Photo by Luyan Li
UNTITLED SEXTET
6 dancers ; 42 minutes
Music: Julius Eastman
After a number of consecutive choreographic processes reflecting on tragedies ranging from micro to macro, "UNTITLED SEXTET" is a distinct antithetical response to that form of dance making. Devoid of any intentional emotional influence, the work looks at the moving body as a piece of sculpture, and derives itself compositionally from structures in classical and jazz music, as well as chance-based procedures inspired by Merce Cunningham & John Cage. In doing so, the work is a continuous pushback against the notion that dances need to “mean” anything. Musicality becomes a mathematical equation craving an incomplete solution, as dancers navigate and negotiate time, space, structure, and relationships as if they were notes on a staff, or waves crashing to shore.
At the same time, "UNTITLED SEXTET" is a purposeful paradox. By using Julius Eastman’s “Gay Guerrilla” as its musical score, the work also runs along an undercurrent of queer rage in which bodies take up space as glorification and protest. Ghosts from the past and from imagination permeate the space as dancers thrash, wait, and watch, conjuring something witchy and wild, grounded yet ethereal. "UNTITLED SEXTET" as a dance runs alongside the music in direct conflict in hopes of giving the audience their own autonomy to assign, or to reject, any sort of prescribed narrative.
Performance History:
Monira Foundation Residency // Jersey City, NJ // April 2023
Original Cast: Tori Breen, Grant Jacoby, Sarah Liebau, Jess Michal, Arielle Ridley, and Anne Tantuico
This work was made possible thanks to a residency with the Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, and support from Center for Dance Arts in Farmingdale, NJ.
Music: Julius Eastman
After a number of consecutive choreographic processes reflecting on tragedies ranging from micro to macro, "UNTITLED SEXTET" is a distinct antithetical response to that form of dance making. Devoid of any intentional emotional influence, the work looks at the moving body as a piece of sculpture, and derives itself compositionally from structures in classical and jazz music, as well as chance-based procedures inspired by Merce Cunningham & John Cage. In doing so, the work is a continuous pushback against the notion that dances need to “mean” anything. Musicality becomes a mathematical equation craving an incomplete solution, as dancers navigate and negotiate time, space, structure, and relationships as if they were notes on a staff, or waves crashing to shore.
At the same time, "UNTITLED SEXTET" is a purposeful paradox. By using Julius Eastman’s “Gay Guerrilla” as its musical score, the work also runs along an undercurrent of queer rage in which bodies take up space as glorification and protest. Ghosts from the past and from imagination permeate the space as dancers thrash, wait, and watch, conjuring something witchy and wild, grounded yet ethereal. "UNTITLED SEXTET" as a dance runs alongside the music in direct conflict in hopes of giving the audience their own autonomy to assign, or to reject, any sort of prescribed narrative.
Performance History:
Monira Foundation Residency // Jersey City, NJ // April 2023
Original Cast: Tori Breen, Grant Jacoby, Sarah Liebau, Jess Michal, Arielle Ridley, and Anne Tantuico
This work was made possible thanks to a residency with the Monira Foundation at Mana Contemporary, and support from Center for Dance Arts in Farmingdale, NJ.
