okay, so I got behind on posting my “what I want to do this week” list.
Here’s number 1: See shannon gillen’s dance work-in-progress based on a combination of impressions of her father’s stroke and arthur miller’s the crucible. Sounds crazy, especially from shannon, whose work with Doorknob Company is so damn funny! This new work features one of my favorite dancers, Stephanie Miracle in a great trio that contains rough and tumble partner work, fascinating explorations of what shannon calls “flinching” — the involuntary response to a need or a fear — and some lovely formal unison (the latter remarked by choreographer Laura Peterson, also at the performance). The finished work will be great to see in October as part of Dance New Amsterdam’s 25th anniversary celebration (Doorknob Company were DNA artists-in-residence last year).
Shannon couldn’t say enough about the performance space: the 14 Wall Street Vault that LMCC made available long-term for rehearsal under their Swing Space program. I was impressed with the vault itself, but the space was a long linoleum cave that had numbered floor tiles — an abandoned matrix of $millions. The depth of the space made for a long long perspective on the dance and created a gorgeous upstage downstage perspective in the unison segments.
I already know the finished piece will be on my “what I want to see this week” on October 24.
I’ll conclude with the manifesto from shannon’s web site; an indicator of how tough this cookie is:
THE WORK MUST:
- never repeat
- respond to the conditions at hand
- move from spontaneous reaction
- uplift and unburden the performer
- bring the audience to life
