Kent Dance Ensemble: Prospect & Refuge

This morning I had my first rehearsal with the Kent Dance Ensemble. We are working on a piece called Prospect & Refuge: Stray. Ultimately, it is an evening-length, modular, site-specific dancework for film and stage. I began the project in the spring with Verb Ballets as part of a works-in-progress performance the Cleveland-based company commissioned from nine local choreographers. At the request of KDE Artistic Director Kim Karpanty, I am continuing to expand on the work with the ensemble. My professional company, Antaeus Dance, will premiere the dancework in the spring on 2010. Select modules will be presented between now and then, including Stray which will be completed and performed first by KDE.

Rehearsal went well and I was pleased with how much ground we covered this morning. There are twelve dancers total. This is a larger group than I normally work with and comprises an even number of performers. I do not care for even numbers. I like odd numbers because they are imbalanced, usually leave one person out, and lend themselves to further asymmetry. When we left this morning I had four tidy groups of three. I will have to fix that. But, I digress...

The dancers were willing to try anything and we spent the morning working out the opening sequence, some basic lifts, and the set up for the next section. They are a jovial group, though not at the cost of focus, and asked lots of questions, forcing me to be clear about the work. I spoke to them at the beginning about my interest in the HOW of the dance versus the WHY. I anticipate that one will illuminate the other in the course of our work together.

KDE will present Prospect & Refuge: Stray, a module of formally staged choreography, April 9-11, 2010 in E. Turner Stump Theatre as part of the company's annual concert. Unfortunately, I cannot take the dancers on location to explore site-specific material with Antaeus Dance; but they will leave an indelible mark on the work with Stray. For more information about the piece at large, please visit my blog at AntaeusDance.blogspot.com.


Prospect & Refuge: Come see what's inside with KDE
Photo by Joan Meggitt

Check back here from regular updates on the work!

--Joan Meggitt (Visiting Assistant Professor, Dance Division)