{"id":27845,"date":"2015-02-01T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T16:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=27845"},"modified":"2018-11-25T15:37:03","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T21:37:03","slug":"27845","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/27845\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Brown’s YOU at the Rose Wagner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_6454\"<\/a><\/p>\n

YOU, <\/i>an immersive, interactive dance production choreographed by Graham Brown is running a total of six times at the Rose Wagner Black Box over this last weekend of January.\u00a0 This performance invites the audience member you<\/i>, (and me) <\/i>to enter into the space and play a role in what is taking place.<\/p>\n

My night started with doing the kid hand off with my husband (who made it just in time), picking up a friend who wanted confirmation that her pants were cute (they were), and scoring the perfect parking space right in front of the Rose. Together we walked into a completely open black box theatre where groups of people were dancing as if at a club, while others stood on the sides and watched or talked amongst themselves.\u00a0 I wanted to dance so I did, my friend wasn\u2019t as inclined, so we talked while I shook my shoulders and moved my feet to the beat.\u00a0 The space was littered with everyday objects from home life; a fridge, a bed, a couch, clothes, a handwritten note\u2026and we were free to rummage and explore.\u00a0 I found an electric bill for $35 and thought that seemed pretty low; must be a small house or apartment.\u00a0 It was refreshing to see several children at the show, and the loud music and free structure absorbed any extra noise or irreverence.<\/p>\n

Suddenly the group that was dancing in the middle of the room started into unison choreography, a scene that I wish for every time I go out dancing.\u00a0 The movement is a blend of the release common in Utah\u2019s modern dance scene alongside what you may see at a rave. Eventually this dissipates, and at one point the words of a song are passed out and we all sing together as one group. Even though I was unsure of the tune and don\u2019t sing well, I liked this, it made me feel connected to this impromptu community.\u00a0 Little vignettes of everyday life start to unfold; a babysitter reads a bedtime story, someone makes an agitated phone call, a couple juggles the care of a child. Several things are happening at once and it\u2019s hard to know what to watch. \u00a0I didn\u2019t want to miss anything important, but at the same time am grateful for the dimensionality of the space.<\/p>\n

The four main characters, Keanu Brady, Mikayla Ellison, Shawnee Jo Haycock and Jersey Reo Riemo move smoothly between the roles of dancer and actor, performer and pedestrian.\u00a0 One moment they are developing a story line and the next they are asking an audience member join them in a dance.\u00a0 Although I was enjoying all the pop-up scenes at one point I began to ask myself \u2018what exactly is at stake here?\u2019\u00a0 <\/i>Then, as if on cue, a more developed vignette appeared: Brady and Ellison at a table for two experiencing the passage of time in the form of love, passion, stress, alienation, children, frustration, adoration, tantrums\u2026family.\u00a0 The relationship between these two is very clear and emotionally moving, at one point in the show they again experience the passage of time and life in general through rapid and continuous wardrobe changes.\u00a0 Less narratively clear, but deeply physically embodied, is the relationship between Haycock and Riemo.\u00a0 These two fill the space with undulating torsos, quick aggressive strikes of hands and legs, and playful stances and breaks.<\/p>\n

The evening culminated with what we all need: a hug.\u00a0 A really long hug.<\/i>\u00a0 As the performers hugged I could feel that the intent was for us, the audience, to break down a barrier and hug one another.\u00a0 We had shared an evening together: dancing, watching, and singing.\u00a0 I wanted to hug the friends that I was standing next to, and I craved the human interaction that I saw the performers experiencing, but as no one else that I could see in the audience was taking the cue I let the moment pass.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll just have to go tomorrow night to get my hug in.\u00a0 You should go as well.\u00a0 In fact, maybe I\u2019ll see YOU <\/i>there.<\/p>\n

Erica Womack is a choreographer based in Salt Lake who also teaches at SLCC.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is published in collaboration with loveDANCEmore.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YOU, an immersive, interactive dance production choreographed by Graham Brown is running a total of six times at the Rose Wagner Black Box over this last weekend of January.\u00a0 This performance invites the audience member you, (and me) to enter into the space and play a role in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1522,"featured_media":27846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2237],"class_list":["post-27845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","tag-graham-brown"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_6454.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 07:44:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27845"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40314,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27845\/revisions\/40314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}