Creative Entry Journalism Series
Dance Place’s new initiative will feature written process and profile pieces on several upcoming Dance Place residencies and performances.
Led by DMV-based journalist Lisa Traiger, six different writers will be paired with professional dance artists and their specific residencies to write a piece on the artists’ work and process.
This series will engage audiences at multiple places in their pandemic media consumption, as well as give the professional artists a meaningful piece of writing about their work that can be used in individual marketing plans and grant applications.
The artists that will be profiled include: Britta Joy Peterson, S. J. Ewing & Dancers, SOLE Defined, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, ReVision Dance Company, and Excessive Realness.
Matthew Cumbie & Excessive Realness
Matthew Cumbie writes about the 5-day, virtual Gaze festival hosted and presented by Dance Place in partnership with Excessive Realness (ER), a queer-normative dance intensive:
“And maybe that’s it: rather than trying to understand what queer dance is, I could instead grapple with different factors that make up this ‘force of disruption’ that Clare Croft offers us. What does it mean to be a part of queer dances? What are the histories that inform or influence these understandings? Who gets to decide these things? And, for me specifically, how does my privilege and power as a white, cisgender person who identifies with maleness intersect with my queerness?”
Read Matthew Cumbie’s full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: Photo by Hannah Larson. Right: Courtesy of the Artist.
Krystal Collins & ReVision Dance Company
Krystal Collins writes about ReVision Dance Company’s recent performance of Passage, a work that commemorates and celebrates the company’s 10 years of discovery and innovation:
“Perhaps this game of seen and unseen metaphorically symbolizes the fleeting characteristic of memories: here one moment then gone in a flash. Quinn, in collaboration with Willis and the dancers, craftily dig into the idea of time in a fresh and meaningful way by fusing the ephemerality of live dance with virtual reality, as if the performers live on in an infinite space.”
Read Krystal Collins’ full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: Photo by David Dowling. Right: Photo by Jonathan Hsu.
Arielle Ostry & Christopher K. Morgan & Artists
Arielle Ostry writes about Christopher K. Morgan’s in-person residency at Dance Place for his new work, “Native Intelligence / Innate Intelligence,” a work originally scheduled to premiere in May of 2020:
“The moment was bittersweet: Seeing Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (CKM&A) back in its home theater, but via Zoom. It has been more than a year since the world changed; since Dance Place postponed its season in the interest of public safety and we all took a long and unwelcome break from live performance. But getting a glimpse of Morgan’s masked face through the pixelated feed of a single Zoom square, and seeing his dancers rehearse their reworked solos, it felt like coming home.”
Read Arielle Ostry’s full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: Artist Jamison Curcio during Christopher K. Morgan’s residency, Courtesy of the artist. Right: Courtesy of the artist.
Lisa Traiger & S. J. Ewing & Dancers
Lisa Traiger writes about S. J. Ewing’s in-person residency at Dance Place for her new work, TECHNE, in collaboration with multimedia designer Dylan Uremovich and filmmaker Jonathan Hsu:
“From choreographic production to technical invention to virtual reality, the ancient concept technē is replicated in a novel manner by Ewing’s TECHNE. Art, craft, technique and technology merge choreographic structures, computer science, gaming, film, and interactive projections in stepping toward new creative possibilities. It’s a brave new dance world where engagement and interactivity are individual rather than communal experiences.”
Read Lisa Traiger’s full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: Writer Lisa Traiger, photo by Lisa Traiger. Right: The artists during S. J. Ewing’s residency, photo by Jonathan Hsu.
Charlie Maybee & SOLE Defined
Charlie Maybee writes about SOLE Defined’s recent in-person residency:
“Amid the beautifully cacophonous overlapping beats, it occurs to me how clearly each performer’s voice can be heard despite speaking at the same time. In this context, the aural percussive conversation requires heightened mindfulness to what each dancer is saying through their feet. What might be possible in a world where we can speak and listen simultaneously? How can rhythm be utilized as a structure to organize voices and provide equitable space for them to not only be heard, but to experience the way they weave and intersect?”
Read Charlie Maybee’s full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: Writer Charlie Maybee, photo by Ell Emadian. Right: The artists during SOLE Defined’s residency, photo by Faryn Kelly.
Val Oliphant and Britta Joy Peterson
Val Oliphant writes about Britta Joy Peterson’s in-person residency at Dance Place for her new work, A Model for Staying With:
“Each dancer filmed in solitude echoes the isolation the pandemic wrought. Concurrently, the interlinked system of these solo dancers evoke the complex root systems in forests that allows trees to communicate and support other trees. When a tree gets ripped out of the ground, what happens to the root system and surrounding trees? Similarly, what does it mean to disconnect humans from our networks as the pandemic has done? A Model for Staying With investigates these questions.“
Read Val Oliphant’s full piece of writing HERE.
Photo credits -> Left: The artists during Britta Joy Peterson’s residency, photo by Faryn Kelly. Right: writer Val Oliphant, photo by Rippetoe Studios.
Junior Staff Featured Writer: Yuliee Wilson
Yuliee is part of Dance Place’s Junior Staff program. She is currently in school studying graphic design and really loves anything that deals with the art world.
“The theme throughout this celebration was “Let’s go back, so we can move forward.” I found that interesting because even though it is their 24 year celebration, it is during Black History month. Which makes it even more powerful.”
Read Yuliee’s Performance Critique on Coyaba Dance Theater’s February Presentation HERE.
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