Tuesday April 3, 2012 - Last season I really enjoyed Amanda Selwyn's FIVE MINUTES and so I was glad to have an opportunity to meet her today at a rehearsal for her upcoming performances of DETOUR (previews at Dixon Place on April 17th, and then an excerpt-showing at Peridance May 19th & 20th; performances at NY Live Arts - formerly Dance Theater Workshop - June 21st thru 23rd). I brought along photographer Brian Krontz to today's rehearsal which took place down on Judson Street.
Click on the images to enlarge.
Amanda has the great good fortune to have an fascinating rehearsal space: a fourth-floor art gallery in a slightly-spooky-elevator building. Two huge windows cast reflected light onto the glossy floor while the artwork on the walls creates a effortless sense of the theatrical. I love the way she works with her dancers: DETOUR seems pretty well set choreographically and she's at the point of refining nuances and clarifying gestures. The musical collage for the piece is dance-worthy and evokes differing moods. And her dancers are really interesting to watch as individuals.
A couple of the dancers couldn't make today's session but we were still able to get a very clear idea of what DETOUR will look like in its finished state. It's always nice to see dancers I already know in a new context: Justin Lynch and Francisco Silvino (both of whom I met via Nai-Ni Chen) were looking really good today.
Here are some of Brian's images from the rehearsal:
Catherine Coury
Catherine Coury, Heather Fleischman
Alexander Dones
Catherine Coury
Heather Fleischman, Francisco Silvino
Jenny Gillian (foreground)
Mackenzie Tyler
Ensemble
Mackenzie Tyler
Justin Lynch (foreground)
Catherine Coury
While Brian was doing the official shooting, I was making yet another stab at dance photography; some of my images are here.
As everyone packed up to leave, I arranged with Amanda to come back to her studio again, and to photograph her NYLA dress rehearsal.