Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s Re-Mix to feature restaged versions of three choreographic works, including a company premiere

An encouraging trend in the contemporary performing arts era is that once a new work has its premiere, it nevertheless remains an organic piece, open to revision, restaging, expansion and finetuning. For Re-Mix, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s upcoming production, three previously performed works, including one that will be a company premiere, are restaged in a fresh perspective. In one instance, a Utah choreographer’s work that Ririe-Woodbury dancers premiered three years ago and was then reset on Weber State University dancers will return to Re-Mix in its latest iteration. Meanwhile, another locally produced work, originally part of a thesis for a University of Utah master of fine arts degree in dance, is being set anew upon the company.

The company will perform Raja Feather Kelly’s Scenes for an Ending (2023), which originally was presented in the Jeanne Wagner Theatre at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts but will now be presented in the center’s Black Box Theatre, which will heighten the intimate character of the work. Ririe-Woodbury dancers always respond on point to Kelly’s choreography. Pantheon, a work inspired as a follow-up to Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring ballet (1913), has received exceptional performances on the company’s stage. Scenes for an Ending picks up almost exactly where Pantheon left off, exuding with Kelly’s wonderful play and riffs on Warholian pop culture aesthetics. The work proves why Kelly has stood out in the choreographer’s world for a groundbreaking perspective on the fusion of dance and theatrical design, which emphasizes dance as both a physical and visual art form. Music comes from a score by recording artist Emily Wells.

A work that had its premiere in 2022 at the black box theater in the downtown Salt Lake City Eccles Center returns in its restaged fourth iteration with a different title, jo Blake’s coincidental coincidences, and is now set on all six Ririe-Woodbury dancers, as opposed to its original form as a trio. As The Utah Review noted in a 2022 review, the world premiere of coincidences, when we meet up by Blake, with an original score by locally based composer Trevor Price, effectively established the theme [Fill in the Blank] behind the concert’s title. How does one overcome feeling awkwardly self-conscious and steadily gain confidence in the way they move and communicate with others who are familiar or new in their circle of relationships? Blake sets movement that elegantly replicates the gradual organic character of finding the ideal comfort zone in relationships and interactions, especially when times and events are as complicated as they have been within the last couple of years. The trio for the final performance during the run comprised Peter Farrow, Megan McCarthy and Fausto Rivera. They made a convincing portrayal of achieving that fluid seamless goal we desire in our interactions as the space encompassing the movement tightened for more intimate impact. The black box space enhanced the exquisite chamber ensemble vibe of Blake’s tender, sensitive artistic vision.

In a recent interview with The Utah Review, Blake, a former Ririe-Woodbury dancer who is now on the dance faculty at Weber State University, initially conceived the work upon the premise that their voice like so many queer people of color living in a state like Utah might not always be heard. Blake said the work in its second iteration was brought back to university dance students and set with a double cast, adding that “it now produced very coincidences with different circumstances and situations.” It has since evolved, adding film and photography. Its latest iteration sharpens the themes of isolation and healing from the experiences and impacts that arise when we face doubt, microaggressions and impostor syndromes particularly in places such as Utah where a specific religion, political landscape and White identities predominate.   

From 2023: Scenes for an Ending, Choreography: Raja Feather Kelly, Music: Emily Wells, Costume Design: Melissa Younker. Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. Photo Credit: Stuart Ruckman.

The process of finessing the work, starting with a professional company and then working on it with university dance students and subsequently bringing it back to the Ririe-Woodbury stage has been personally elucidating for Blake. “I have found so many different modalities and intersections with sensory stimulation,” Blake explained, “and observing how the students have reciprocated their own responses to moments of stress and awkwardness in working out their chaotic experiences to find their resilient way into self-awareness and self-love.”

The Rate We Change by local artist Kellie St. Pierre, which the choreographer created as part of her master’s degree thesis at the University of Utah, features the company’s six dancers performing on a human-powered rotating platform. St. Pierre’s work is an ideal companion in its thematic creative brief to the other two works on the program.

In an interview with The Utah Review, St, Pierre, who likes to incorporate kinetic set pieces, said “the idea was to build a nonstop work in creating an ever-shifting and rotating environment and how to respond to this, without stopping.” The challenge was to give dancers a new movement vocabulary and skill, according to her, including how to stand, sit and move safely on the rotating platform and find their ideal momentum and comfort levels while performing on it. For her thesis, she set the work on six dancers and then with five dancers for a performance at the American Dance College Association conference. 

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. Photo Credit: Stuart Ruckman.

The setup and premise in the work are pitched to generate countless versions of unique performances, as each cast approaches the piece with its own intellectual curiosity about how they approach the movement and partnering demands by understanding the trust and confidence they build with each other in presenting it. Indeed, as St. Pierre explained, dancers respond to their own sense of humility, as they individually confront their own fears and circumstances in becoming more familiar and comfortable with a continuously rotating platform set. “These dancers have established such a lovely fit in working together and it has been beautiful to watch them as a team helping each other,” she added. The work features a minimalistic, well layered score by local musician Daniel Clifton.

Performances will take place Jan, 30 through Feb. 1, daily at 7:30 p.m. in the Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre at The Rose. For tickets and more information, see this website.

Leave a Reply