INTERVIEW: Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre reaches a ‘Crossroads’
Photo: Dancers with the Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre prepare for the world premiere of Crossroads. Photo courtesy of the dane group / Provided by Michelle Tabnick PR with permission.
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre has looked toward modern artists René Magritte and M.C. Escher for inspiration for their new work, Crossroads, which will receive its world premiere June 20-22 at New York Live Arts in New York City. Selwyn’s new piece explores self-discovery and what one may do at the crossroads of life.
Selwyn choreographs the show, with scene and costume design by Anna-Alisa Belous. The dancers for the evening are Alex Cottone, Michael Bishop, Manon Hallay, Misaki Hayama, Isaac Kerr, Torrey McAnena, Ashley McQueen and Sarah Starkweather.
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre was founded in 2000 and has presented more than 75 productions in New York City. The group is focused on challenging social norms and values, in addition to magnifying humanity through dance.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Selwyn about Crossroads. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audiences expect from Crossroads?
We are expecting an energetic and engaged NYC dance-going audience. With our active social media presence, diverse community of artists and board, and our reputation from 19 years of immediate, thoughtful and evocative work, we have built a dynamic community representing many ages and cultural backgrounds. We are also excited to be back at New York Live Arts, which has a reputation of excellence and an active dance audience of its own. As we peer towards our 20th Anniversary, we are enjoying a time of tremendous organizational growth and are expecting the Crossroads premiere to celebrate that energy.
Have René Magritte and Maurits Escher always been an influence? What do you like most about their work?
Surrealism has long been an inspiration in my work. A surrealistic paradigm reflects the ways in which I structure my evening-length choreographic works. I consider each piece a meditation on an idea; I enjoy juxtaposing the familiar with the unfamiliar, virtuosity with pedestrian motion, and utilize scenic, costume and lighting design to create a physical landscape that creates an abstract moving collage.
This piece, like many of my works, is made up of a series of shorter sections which ruminate on similar physical gestures, motifs and movement structures — some group sections, solos, duets and trios. I like the ways in which surrealism does not specifically tell a story, but gives the audience space to make meaning, to interpolate based on their experience of the evocative imagery in the work.
Both Magritte and Escher’s compositions include stunning evocative images of stairs, doorways, clouds and evolving figures which have specifically inspired Crossroads. I like the playful energy in Magritte’s work and have been influenced by that energy — his paintings have a wonderful sense of delight and wisdom, curiosity and confusion.
Escher’s work is more intellectually mesmerizing to me. I love the mathematics and geometry in his artful design, the unraveling of one image into the next, the play with positive and negative space, and perspective. All of these qualities arise in my work and come to life more specifically in Crossroads as the piece explores the state of being in transition, of making decisions, of being in the present moment with awareness of what has come before and curiosity about what lays ahead.
Did you let the dancers collaborate on the choreography, or is the piece a more singular vision?
My dancers collaborate with me on the choreography in every moment. I guide a structured process that offers opportunities for dancers to create material while I work to create a cohesive overall vision with that material. I bring in images and ideas, questions and challenges into the studio and have the dancers work out the paradigms through movement. What emerges is a living vocabulary of movement that gets passed from one dancer to the next to ultimately develop the lexicon for a given work. I then work with the dancers to craft an abstract structure that celebrates this movement lexicon and each dancers’ relationship to the material. My dancers are integral to my vision, my process and ultimately the humanity and theatricality of each given choreographic work.
How difficult is it to produce dance in the competitive New York arts scene?
The challenges to produce dance in the NYC come hand in hand with the passion, energy, and support for dance that NYC celebrates every moment. There is such a vibrant and international community of talent as well as avid audience members in NYC who make dance possible through their presence and support. So notwithstanding the challenges, the reward is always so much greater.
The ongoing challenge is always raising money and how much time that takes away from the art itself; it is a balancing act between the efforts to fundraise, generate earned income and create beautiful work. Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre also has an arts-in-education organizational arm, Notes in Motion Outreach Dance Theatre, that brings dance education programs to the NYC public schools. With this two-armed approach, we have more avenues for building community, fostering partnerships and ultimately growing the infrastructure of the organization to support the production of more dance in NYC from Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre.
What’s on the horizon for the dance company?
Next year will mark Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre’s 20th anniversary, and we have been selected by the CUNY Dance Initiative to be presented at Baruch Performing Arts Center March 5-7, 2020. Other upcoming performances include our annual tour to the Hamptons with Green Afternoon, July 13, 2019; Performance in the American Dance Guild Dance Festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater Oct. 5-7; Autumn Out of Doors in High Falls, New York, Oct. 13; and we are launching a partnership with Phillips Auction House and planning a performance series in their gallery space.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre will present Crossroads June 20-22 at New York Live Arts on West 19th Street in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
