Suchu Dance: photos

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Unite,
Dynomite
and Smite You White Backbiting Mites

We are only one week away from the show! Things are coming together beautifully and we can't wait to share I CAN MOVE SMALL OBJECTS WITH MY MIND with you. Have you reserved your tickets yet? Part of the fun of working on this show has been the opportunity to revisit and transform "Unite Dynomite." It is the third piece of the puzzle that is SMALL OBJECTS, and as part of our "almost there" countdown we share some of our thoughts about that work with you...

The piece, Unite, Dynomite and Smite You White Backbiting Mites was created this past spring for its first performance in the Big Range Dance Festival in June 2010. An excerpt was recently seen at the Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Houston in September. It is a 22 minute piece for seven dancers in white costumes performed to an original soundscape.

Jennifer offers some insight about the piece: "Revisiting a piece is a little different for me since I like to create something and move on. It has been interesting to see how it has grown from its original form. We have been refining transitional areas that I always felt were a little abrupt and enriching the final group section that previously stayed in the same tenor for too long."

"The sound score has a water motif: drips, bubbles flowing water sounds, but also utilizes air sounds and metronome and clock ticks. The costumes are all white, except they have been sullied on the back. I literally had the dancers wear the pants and sit on some brownish- gray paint. The color white engenders such reverence in people, so I wanted to mess with that phenomenon by making the white costumes already dirty. To me that's humorous."

"Choreographically, I was playing with structures and different ways of making dances. I keep trying to make dances that look and feel improvised, but they never look the same as actual improvisation. Maybe I should just have an improv company."

"The piece has a recurring theme of tiny gestures and movements that resonate when done in unison by a group. There is a motif of the dancers reaching out to one another in the beginning, but they hesitate and don't complete the interaction. A pervading sense of tension hovers throughout, especially in one quartet. Eventually, the dancers do reach out and come together, but in the end they remain apart."

I Can Move Small Objects With My Mind

November 11, 12, 13 and 19, 20, 21
All shows at 8:00 except Nov. 21 at 7:00
At the Barnevelder Theater

Reserve tickets here.

Choreography by Jennifer Wood
Lighting Design by Jeremy Choate
Dancers: Daniel Adame, Lydia Hance, Lindsay Gee, Ashley Horn, Kristen Frankiewicz, Jessi Harper, Leo Muñoz, Nicole McNeil, Prudence Sun, Tina Shariffskul, Lindsey Thompson, and Alex Soares

We premiere I Can Move Small Objects With My Mind in November! For the show, we are creating two new works, Bump and Huldy Humongous, and revisiting a work, Unite, Dynomite and Smite You White Backbiting Mites.

We are only three weeks away from the show, so we're counting down by sharing some insight into each of these pieces with you for the next few weeks. First up... Bump!

Bump

One of the new works from Suchu Dance this season is Bump, a piece for eleven dancers in bright, disjointed "sportif" costumes, who, at some points use unusual props, at other points do funny entrances. The music is sometimes wacked out, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes ominous. A portion of this piece premiered at the ARTernative Festival in Sugar Land this October.

From Artistic Director Jennifer Wood: "Most of the sections in this piece were specifically conceived of to be performed outside on any surface. Dance is a sometimes cumbersome art because the kind of floor we perform on is critical. Any rehearsal space or theatrical performance space hopefully has a sprung floor and a special floor covering. If we don't have that, injuries and poor performance could result. But I got tired of saying no to a lot of possibilities and I wanted a suite of works that could be done anywhere on any hostile surface or environment (on cement, on grass, on the street, in a bank lobby, under a bridge, in a bar, on a roof, on a barge, etc.) We have to be selective as to what movements are in the choreography since the potential surfaces are coarse or brutally hard, so no rolling, or knee spins or face plants- I don't want anyone planting her face into a pile of broken glass or dog poo."

"As for costuming, I felt a need for color after my last piece, which had all white costumes and the resulting outfits are bright, flat oranges, yellows, pinks and blues and greens. Since most likely there would be times when the dancers would have to don tennies when performing outside on cement, for example, the costumes had to look good with athletic shoes. With this in mind, the costumes took on a sporty theme. I acquired old t-shirts at the thrift store and took them apart, mixed them up and put them back together again in a different style (henley). Each shirt is comprised of at least 5 different shirts. I selected the old, original shirts for their color and for their graphic designs or ridiculous messages on them (For example, "OK. I admit it, he did it!" or "Embrace boredom, it's all you have."). Each shirt is a collage of printed words and advertising that has been dissected and re-assembled."

"My intention, besides being able to perform this work outside- was to create something a little humorous and a little powerful. One unusual section from Bump is a re-worked portion taken from a larger piece that premiered 8 or 9 years ago. It utilizes costumes that act as props and movement phrases inspired by windsock figures. These costume pieces are overshirts that have super long sleeves that can be flapped in the air. I'm looking at Bump as a piece where anything goes. There are other props in the works as well. Overall, Bump has a sense of fun and confidence."

Backstage Photos from Suchu's Tour de Texas!

Check out these backstage photos from our performance weekend in the Arternative Festival in Sugarland. Nothing like dancing on Astro Turf!

And as a bonus, check out these photos from Suchu performing at Sam Houston State University for the Dance Gallery Festival this past weekend.

We performed a brand new work, Huldy Humongous, which will also be part of our show opening on November 11. The name of that show? I CAN MOVE SMALL OBJECTS WITH MY MIND!

Buy tickets for that show here!

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