7. HORSES / If Wishes Were Horses (2014-2016)

Role: Performer, Producer.  Description: I commissioned HORSES  from ALTERNATIVA/Kathleen Hermesdorf +Albert Mathias by writing a grant for Bates College Faculty Development Funds. The project brought nine Maine-based dancers and one Rhode Island-based dancer together in an intensive two week residency. As much about strengthening the professional dance community in southern Maine as it was about creating a work, HORSES had a successful run of performances in Portland, Boston, Lewiston, and at the Bates Dance Festival.

https://vimeo.com/136787098%20Bates Dance Festival Performance, Summer 2015 with 6 performers
Password: BDF_Kathleen

Project Narrative

From March 8-23, 2014, Kathleen Hermesdorf and Albert Mathias, a beloved choreographer/musician duo based in San Francisco (hereafter referred to as ALTERNATIVA) were in a teaching residency in the Bates Department of Theater and Dance.  I applied for Bates Faculty Development Funds to commission a new work from them for local professional dancers.  The 20 minute work, HORSES, was choreographed and musically composed in the evening hours of the teaching residency. It was performed by nine Maine-based professional dancers and one Rhode Island-based dancer in four different venues during the Spring/Summer of 2014 and by a smaller cast at the 2015 Bates Dance Festival.

The original cast spent approximately 20 hours rehearsing together to create HORSES.  Hermesdorf relied heavily on the group to make improvisational and choreographic decisions both within the studio process and in the performance.  This meant deep collaboration and bonding for the cast.

As the producer, I was responsible for gathering and scheduling the cast and space, and for organizing, advertising, and fund-raising for the premier performance at SPACE gallery.  It was challenging, but rewarding, to gather the twelve professional artists for rehearsals and performances.

HORSES at the Bates College Spring Dance Concert with the original cast.

 

Professional connections among the cast members were made that continue to play out. For example, Katsuyoshi and Oulette both guest taught at Bates following the residency, and Dilley and I were invited by cast member Charlotte Griffin to perform at Bowdoin College. Several cast members were invited to teach and show works in progress at 95 Empire, a Providence, Rhode Island venue run by cast member, Betsy Miller. I cast several of the HORSES performers in We Build Excitement (2014).

We also strengthened professional connections with theaters such as SPACE Gallery and The Dance Complex in Boston.  Our SPACE Gallery show was nearly sold out.  Since this event, the owner of the gallery has been extremely supportive of dance events in his venue. His commissioning my most recent collaboration with Jesse Sugarman at SPACE in October, 2014 and his support of a bi-monthly professional choreography group at SPACE are in part results of the ALTERNATIVA project.

Hermesdorf continued to work on the choreography at residencies around the US and Europe in 2014-15.

Laura Faure invited ALTERNATIVA to revise the HORSES for performance at the Different Voices showcase concert at the 2015 Bates Dance Festival.  Due to financial limitations, a smaller cast of 6 engaged in a week-long rehearsal intensive at the festival to revise the work, which was presented as If Wishes Were Horses.

In addition to the aesthetic value of the work to the approximately 500 people who saw HORSES, these performances create an identity for Bates and southern Maine as a place where experimental dance is blossoming.

 

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