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RTG
Dance in
WONDER: Collected Dances
Choreography by Rachel Thorne Germond
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday - July 15, 16 & 17, 8pm
Tickets $15 or $12 low income/student rate.
RTG Dance’s Artistic Director, Choreographer Rachel Thorne
Germond, presents an evening of dance dedicated to Wonder. This
collection of dances (two premieres and one group work from 2004)
is a response to Wonder - the feeling of awe and astonishment about
life itself and also the kind of wonder that causes you to have
doubt or curiosity.
"In these highly ironic works, questions of freedom, control,
sexuality, and identity are played out… Sometimes indulging
in arresting non-sequiturs, her work has a madness about it that
is probably just right for our times"
Dierdre Kelley, The Globe and Mail
“Gutsy dancing, sharp satire…. Smart choreography”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Choreographer Rachel Thorne Germond (both New York and Chicago based)
boldly grapples with the nature of movement as metaphor. 2004’s
Our Velocity, a group work for four dancers and a soloist, explores
the range of emotional and physical aspects of velocity –
contrasting the impulses of slowness and speed. It begins with episodes
of emotional outbursts where the dancers laugh and show visible
physical signs of pain and then joy. The dancing commences with
simple, slow adagio-like movements building up to rushing across
the stage, darting forward and backward, and running in circles.
The work asks what it takes to actually experience something fully,
to let yourself really feel something – whether it be pain
or joy. Inspired by the Dave Eggers book You Shall Know Our Velocity,
the piece is danced to a fast and furious harpsichord concerto by
Henryk Gorecki. In the duet Monogram, two dancers grapple with rubber
tires and each other in a dance inspired by Robert Raushenberg's
famous combine (collaged sculpture) of the same name. Chance procedures
(such as rolling dice) are explored in the process of creation to
determine sequence and ordering. There will also be a short solo,
Tether, for the choreographer, investigating the "shadow side"
of the personality. Attached by a rope to a chair, the dancer moves
with the rope tied around her waist like an umbilical cord.
Dancers/Performers include Natalie Bogira, Bethany
Betzler, Tabitha Faes, Rachel Thorne Germond, Allisa-zee Hartmann,
Renee Murray, Leah Raffanti, Courtney Zbinden, and Johannah Wininsky
Lighting Design: Rachel Damon
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Biography:
Rachel Thorne Germond has presented her work in New York City at
such venues as the Joyce Soho, Movement Research at Judson Church,
Chashama, SWEAT, The Merce Cunningham Studio, Here's Queer @Here
Festival, St. Mark's Danspace's Food for Thought, the Gowanus Arts
Exchange, The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the 92nd Street
Y Fridays at Noon, University Settlement House, amongst others.
She has participated in festivals throughout the country and in
Canada including Philadelphia's Womenspeak Festival, Toronto's annual
FIDA festival, and at the University of Illinois' Krannert Center
for Performing Arts. Rachel’s background as a creative artist
began as an undergraduate at Cornell University where she took dance
classes while she earned dual-degrees (BA & BFA) in Comparative
Literature and Studio Art. From 1986 to 2002 she lived in New York
City where she trained extensively in dance movement and danced
with a number of choreographers including Pedro Alejandro, Roseanne
Spradlin, Yoshika Chuma, Andrew Marcus, Tasha Taylor, and Nuria
Olive-Belles. In 2000, Rachel achieved an MFA in dance and choreography
at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana where she was a Fellow
and taught modern, jazz, and contact improvisation. Her training
includes intensive study of Klein technique with Barbara Mahler
(since 1994) and with such notable teachers as Mary Anthony, Anna
Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, and Nancy Topf. She currently lives and
works in both New York and Chicago. In Chicago her work has been
shown at many venues, including in performances with the Chicago
Kings, JT Newman’s Girlie- Q Variety Hour, the Feast of Fools
Cabaret, Dance Chicago, the Spare Room, the Stockyards Theater Performance
Art Festival, the Bailiwick Theater, the Around the Coyote Festival
and several shared shows at Links Hall. She has been choreographing
and presenting work (primarily in New York City) since 1990. Wonder:
Collected Dances her second full-length show in Chicago.
Rachel formed her Chicago-based company, RTG
Dance, in 2004. More information can be found at www.rtgdance.com.
"an emerging choreographer definitely worth
a look" Gia Kourlas, Time Out/New York Magazine
"An original voice." Jennifer Dunning,
the New York Times
Wonder: Collected Dances has been partially funded
by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a
state agency and by a generous gift from the Woodman Family Foundation.
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