Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Modern dance company performs world premiere

Connect nature and industry dependency through dance


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

Modern dance performers of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company reveal the vibrant connection of expression through movement.

Modern dance will leap into the valley this fall.

It's not very often that modern dance makes its way to any stage, but on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Campus auditorium in Hailey the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. will present a modern dance world premiere that promises to fully engage the audience.

Associate artistic director Charlotte Boye-Christensen, a native of Denmark, who has been working for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. for the past four and a half years, was commissioned by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts to choreograph this particular multimedia environmental piece for The Center's "Whose Nature? What's Nature" exhibition.

Even Boye-Christensen remarks that modern dance is one of the least respected art forms, but it's not necessarily about the art form in her opinion. It is more about, "allowing yourself to be engaged and open to the experience."

"To have an experience with dance you are dealing with the abstract, and it may not be comprehended on an intellectual level. It is a sensory element, a crucial element in our lives, and we are becoming more distant from that," said Boye-Christensen.

The Center's director of performing arts, Kathryn Maguet, brought Boye-Christensen to Sun Valley to collaborate with one of the exhibition's artists, Edward Burtynsky. After seeing Burtynsky's images, Boye-Christensen immediately connected to his work.

"It's incredibly beautiful and at the same time brutal but has a nakedness about it. I love the way he states how nature is transformed through industry, which is a prominent theme in his work," she said.

Boye-Christensen chose Burtynsky's photograph, Oxford Tire Pile, as the focus of the dance piece because she believes a "tire graveyard" is a very good metaphor to express the interdependency of nature and industry.

"He is one of the most brilliant landscape photographers I have ever seen," said Boye-Christensen. "The subjects are less interesting, but it is the way he shoots them that makes them interesting, and his eye for light makes it looks like an abstract painting."

Using the element of beauty within death and destruction, Boye-Christensen wanted to incorporate the idea of humanity and its juxtaposition that is expressed through the photograph. Projecting the image on fabric, the photograph will be suspended above the stage and will be seen in pieces, sliced up, as a visual component to the dance performance.

Inspired by many art forms, especially architecture, Boye-Christensen enjoys the challenge of choreography, which she also combines with her love of watching and interacting with people.

"It is fulfilling to communicate with others through movement," she said. "People close themselves off from that experience, which is more rewarding than intellectual."

Based in Salt Lake City the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. was founded in 1964 by Shirely Ririe and Joan Woodbury. It is one of the oldest dance companies in the U.S. and is highly regarded for its groundbreaking children's education programs. It is also the living repository for modern dance legend and choreographer Alwin Nikolais.

Today from 1:15 to 2 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 9, from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Blaine County Senior Center members of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. will conduct a basic movement class for seniors.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. at The Center, Ketchum Charlotte Boye-Christensen will present a free talk on the history and origins of modern dance.

On Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Campus in Hailey the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co. will present a world premiere performance for the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15 for members, $20 for non-members and $5 for children under 12. For more information, call 726-9491 or visit sunvalleycenter.org.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.