Stanford Dance presents its winter concert — featuring eight new choreographies from across disciplines: gravitational theory and research methods in experimental physics, the social art phenomenon of PostSecret, the contrapuntal interweaving of music and movement, the invocation contemporary Native American spirit, the physical and metaphorical levels of bodies of water, and the hot movement/music fusion that is the ineffable Chocolate Heads.

Bloom »
      Sacred Smoke »
            Push »
                  PostSecret: I just love to be touched »
                        Illuminate »
                              Ballet Avatar/Dub Ballet Remix »
                                    Sea Change »
                                          Fell »

Splash photo (above): Lili Hsu in Ballet Avatars/dub Ballet Remix (excerpts from upcoming Chocolate Heads Meets the Beatflippers on March 12th at Pigott Theatre)
Text above (description of choreographies) by Diane Frank

Bloom

… a choreography influenced and shaped by the mental image and music of children playing in a wide open sunlit field.

          — Ali McKeon on Bloom

Choreography: Ali McKeon
Music: Andy McKee, “Rylynn”
Dancers: Katherine Disenhof, Ali McKeon, Sanjay Saverimuttu, John Snyder

Sacred Smoke

… a special dance inspired by the smoke in Aztec ceremonies, coming from sage and copal that were blessed, used, and burned: The stream of smoke would dance, and fight, and love, and fear — like life, like dance, like divinity — never there, coming and going, reaching for the heavens and the earth, visible and untouchable, very magical and very powerful.

          — Temo Peranda on Sacred Smoke

Choreography: Cuauhtemoc Peranda
Music: Harp Variations, scored, arranged, performed by Tara Smithee
Dancers: Maria Fernandez, Cuauhtemoc Peranda

Push … a response to the music & the process of communicating to another dancer, push and pull represent the way my brother (Sam) and I relate to each other — like a conversation that can start in one direction yet changes course depending on the whims of the participants.           — CC Chiu on Push Choreography: CC Chiu Music: Amadou & Mariam, “Je Pense a Toi” Dancers: CC Chiu, Sam Chiu

PostSecret: I just want to be touched

… stemming from PostSecret, a community art project in which people anonymously send in secrets on postcards, that is becoming a global phenomenon. My question is: Why do we do it?

          — Samantha Smith-Eppsteiner on PostSecret

Choreography: Samantha Smith-Eppsteiner
Costumes: Diane Frank
Dancers: Zach D’Angelo, Maria Fernandez, Rachele Lam, Samantha Smith-Eppsteiner

Illuminate

… inspired by the music, Illuminate is created and has evolved to fit the styles and personalities of this unique group of dancers — expressing the music while allowing for individual strengths nuances to shine through.

          — Ali McKeon on Illuminate

Choreography: Ali McKeon
Music: Yiruma, “River Flows in You”
Costumes Design and Construction: Diane Frank
Dancers: Katherine Disenhof, Jacqueline Dory, Crystal Lee, Keryn
Breiterman-Loader, Paula Obler, Mindy Phung, Dana Sittler, John Snyder, Krista Zegura, Stav Ziv

Ballet Avatars/dub Ballet Remix

… combining dance, music, and visual arts in performance, the upcoming premiere Chocolate Heads Meets the Beatflippers — loosely based on the concept of a band — is an album showcasing and juxtaposing multiple styles and expressions of dance, from ballet to Jamaican vernacular to Aztec to West African done to live music.

          — Aleta Hayes on Ballet Avatar/Dub Ballet Remix

(Excerpts from “Chocolate Heads Meets the Beatflippers” Performance)
Choreography: Aleta Hayes in collaboration with the dancers
Costumes: Karen Young
Dancers (Ballet Avatars): Madeleine Hawes, Mio Frisk, Leimomi Kanagusuku
Dancers (DuB Ballet): Kimberley McKinson, Lara Sofia Romero
Set Piece Designer/Dancer: Lili Hsu

Sea Change: Leeward/Undercurrent/Dead Reckoning

… set in motion while on an ocean-side artists’s retreat last summer, the immediacy of the sea’s vastness and the kinetic impact of its re-occurring surge and retreat, simultaneously concrete and richly metaphoric, led to the creation of this dance.

          — Diane Frank on Sea Change

Choreography: Diane Frank
Costume Design/Construction, Decoration: Diane Frank
Dancers (Leeward): Maddie Graber, Gary Champi
Dancers (Undercurrent): Ail McKeon, John Snyder
Dancers (Dead Reckoning): Katherine Hawthorne, Sam Chiu

Fell

… drawing on inspiration from gravitational theory and research methods in experimental physics, Fell explores how we choreograph/capture/cope with the movement of fall. What are the movement possibilities and emotional states that result from repeatedly falling and witnessing another’s repeated falls?

          — Katharine Hawthorne on Fell

Choreographer: Katharine Hawthorne
Costume Design/Construction: The Dancers
Scenic Design/Construction: Katherine Hawthorne, Diane Frank, Tony Kramer
Dancers: Katharine Hawthorne, Tessaly Jen, Alisha Mitchell