Constant Preparation

Though it appears quiet at the studios this week with the company on a much-deserved vacation, there’s actually a constant undercurrent of preparation for Liz Lerman’s new piece, The Matter of Origins. Behind the scenes, it takes a lot of people to make the vision of a dance into reality: people to design the set, the lighting, the video, the costumes, the sound; someone to help with historical facts and help shape the piece; people to actually build the set and make the costumes; various managers to keep rehearsals, performances and schedules running smoothly; and a crew to operate everything in each theatre we visit.

All these people have lots of meetings and need to talk to each other constantly about how the final piece should look, sound, and feel. Over time, and through many phone calls and emails, bits and pieces emerge. Each time we rehearse we come away with more – music or text that we really like, stunning video sequences, choreography we know involves eight stools and two chairs that will need to be designed and built... The whole process is truly a collaborative effort.

This week has provided a good opportunity to organize DVDs of rehearsal footage and paint the cubes that are part of the set. We're grateful to have the time to do these things now, because come the middle of July, The Matter of Origins is going to kick into high gear and barrel along at warp speed until we reach the premiere at the University of Maryland on September 10 and 12.

Community Forum with Washington Adventist Health

Tonight we had 15 members from community organizations in the metro DC area come to a forum to contribute their ideas for Washington Adventist Hospital's proposed Center for Spiritual Life and Healing. No better way to discuss the integration of body, mind and spirit than to use them together with the help of some DX classic tools: Blind Lead and Build A Phrase. To learn more about these tools visit www.danceexchange.org and click on TOOLBOX.

What we did in Sheboygan

Here is the five-minute introduction created by Dan Klopp of Keyhole Films for the community work we created at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in February and March of this year. Enjoy!

Sore and happy.

A big big big thank you to everyone who made the trek to Olney Theatre this weekend to see New Works/New Voices. We had a great show--incredible performances by the company and the community participants who made an appearance in the final piece of the evening, Still Crossing. AND we had a lovely party for our cast, audience, board members and sponsors after the show!

We're on a break from rehearsals now until June, but we'll be posting periodically about what we're up to until then. Coming up in June: rehearsals for Martha's work Wind Studies, Liz's work Nocturnes, a residency at a retirement community in Milwaukee, and preparation for our Summer Institute in July.

Tonight!

New Works/New Voices is tonight at 7pm at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD. If you haven't purchased your ticket yet, you can get it here, or by calling the box office: 301-924-3400. Join us after the show for a reception with the company and community participants. See you tonight!

Community participants rehearse Liz Lerman's Still Crossing at last night's dress rehearsal

Read all about it.

Cassie, Keith, and EJ talked to the Gazette last week about the variety of rep in our show on Saturday at Olney Theatre. Read the full article here, then buy your tickets to the show here. We'll see you Saturday!

The company in Cassie Meador's Drift

Photo by John Machtig

Preparation...

for a long day in the theatre: pears, kombucha, yogurt, croissants, mango-orange smoothie