If audiences are worried that modern dance might be too abstract or opaque to understand their meaning, productions such as Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge, which has become a splendid New Year’s tradition over the last decade, can put novices in dance appreciation at ease.
For example, Steve & Jim, Jim. & Steve: Another Modern Dance Concert, a duet choreographed by Nicholas Cendese, effectively used comedy to telegraph this precise message. Cendese, RDT’s associate executive and artistic director, set the piece on Utah Valley University dancers Leah Ahlander and Grace Messenger, with recorded color commentary by two characters like sportscasters called upon to cover a modern dance piece. Alexander Cendese, who is Nick’s brother, an American/Canadian film and television actor, writer and producer, created and recorded the characters. In their banter, one broadcaster described in detail every movement while the other reacted to the piece, recalling troubling events and memories in his life. But, as one broadcaster advised at the end, dance can mean whatever an individual wants it to mean, even if it is simply to appreciate the poetic beauty of the human body in motion.
As noted in an earlier published preview, RDT’s Emerge gives company dancers the opportunity to choreograph their own work. The aggregate results were gratifying. Each work championed the exceptional scope of Utah’s dance ecosystem, which per capita ranks the state nationally among the top for appreciating a performing arts form that justifiably wears the imperial crown here.
Building upon a piece that he co-created with Mar Undag six years ago, Trung “Daniel” Do, set The Gathering on five dancers who participated in last month’s RDT Winterdance workshop. With smartly chosen music by James Blake, Kangding Ray and Beautiful Chorus, the piece opened in front of the curtain and then transitioned onto the whole stage. It anchored Emerge’s creative brief spotlighting a dance community, which was apparent throughout the show.
With six dancers, most of whom rehearse and practice at Dance Class for Humans at the Westminster University Dance Studio, Kara Komarnitsky, RDT archivist and frequent guest artist, created Show Me All of It, with music by Jon Hopkins. The piece lucidly translated into movement the organic emotional dynamics in an evolving relationship of what we decide to reveal about ourselves to each other and when we feel comfortable and confident enough to do so. The idea of dance as a tangible, practical language fluent in meaning and imagery is well evidenced here.
Photo Credit: Sharon Kain.
Caleb Daly’s skintight, set for a trio, was an excellent companion piece in the thematic impulse to Komarnitsky’s Show Me All of It. Visually stunning in the fabrics Daly repurposed from other works to create oversized flowing costumes with gigantic trains. This piece, set to music by Photay, clearly resonated in the idea of what really lies underneath our exterior appearances and how and when we decide what to reveal about ourselves.
In Glimpses of Home, a heartfelt duet inspired by a quote from C. S. Lewis’ book Till We Have Faces, Caitlyn Richter performed with Miche’ Smith, a member of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. Set to the music of Empty Space by Sean Dougherty, the piece opened with solos, giving us a peek into their respective views of their space and place in the world. As the piece progresses, both dancers move in conversation with each other, where they find common ground in understanding and appreciating the world around the world. Exploring a somewhat whimsical vantage of this broader theme, Lindsey Faber presented a screendance film, 4 Pieces, edited by Milena Overstreet and featuring dancers Sasha Rydlizky and Bayley Banks.
Four pieces with the largest contingents of dancers emphasized the lifelong possibilities of dance in the area. More than 30 dancers from Davis High Dance Company delighted the audience with Alexander Pham’s exuberant Wit(her), set to music by Imogen Heap.
Last October at a Weber State University (WSU) residency, Cendese set All The Things We Cannot Say on more than 20 dancers. Set like a sociopolitical call to arms to stand up for humane, compassionate, ethical and responsible actions, the invigorating work shook out lingering feelings of resignation, apathy or complacency. Cendese used music from Tractor’s Revenge, a classic metal rock band from Israel which blends in Middle Eastern folk influences and the band is known for scoring music for dance and theatrical productions. This piece will be performed again this spring in Ogden at a WSU dance concert.
Cendese also set My Mother Told Me on 17 dancers, who participate in RDT’s Dance Center on Broadway’s Prime Movement class, designed for dancers aged 40 and older. Part of an evening-length work that will premiere in December at an RDT Link production, this piece epitomizes that dance movement is not limited by the effects of aging. It is a touching choreographic meditation on motherhood, which hardly dims in its memories even as we age. An unquestionably earnest performance, the piece was accompanied by music and text, including Rachel Hardy’s cover of the song of the same title, which King Harald and his brother Halfdan sang in an episode of the TV series Vikings. The recorded track featured a reading by Gabrielle Miller of Laura Kasischke’s poem Two Men and a Truck, which reflects on the poet’s memories of her now-mature son’s earliest years. Each dancer also spoke very briefly about something their mother told them.
With yet another innovative twist, Cendese set spot-on movement in About Laughter, featuring 11 dancers from the Tanner Dance Program for young performing artists. The piece paralleled snippets of interviews from NYC Studios’ RadioLab podcasts about the science of laughter and its abstract and literal forms.
Closing the show on a proper note was the marvelous Fast Slow Disco, which Do and RDT colleague Megan O’Brien set on seven high school dance teachers from the Wasatch Front, with music by James Brown, Ticklish and St. Vincent. It has become a delightful tradition for Emerge to feature a piece showcasing dance theaters in Utah Schools.
In its decade of existence, Emerge has cured nicely and its current focus as a showcase for dance’s multigenerational bench of talent in northern and central Utah reiterates the strengths of a dance culture that is recognized and treasured not just locally but also nationally and internationally.