![\"Dancer:](\"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MG_4545EDIT.jpg\")
<\/a>Dancer: Sarah Donohue from RDT
Photography: Scott Peterson<\/p><\/div>\n
This weekend\u2019s performance of Women of Valor<\/em> is the latest in a long line of community outreach efforts by Repertory Dance Theater (RDT). From educational programming to the recent \u201cGreen Map Project,\u201d which considered environmental efforts through art-making, making dance accessible to nuanced groups within the general public has become a central part of RDT\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n This recent effort is an attempt to gear dance performance towards military issues. Because these issues might cause some discomfort for someone who has never served in the military, nor has a strong relationship to family stories of those who have, I invited Melanie DeJulis, an old friend who served as a Staff Sgt. in the US Army Reserves from 2003-2012 and who was deployed to Iraq, to join me.<\/p>\n Together we watched a range of dances, old and new, that consider issues of military service, accompanied by dramatic monologues narrating experiences of women including medics, early Women\u2019s Army Corps members and well known figures like Tammy Duckworth. By and large, Melanie enjoyed the concert saying that she felt access to some of the imagery and that the topical nature helped her to understand and relate to the performances. Yet, Melanie also notes that, while thought-provoking, the concert seemed to \u201cdance around women in service,\u201d favoring nurturing women over female warriors. She\u2019s right. It\u2019s a part of Utah\u2019s modern dance history which often highlights women in extremely difficult, yet passive roles.<\/p>\n One exception in this particular program is Lynne Wimmer\u2019s \u201cThe Mechanic,\u201d danced and spoken by Toni Lugo. While architecturally designing the space, Lugo expertly narrates the experience of a petite woman serving as a mechanic. Using an informal, direct text as a springboard for gesture and phrasing unites the interests of both military and civilian audiences. The text also enables Wimmer to hint at the more potent topics of sexual harassment as well as casual, unintentional sexism.<\/p>\n Despite relegating women\u2019s experience to the more commonly discussed roles of family, Abby Fiat\u2019s work \u201cA Mother\u2019s Farewell\u201d also uses the inclusion of text to success. While most works in \u201cWomen of Valor\u201d rely on abstraction to convey violence and grief, Fiat\u2019s work includes Anne Decker narrating the voice of a mother, who has lost her son, describing her childhood experience visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Rosy Goodman, Katie Winder & Sarah Donohue make the narrative multiple, and therefore collective, as they propel the text through space and physically ponder loss.<\/p>\n As enjoyable as a piece like Fiat\u2019s makes Women of Valor<\/em>, my companion\u2019s observation about the nature of these dances persists: for all the consideration of women in service, through both movement and text, the dancing doesn\u2019t seem very different from RDT\u2019s normal repertory. Joanie Smith\u2019s \u201cBolero\u201d is a good example, as it\u2019s one of numerous works she has contributed to the RDT archive. \u201cBolero\u201d is gorgeous but with a cast featuring men and women the virtuosic and building nature of the piece has less to do with current debates of women\u2019s role in combat and more to do with historical notions of modern dance partnering. Audiences may sense that the military costumes could easily be replaced, shifting the content away from the objectives of Women of Valor<\/em>.<\/p>\n Susan Hadley\u2019s \u201cCommonplace\u201d is another piece which leaves space for contemplation. Witnessing the dancers engage in ritual mourning is moving but causes\u00a0one to wonder what resonance the imagery would have had to a person who had seen someone shot, whether at war or in their neighborhood, and what dance might do to bridge the divides we feel interpersonally, war or no.<\/p>\n