Email from the road

At James Madison University last week, Elizabeth Johnson and her team of Dance Exchange alums and adjunct artists created a DNA dance for the incoming freshman class of 4000 to link to their year-long study of the connections between science and art. During the residency, EJ sent an email to the company describing the experience:

Hey DX,
Thanks for the thoughts yesterday. We felt the love.

It was truly....wow. I am next to Wayles [Haynes]...and she says “transformational.” It was impressive to see the amazing power of all those people moving. We were awe-struck with the amount of participation and energy. Their gratitude was palpable. Visually arresting. They couldn’t stop dancing after the event was over. We will share the video.

Our team was incredible. They came in prepared to learn and to lead. [DX] alums Michelle [Pearson] and Gesel [Mason], working the bullhorns in the lower half of the quad and fixing some communication issues for the second round. They are incredible facilitators and Ralph [Glenmore] and Ronya-Lee [Anderson] each led hundreds of people in their teams too. Ronya-Lee says it was “exhilarating” and “memorable” and “hopeful to see many people rally around one thing.” Meghan [Bowden] had her own quadrant of 500 people. I personally thank Wayles and Meghan for putting the fun factor in this plan. Vincent [Thomas] helped to make a plan that was organized and efficient. Daniel [Zook] and Sam [Speis] worked the A team. [Daniel] was BEAUTIFUL and so very himself. A student said in his southern accent “that boy can DANCE.”

Onward, gotta run!
EJ

Read more about JMU's DNA dance and see the full video of the performance here.

JMU freshman performing their DNA dance

Photo by Diane Elliot

How do you get 4000 freshman to dance?

...You send Elizabeth Johnson and a team of Dance Exchange adjunct artists to James Madison University's freshman orientation! The incoming class spent their summer reading The DNA Age by Amy Harmon, and EJ's task was to help them put what they'd learned about issues surrounding genetics into their bodies, and create a dance that the whole class could do together. 4000 freshman came together on JMU's quad to perform the dance they created. Here is a video of student reactions to the experience:

Tea intensive

The second act of The Matter of Origins is a chance for the audience, dancers and physicists to come together to share tea and conversation. Why tea? Edith Warner ran a small tea house in Los Alamos in the 1940s when scientists like Niels Bohr and Robert Oppenheimer were up the road developing the atomic bomb. Bohr, Oppenheimer, and other scientists frequented Edith's tea house for dinner and a slice of her famous chocolate cake.

In addition to the company members that will be performing in our three tea rooms, fifty local dancers and students from the University of Maryland will be serving tea and dancing with us. Here is video from our rehearsal over three days in August:

Get your tickets for the premiere! Buy online or called 301-405-ARTS.

In case you missed it

We are deeply embedded in the world of Origins right now, but I thought I would resurface for a moment to revisit our time dancing on concrete just a short month ago in garage/dances. We performed two sold-out shows at a parking garage in Adams Morgan as a part of the Capitol Fringe Festival. Here is the last part of the show, featuring company members and our Summer Institute participants...enjoy!

DX at AAHSA

A few weeks ago, company member Shula Strassfeld and adjunct artist Michelle Pearson led a workshop at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging conference in Minneapolis, MN. Conference attendee Ancel Romero blogged about his experience in the workshop:

I looked around me and saw peers stepping out of their comfort zones, expressing themselves in ways they perhaps had not done before. I saw from without, but they, like me, were gifted with that rare opportunity to also see within. We danced like we never danced before.

Read his entry about the workshop and the conference here.

"Origins" residency in the form of an equation

[(10 dancers + 8 designers) x (2 fire drills) + (20 dorm rooms) + (10 trips to Whole Foods) + (1 76th birthday) + (5 tea cups) + ("1 ton of pitchblende") - (1 visit to the massage therapist/1 visit to the acupuncturist) x [(new) set + music + costumes + text + video + movement] x ( ) ] / (5 days) =

1 Dance Exchange creative residency at Montclair State University

Costume pieces

More costume pieces

Ami gets ready for photo call

Photo call: John Borstel and Ben Wegman

An evening out in downtown Montclair

A big thank you to everyone at the Alexander Kasser Theater at MSU for making our week run so smoothly. We can't wait to be back next spring. And now: company vacation! We'll see you in a week...