes, "Begin Again" had numerous elements at play, including live music and storytelling. I look forward to seeing "Begin Again" settle into its life in the coming months.
Point of Connection (Wendy Rein and Ryan T. Smith)
Duet in orange
Touch, familiarity
Bodies soar with lifts
The evening concluded with a duet with RAWdance co-directors Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein, two longtime collaborators. They wear outfits of bright orange, though not identical outfits. Maskless, you immediately see and feel two bodies so familiar with each other moving in close proximity, touching, lifting, and moving with great ease, comfort, and trust.
This piece stirs up emotions for me, and I get a bit choked up. The act of this dance symbolizes so much for me. The orange attire speaks to me and affirms, “Yes to dancing. Yes to artmaking. Yes to touch and trust and physicality. Yes to exhaling and feeling our feet on this dance floor. Yes to what movement shows us and teaches us and crystallizes for us, movers and viewers alike.”
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Gratitude to the producers of this event, to the choreographers and performers, and to my fellow audience members. March 26th at the CONCEPT series was a delightful shared time together about the body in motion in real time, utilizing vulnerability, bravery, and tenacity to share seedlings of ideas. Thank you.
Jill Randall is the founder of Life as a Modern Dancer and the artistic director of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA. www.jillrandalldance.com
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Related posts:
An Enduring Idea: 15 Years of RAWdance’s CONCEPT series
Modern Dance Fan Club: Funsch Dance Experience in "EPOCH"
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