untitled sad piece by elephant JANE dance
Heidi Henderson, choreographer

untitled sad piece examines small sadnesses, those moments when we allow ourselves to not be chipper. In reiterative solos and tender duets, the dancers of elephant JANE dance see into each other's eyes and touch, sweat and galumph. The movement is effortful. These dances are real— messy, emotional, highly structured, single-minded, fluid, quiet and virtuosic.

Burnish (Magenta #08) by BANDportier
Kendra Portier, choreographer

Burnish (Magenta #08) renders the magical phenomenon of magenta into live performance. Unlike other colors, magenta does not have a wavelength and is only perceived as such because of the absence of green waves of light. In this way, magenta is a metaphor for what is experienced through absence. In this piece, a cast of six performers become swathes of color vibrating and spilling across the stage. Wild movement, complex patterns and expressive rhythm sharpen into something unnerving, boldly feminine and poetic. Magenta becomes a vibrant articulation of bodies moving with velocity and tenderness.

Burnish is supported (in part) through the Summer Dance Residency Festival at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Emory University and Bates Dance Festival. 

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The research of Dorothy G. Madden Professor of Dance, Maura Keefe, Ph.D., about women choreographers led to the support of the creation of these two works.