Grace Street Theater, Virginia Commonwealth University - February 2013
Directed by Christian von Howard
Costumes by Damian Bond, Karl Green, Paige Horton, Autumn Proctor, F. Elizabeth Ritter, and Christian von Howard
Directed by Christian von Howard
Costumes by Damian Bond, Karl Green, Paige Horton, Autumn Proctor, F. Elizabeth Ritter, and Christian von Howard
VCU Dance NOW annually features new work by VCU Dance faculty and guest artists, performed by Dance majors. This year, the department was pleased to present new work by faculty members Martha Curtis, Courtney Harris, Autumn Proctor, Judith Steel, and Christian von Howard as well as a video dance work by Robbie Kinter, and new work choreographed by Fall 2012 guest artist Kate Weare assisted by Douglas Gillespie and 2003 VCU Dance alumna Leslie Kraus of Kate Weare Company. Spring 2013 visiting artist Stephanie Martinez also brought a new work to the stage as part of the VCU Dance NOW program.
Kate Weare's work Murder Your Darlings, a term coined by British author Arthur Quiller-Couch, suggests that the destruction of whatever is precious is necessary in order to produce good work. Using rhythmic footwork, fleeting spatial patterns and quick-changing entanglements, Murder Your Darlings paints a vivid picture of the chaotic rush and pull of our innermost emotional lives.
Originally inspired by a wildly precarious and hilariously horrifying donkey ride down the mountainous coast of the Greek Island of Santorini, Staying in the Race is a new work choreographed by Martha Curtis. With costume design by Damion Bond, the large group dance mixes movement images and episodes with themes of day to day struggle, celebration, competition (including a donkey race), and mortality.
A duet choreographed by Courtney Harris, Tracking examines the regulation of bodies within prescribed spatial relations. While one dancer reinstates familiar rules by complying to linear pathways, the other resists the suggested promise of the fixed track. Through intimate partnering, the dancers convey the tension of this tethered and unyielding space, while maintaining their inherent connectivity.
Through a series of improvisational and structural explorations involving different forms of boundaries, Autumn Proctor's work Tethered Scope creates spatial and personal tension through physical and energetic blocks within the human experience. Tethered Scope explores the challenges of external distractions through physical contact, gestural intricacies and unique spatial texture evoking an awareness within our scope that often remains masked by the barriers of choice.
A trio of dancers explores imagery reflected in Anais Nin's short story by the same name Under a Glass Bell in an imagistic world that seems frozen in time and covered with dust. Judith Steel's new work combines fabric and light, illusion and reality; the cast of three women play out these forces in a rarified world of delicacy and strength.
Tiny Sisters, choreographed by Christian von Howard, explores the relationship of five women bound together by similar situations. In partnership with the music of Kevin Keller and Chris Lancaster, Tiny Sisters reveals a complex struggle between faith, self-love and the prisons of life-servitude for many young girls.
Kate Weare's work Murder Your Darlings, a term coined by British author Arthur Quiller-Couch, suggests that the destruction of whatever is precious is necessary in order to produce good work. Using rhythmic footwork, fleeting spatial patterns and quick-changing entanglements, Murder Your Darlings paints a vivid picture of the chaotic rush and pull of our innermost emotional lives.
Originally inspired by a wildly precarious and hilariously horrifying donkey ride down the mountainous coast of the Greek Island of Santorini, Staying in the Race is a new work choreographed by Martha Curtis. With costume design by Damion Bond, the large group dance mixes movement images and episodes with themes of day to day struggle, celebration, competition (including a donkey race), and mortality.
A duet choreographed by Courtney Harris, Tracking examines the regulation of bodies within prescribed spatial relations. While one dancer reinstates familiar rules by complying to linear pathways, the other resists the suggested promise of the fixed track. Through intimate partnering, the dancers convey the tension of this tethered and unyielding space, while maintaining their inherent connectivity.
Through a series of improvisational and structural explorations involving different forms of boundaries, Autumn Proctor's work Tethered Scope creates spatial and personal tension through physical and energetic blocks within the human experience. Tethered Scope explores the challenges of external distractions through physical contact, gestural intricacies and unique spatial texture evoking an awareness within our scope that often remains masked by the barriers of choice.
A trio of dancers explores imagery reflected in Anais Nin's short story by the same name Under a Glass Bell in an imagistic world that seems frozen in time and covered with dust. Judith Steel's new work combines fabric and light, illusion and reality; the cast of three women play out these forces in a rarified world of delicacy and strength.
Tiny Sisters, choreographed by Christian von Howard, explores the relationship of five women bound together by similar situations. In partnership with the music of Kevin Keller and Chris Lancaster, Tiny Sisters reveals a complex struggle between faith, self-love and the prisons of life-servitude for many young girls.
