photo by Todd Collins for loveDANCEmore Sunday Series

I’ll Never Be Beyoncé… and That’s Okay!

Growing up, I never role-played Black characters because I never wanted to envision myself as what I actually was (a Black girl), nor what I was destined to, or as I felt, doomed to, become (a Black woman).  The release of Clueless the summer before I entered 3rd grade had me in plaid skirts, knee-high socks, and loafers correcting passersby who called me Dionne that I was actually channeling Cher. Two years later, when my (all-white, except for me) friend group adopted Spice Girls personas at recess, I fiercely clung to Sporty and refused to be Scary. I was embarrassed and distressed the entirety of my 10th grade Back-to-School dance, which was ‘80s themed, because my (all white) teacher chaperones mistook my Madonna Lucky Star get-up for Whitney Houston (just Whitney Houston, no music video was referenced). So, biting Beyoncé’s bling-ed bodysuit look for this performance was not only imperative to the work’s aesthetic and sense of humor, it was an opportunity for me to participate in a childhood pastime that I’d denied myself – proudly and excitedly role-playing someone of my race.

April Digest: An Interview with Charles Anderson

A hilarious, unapologetically irreverent Black, gay male, Salt Lake City was unquestionably a bit of a culture shock for Anderson, as well as a drastic climate change. He lives in Austin, Texas where he’s the head of the dance program at UT Austin and, having moved there from Philadelphia prior, continues to recover from that culture shock.

RDT Presents an Online Evening of Solos

I was especially blown away by Jaclyn Brown’s unexpected weight shifts and organic transitions from one level to another in Nicholas Cendese’s The Impermanence of Darkness, and by Jonathan Kim’s constantly moving, well-balanced yet rollercoaster-like explorations of space in Molly Heller’s Sounding III. Ursula, Elle, Daniel, Kareem, Lauren, and Dan as well deserve standing ovations from your couches; they are truly striking performers. That being said, this concert could have given us so much more, in less time.

Ballet West II: Snow White

As a childless patron, I was a bit skeptical about attending such a family-oriented event and wondered how and/or if the content would be adjusted for its intended audience. I enjoyed the performance, and would argue that a reduced length and plot-clarifying narrations are a great way to get new audiences, regardless of age, interested in attending the ballet.

UtahPresents: Axis Dance Company

During intermission, I wondered about inclusivity in codified techniques (phrasing taken from company member Lani Dickinson’s biography). Do codified movements retain their names as their mechanics are adjusted for disabled bodies? Is there terminology for movements created for and by disabled dancers that non-disabled dancers in non-inclusive companies aren’t aware of?

Performance Art Festival 2019 at the SLC Public Library

While I was seated on the second floor of the Salt Lake City Public Library, staring at paper shapes suspended from the railings of the “bridges” in the library’s main Urban Room, Joseph Ravens approached me and asked, “Do you mind if I join you? I need to just sit for a minute!”

October Digest: Performance Art Festival

The seventh annual Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival is fast approaching, and the festival’s founder Kristina Lenzi has curated twenty-four presenters whose works are appropriate for all ages, visually and conceptually interesting, and unrehearsed.