Pages

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Previewing "Rivers Merge" a few days late

The Rivers Merge Dance Festival presented by Lafayette College to celebrate the Lehigh Valley Dance Consortium received a lot of preview press that I didn't get to share because I was busy organizing costumes and working out last minute details of (in)visible veins: Rivers Merge.

Here are two articles:
From WFMZ detailing the performance and some highlights of the work (they mentioned my work with Dr. Weaver of Widener's bio department and horseshoe crabs!)
Previewing (in)visible veins and the Rivers Merge Festival: In Allentown's Morning Call

I really enjoyed talking with the author of the Morning Call article, Margie! Thanks for taking the time with me.

However, the article does contain a  mis-quote that I'd like to correct:
Migrant birds fly from South America to the Artic and stop over at the Delware Bay to feast on horseshoe crab eggs in order to fuel the second half of their journey. I was quoted as saying migrant birds flew from South Africa, in which case, they would probably have to make a few more stops than just in the Delaware Bay. It's a long trip to fly half-way around the world (and boy are my arms tired!)

Margie asked me how I would talk about the work to a non-dancer. "'I think a lot of people worry that they won't get dance,' she (me) says, 'The point of dance isn't to get it. The point of dance is to experience it like you would experience a really good piece of chocolate.'"

In our conversation, Margie agreed that there were some elements of art that couldn't be explained, but were just FELT. In her words, "on a visceral level." Yes! I often hesitate to use the word visceral because it does refer to abstract feeling states; albeit states that are very physical and real. Dance is often abstract enough without having to describe the experience of it in abstract terms. But I was so grateful that Margie was able to relate to other works of art (more specifically works of great literature) and apply that understanding of a deeply experiential feeling state to dance. The same explanation can go for an awesome sculpture, painting, poem, or music.

What are some of your favorite works of art? Could you describe why?


No comments:

Post a Comment