Moveable Feast: In Retrospect

graphic artist:  marco gallerizzo
photo by:  margo moritz

Project. b.’s first home season was sold out both nights and was featured in the SF Bay Guardian’s Critics’ Pick (Rita Felciano)

In creating and presenting this work, I found that the process was a relatively complex but rewarding experience both for me as the choreographer as well as the dancers and the audience.  

The concept itself proved to be beneficial to me as a choreographer.  It was a different way of working and looking at my movement in several forms.  It allowed me to step back and see what was strong and what needed work.  It allowed me to challenge my dancers and to see their strengths and what roles fit them best.  It also allowed my company to grow as a strong unit because it meant that they needed to help and work together in a way they didn’t work before.  

The visual artists that joined me on this project fed me with a lot to think about and to be inspired with.  I was able to continue working with 2 out of the 3 artists (Margo Moritz and Marco Gallerizzo) that I originally planned on working with and then added a new artist (Michael Sugrue) to the mix.  Both Margo and Marco’s triptychs greeted the audience as they entered the lobby of the Garage.  I felt it created a mood that represented Project. B. well and also helped to carry the concept of Moveable Feast from one art form into another.  Between each section of Moveable Feast, the audience was shown a 30 second video created by Michael Sugrue; again with the concept that he create the same work different ways.  As a whole evening, everyone appreciated these videos, or what I called the palate cleanser, in order to refresh the mind before seeing another dance piece.  

I added another element that I didn’t originally have on my project description.  I was able to collaborate with composer, Jesse Olsen Bay.  By adding his work to the mix, the process became even more inspiring.  Instead of my composition fitting into a recorded piece of music, Jesse and I were able to collaborate.  It was another level to the concept of Moveable Feast.  What at first were just inspirations of sounds from movement, became a marriage between music and movement.  This particular piece had the theme of building and layering.  The movement composition started with a solo that grew to a quartet.  The music composition started with one idea, sound, and instrument that layered into a final piece of music that incorporated all of this from each section.  

During the Q&A portion of the show, many people commented on the process.  The process of the dancers learning different parts.  The process of the dancers changing their perception on how to execute the movement three different ways.  The process of the same piece reconfigured yet creating a mood or an idea that made each piece stand out separately from the one before it.  

The questions that were asked gave me a sense that the audience captured what I wanted to convey in presenting Moveable Feast.  People talked about the work and was excited to give their ideas and share their opinions about each section.  I believe I was able to intrique, satiate, and inspire the audience through this work.