This weekend the programming at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center alternates between external viewpoints of dance company alumni and an internal glimpse at the creative process of several resident groups.
Thursday & Friday are host to Momentum, an annual Ririe Woodbury concert in the Blackbox. Co-directed by Juan Carlos Claudio & Jill Voorhees Edwards, the evening takes a look at what current and former company members are up to creatively. This particular concert features works by the directors themselves alongside works by Brad Beakes, Lehua Brown, Chia-Chi Chiang, and Jillian Harris.
Past years have received mixed reviews, as anyone could expect given the wide-range of choreographers who have a performing career in common but an array of diverse experiences and artistic interests. Audiences who missed The Fringe in August can get a glimpse of what Brad Beakes was up to in “id.” Along the same lines, people who saw an excerpt of Lehua Brown’s “Cedar, Ash, and Apple” at the On Site Mobile Dance Series can now check out the piece in its fully realized form.
On Saturday Momentum moves out and The Rose Exposed: The Dreamers moves in. Another annual event, The Rose Exposed aims to garner greater community interest in what resident organizations are doing in the County-operated space.
Each year the theme of the event has varied, but this summer unifies around the concept of immigration and the creation of new works by Plan-B, PYGmailon Theatre Company, RDT, Ririe-Woodbury, SB Dance and Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation.
During the day patrons can explore rehearsal processes by each group as they develop new works in only 10 hours. With only the idea of “The Dreamers,” in mind the possibilities are open to how each group may interpret issues of immigration in Utah.
Whether or not they can observe the creative process up close, the public is invited to attend a one-night only performance of the completed works that evening.
Rehearsals are free to attend and all proceeds from the evening concert will benefit Art Access. The event also serves as a kick-off to a year-long exhibit by Annie Brewer at Art Access which also focuses on young Utah immigrants.
For information and tickets to Momentum visit arttix.org.
For information on Rose Exposed, visit their Facebook page.
Ashley Anderson is a choreographer based in Salt Lake City. She is founder of loveDANCEmore, a blog and biannual journal about dance in Utah, and currently serves as 15 Bytes’s Dance Editor.
Categories: Dance
