Photography courtesy of Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company
New Dance Horizons
October 5, 8 p.m.; October 6, 2 & 8 p.m.
$40, $30 matinee
Touhill Performing Arts Center
1 University, University of Missouri–St. Louis
314-534-6622, dancestlouis.org
The Nutcracker is lovely—how can you get truculent about piccolos and Sugar Plum Fairies? But when it’s the only dance performance most people see in a year, jumper cables are called for. That’s why this year, Dance St. Louis asked nationally known choreographers to work with local companies and create totally new work to premiere on local stages. New Dance Horizons opens Dance St. Louis’ 47th season with collaborations between Jessica Lang and Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company; Pam Tanowitz and Saint Louis Ballet; Gina Patterson and MADCO; and Victoria Marks and Leverage Dance Theater (formerly aTrek Dance Collective). “I think they are going to see the unexpected—just like I’m going to see the unexpected,” says Dance St. Louis artistic and executive director Michael Uthoff, when asked what audiences will see when the curtain lifts. “We hope that each piece is going to be a masterpiece, but there’s no guarantee; it’s new.”
Uthoff wanted to challenge dancers and choreographers even further by placing them outside of their known vernacular, e.g., pairing Tanowitz—who dances in an abstract, modern style that often aims to be awkward—with a corps de ballet. “The idea in each choreographer’s head is great, but is that going to work when it’s translated? We don’t know. But that’s what I like about it,” he says. Horizons will become Dance St. Louis’ new season opener, a bookend to the Spring to Dance Festival in May, and it has already attracted national interest from PBS and others, even before the dancers’ feet have hit the stage. “I don’t think we’re going to see it after the first season,” Uthoff says, “but after two or three years, I think we are going to see St. Louis become a bastion for great dancing.”
We asked some of the choreographers to weigh in on the process of creating work for New Dance Horizons:
Jennifer Medina, Artistic Director, Common Threads Contemporary Dance Company, on Working with Choreographer Jessica Lang
[Lang] has a very efficient process; she kind of wanted to get to know the company and see how they move. Then… she started talking a little bit about where the inspiration is being drawn from. I don’t think it’s a narrative piece. It’s more of an expressionistic piece. I can’t really say what the theme would be, because I don’t really feel like she’s articulated a specific theme. But it definitely doesn’t feel like some linear narrative, like a story being told. Compositionally, it’s very musical, and formalistically very present and beautiful. She did talk to the costume designers today about something with a sense of simplicity.
The music is by a composer named Jakub Ciupiński; he’s a Polish composer from Brooklyn. The opening section is just a piano, and then it moves into a brisk flute, and other stringed instruments. It seems to be in a strong phrase of six. It’s more toward the contemporary genre, it’s not so far out that I would call it experiential music, it’s definitely classical music.
[Common Threads] is really just now getting going; I started a year and a half ago, I moved back to St. Louis from New York and started training some dancers who are local. And it’s really grown quickly. I now have eight company members and five apprentices. It’s been an amazing experience. Michael [Uthoff] saw us dance in March of 2011, at a show at COCA that Atrek was hosting, and we performed a piece or two in it.
Then he mentioned that he had this idea for New Horizons, and of course it’s come to pass, and we’re involved.
Choreographer Gina Patterson (Working with MADCO):
I went out in February for a few days to meet to meet with the company, and get to know the company, and I have to say, I really loved the process of working with them. And it made me really excited to be in on this project, and to be working with them. I had met Stacy a few years ago, she’s seen my work in Chicago, and kept tabs on me, and I’d heard about them, and then this opportunity came up to work with them, and I’m very excited about it. At the moment, we are still working out things with the Soulard Blues Band, who we’re working with. So it’s blues music. We’re hoping it’s going to be live, but we’re working all of that out.
I love to collaborate with other artists … For me, it was really interesting when it was put out there, “Would anyone be interested in blues music?” I jumped on that, because I know blues is really a part of St. Louis. And then when we are talking about the Soulard Blues Band and MADCO, they’ve both been in existence for more than 20 years. So they’re really part of the cultural fabric of St. Louis and I love the idea of this being a part of history, really. And so I am just excited about bringing both of them together, as well as the audience that will be there. I feel like this is a really valuable project that Michael has put together.
Stacy West, MADCO Executive/Artistic Director, on Dance St Louis:
Dance St. Louis has always been known for bringing in world-class dance, but now they are helping create it. Michael Uthoff has incredible vision and genuine kindness when it comes to his work in the dance community. He has developed Spring to Dance into an event with attendance and audience excitement that is unlike anything else ever done in St. Louis. New Dance Horizons is another layer to his vision, and I have no doubt it will be successful.
Working with excellent choreographers has always been part of MADCO’s mission. However, our budget doesn’t always allow us to commission work from choreographers we would like. Dance St. Louis has made that possible and the benefits are far-reaching. Local audiences get a taste of the magic that can happen when good dancers are paired with great choreographers. Local dance companies have opportunity for growth and improvement. Choreographers and dancers alike gain employment and regional audiences and presenters experience the work through affordable dance tours that show off the St. Louis dance community. The excitement among the dancers is palpable. Like Spring to Dance, I think audiences will get wrapped up in New Dance Horizons’ excitement too!
