Hannah Wiley – UW News

Chamber Dance Company shifts focus, reimagines repertoire in return to stage

Lauren Kirschman — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 18:42:20 +0000

is reconsidering what makes a dance important.

Comprised of ��Ӱ�Ӵ�ý graduate students, the Chamber Dance Company works to perform, record and archive dance works of artistic and historical significance, particularly those that have rarely or never been seen by Northwest audiences. Since its founding in 1990, the company has primarily performed classical modern dance choreography dating as far back as 1895.

But for this year’s annual performance, the company will exclusively perform contemporary works created within the last 15 years. The choreography incorporates elements from ballet, street styles, classical and contemporary modern dance as well as projected and vocalized commentary –– a new direction with fresh challenges.

The Chamber Dance Company will perform Thursday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Oct. 16, in the Meany Hall Studio Theatre. The Sunday performance will start at 2 p.m. All other performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be .

“Our repertoire is shifting,” said , associate professor of dance and co-director of the Chamber Dance Company. “Part of that change is questioning and reassessing what makes historic work ‘significant’ and asking who can perform in that work.”

This year’s performance will celebrate a broad sweep of contemporary dance styles. Members of Seattle’s professional dance community will join the company to perform excerpts from Canadian ’s “Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue” and Californian ’s “Stardust.” Additionally, faculty and undergraduate guests from the UW Department of Dance will join company members to stage new works choreographed by second-year UW graduate students and .

“This is definitely a different repertoire than we’ve performed in the past,” said , professor of dance and founding artistic director of the Chamber Dance Company. “I’ve learned a lot along this journey. I’ve learned that this new direction can be liberating; it can free us to be more expansive and inclusive about our repertory and the dancers who perform it.”

The experiences of the current graduate students range from ballet to traditional Chinese dance to commercial dance, or dance created with entertainment or promotional purposes, to modern with an Afro-contemporary influence, meaning it’s based in rhythms from Africa and the diaspora.

Champi, who has an undergraduate degree in cognitive science from Stanford University, will have seven dancers portray the complex patterns and repetition resulting from the number seven as the denominator in “Vulgar Fraction.” “Silent Summer,” by Pray, is a dance theater solo that uses language and movement to portray a future Earth void of birdsong.

“It feels like the impetus for this new direction is largely thinking about who we are welcoming into our MFA program,” Lincoln said. “As dance in academia evolves to embrace artists with backgrounds in more styles, we must expand the Chamber Dance Company’s repertoire. It’s exciting to see.”

The Chamber Dance Company will perform Thursday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Oct. 16, in the Meany Hall Studio Theatre. Photo: Kiyomi Taguchi

The company will also perform three duets from “Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue” by Pite. The choreographer wrote that her dances were inspired “by the shared narratives that live in our bodies – the familiar, repetitive storylines that move across cultures and generations.”

“The dancers are taking some risks that they haven’t been asked to take in other works before,” Wiley said. “The audience needs to perceive the labor and the struggle in the work. Dancers have spent years trying to make the hardest thing look easy. To let go of that, which is to let go of a certain notion of what’s beautiful, has been a performative challenge.”

The program will conclude with a new excerpt from “Stardust,” which redefines the coming-of-age story through the digital age as it follows a Black, gay teenager who is never seen on stage. He is present only through the tweets and text messages he sends.

“The dancers on stage aren’t the character, but they are creating an emotional landscape for him to live in,” Lincoln said. “As a viewer of this piece, I think we go back and forth between seeing language that is evocative in one way and abstract movement that is evocative in a completely different way. There is something poignant and arresting in the way the two intersect – even if it’s hard to make sense of or challenging to digest.”

“Stardust” depicts bullying, and it contains projected text that includes racial and homophobic slurs and references to physical violence and explicit sexuality.

“I appreciated hearing David’s response to the reactions of past audiences, which ranged from moved and in love to offended,” Lincoln said. “He’s just like, ‘That’s all OK. We made this thing and then people receive it. However they receive it, that’s OK with me.’

“I love seeing this cast on stage. Knowing who would be in the company this year inspired us to ask David for the piece. It’s what David does. He intentionally puts such a range – of dance styles, race, age and experience – into his company, which allows for multiple perspectives to coexist on stage. I think that can be a profoundly beautiful part of contemporary dance.”

, operations manager for the Department of Dance and assistant to the director for the Chamber Dance Company, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in dance in 2020. She started noticing a change in the department’s focus while she was still at the UW. Now, she’s seeing the results.

“It feels exciting and important where the company is going,” Daugherty said. “It feels like it’s shifting. We’re asking, ‘What is the work we want to be restaging?’ I feel like this concert embodies such an important direction that even Seattle dance is going in. We’re also helping guide the audience that has been supporting the company for so many years into a new era.”

For more information, contact Wiley at hcw@uw.edu and Lincoln at rlincoln@uw.edu.

Dance meets social justice in Chamber Dance Company’s ‘The Body Politic’ Oct. 12 – 15

Peter Kelley — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 17:57:07 +0000

Barbi Powers in the dance “Pastime” by Lucinda Childs, part of the UW Chamber Dance Company’s concert, “The Body Politic.” Photo: Steve Korn

Lights up: Dancer Alexandra Bradshaw-Yerby takes the stage with a fierce stare — wary, maybe desperate, as background city noises blare. She suffers loss, even disability as she navigates a fraught urban world with guarded, shuffling, angular movements. And, those eyes.

This dance, called “,” depicts modern homelessness, but is in fact almost 80 years old. Some things don’t change. It’s by choreographer , and was first produced in 1938.

It is one of eight pieces in “,” the 2017 concert by the ��Ӱ�Ӵ�ý Department of Dance’s , to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 to 14, and at 2 p.m. Oct. 15 at Meany Theater.

The Chamber Dance Company, or CDC for short, is known for reviving and archiving significant works from the modern dance canon. Now in its 27^th year under the guidance of founding artistic director , the CDC has become one of Seattle’s most respected dance companies.

“The Body Politic” is an homage to status quo-defying choreographers who used dance to discuss social injustice and gender, economic and racial prejudice. In addition to Gentry’s dark meditation on street life, the company will perform pieces by choreographers , , , , , and .

“Several of the dances in this year’s repertoire are portraits of people marginalized by society,” said Wiley, a longtime UW professor of dance. “Through movement vocabulary, posture, music and acting the dancer provides an intensified lens for observing their situation.”

Personal relationships are here, too, such as in “Arms,” a 1984 duet by Marshall danced precisely and passionately by Lucie Baker and Brandin Steffensen. A man and woman entangle and separate, fall toward and away, reject with impatient shrugs then curl into symbiotic embrace — apart and together again — a difficult relationship; we’ve been there.

In addition to Bradshaw-Yerby, Baker and Steffensen, other company dancers are Alethea Alexander, Adele Nickel and Barbi Powers. All the dancers in the company are pursuing MFA degrees after completing at least eight years of a professional performance career, and most have danced with nationally and internationally acclaimed dance groups. Their biographies can be viewed .

And so if you were to ask how dance can comment on social issues such as injustice, inequality and prejudice, this would be an answer — even though it might sometimes be more comfortable to look away.

“These portraits evoke our sympathy and magnify the injustices,” said Wiley. “They re-set our moral compass with compassion.”

Tickets to “The Body Politic” are $10 to $22, available through the ArtsUW Ticket Office, 1313 NE 41st Street or 206-543-4880, or .

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For more information about the Chamber Dance Company, contact Wiley at 206-543-7536 or hcw@uw.edu. To learn more about the Department of Dance, email uwdance@uw.edu.

Read in The Seattle Times.

Renowned dances meticulously restaged for Chamber Dance Company’s ‘On the Edge’

Peter Kelley — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 15:50:53 +0000

Pablo Piantino, left, and Bruce McCormick in the UW Chamber Dance Company’s production of the dance “Jardi Tancat.” Photo: Steve Korn

Two pairs of dancers watch from upstage in a spacious Meany Hall rehearsal room as a third, downstage couple moves in tandem. The woman rises over the man — suspended briefly as if in slow motion — and then the other couples return to fluid movement across the bare stage.

This is a rehearsal for the ��Ӱ�Ӵ�ý performance of a piece called “” based on Catalonian folk tales collected and expressed in song by . But it’s also a bit of history — the faithfully exact re-enactment of a dance created by a famous choreographer more than three decades ago and a continent away.

“On the Edge” comprises this work and two other recreated dances — “Cloudless,” originally staged by , and audience favorite “To Have and Hold,” created by the late with .

with pre-performance lectures by Seattle arts writer Sheila Farr.

“On the Edge” will be performed Oct. 9-12 in Meany Hall. .

The evening of dance also includes these two works.

“Cloudless,” created by Susan Marshall in 2006, is a retrospective of her career as one of the leading choreographic voices in the post-modern era. Excepts of her evening-length work will be presented. The New York Times said Marshall’s dances “resemble good short stories; they are dramatically taut and emotionally rich. And her choreographic brevities are often packed with multiple implications.”

“To Have and Hold” was created by Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith in 1989. Affectionately known as “Bench,” it was first presented by the Chamber Dance Company in 2011 and became an audience favorite. Reviewing a 1992 production, the New York Times said, “There is no plot. But lives are spanned. Lovers meet and part. Death comes, first frighteningly, then as peaceful resolution. Above all, no one is alone in this world in continuous motion.”

This attention to detail comes as no surprise to the two dozen invited guests watching the recent rehearsal at the invitation of , founding and continuing artistic director of the Chamber Dance Company, They know this company — begun in 1990, and composed of professional dancers now seeking master’s in fine art degrees from the UW — is well known for meticulous reconstructions of dance works of historical significance.

Dancers plot out dances as a director might stage a play, but while theatrical “blocking” can be a passing thing, the staging of a dance is more of an art. Thus, when “Jardi” is reconstructed, it must be performed as closely to its original staging as possible, music and all.

But were it not for two of the performers, “Jardi Tancat” — which tells the tale of people who work the land and pray for rain — would not be on the Chamber Dance Company bill at all.

The dance was created by famed choreographer in 1983 for the Netherlands Dance Theater. Chamber Dance Company member Pablo Piantino and his wife, Penny Saunders, performed in it when working for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2007, there getting the chance to work with Duato. When Wiley thought of bringing the dance to the UW, they reached out to Duato for permission.

“Nacho was extremely kind,” Piantino said. He not only said yes, “he trusted Penny and me with the huge responsibility of remounting ‘Jardi.'”

And so they began to plan the production. Piantino contacted Jim Vincent, former Hubbard Street artistic director and one of the first dancers to perform the piece. Vincent offered to come to Seattle and coach the troupe.

“I never thought we’d be able to perform it,” Wiley told those gathered for the rehearsal. “Jim’s coaching was phenomenal — it was one of the most amazing coaching sessions in my 24 years of directing.”

Piantino credited not only Duato’s generosity, but Wiley, too, for “relentless efforts” in helping make the piece happen. “She emailed, sometimes in Spanish, with my help — and called, bargained, and did all she could in order that a small university company could get such a great work,” he said.

Members of the UW Chamber Dance Company rehearse the piece “To Have and Hold.” Seen in front is Pablo Piantino. Photo: Peter Kelley

For her part, Wiley said “Jardi” is among her favorite works in both the ballet and dance repertoires.

“It has been such a gift to work on this dance for three months,” she said. “To get inside of it and figure out how Duato worked his magic. The vocabulary, music, intent and humanity come together to create a deeply moving aesthetic experience. And we have dancers with the maturity, experience and technique to make this dance really sing.”

As the dancers finished their rehearsal performance of “Jardi,” Piantino glanced tentatively to colleagues to see if he should bow, but the audience’s reaction answered the question soon enough — and he bowed, with a shy smile.