Greetings from the road! My name is Lauren and I’m in my sixth season with RDT. This month, I had the pleasure of heading out on two different tours throughout Idaho, Utah, and Nevada with RDT. Our travels started off in Eagle, ID with a teaching tour that myself, Elle Johansen, and Nick Cendese went on. Most of the time when we go on tour the full company comes, but occasionally we’ll head out in smaller groups and focus more…
SOUNDS FAMILIAR, what a whirlwind! It was such a joy, and quite a challenge to create. Working with multiple choreographers and grasping multiple ideas was a great exercise in what I feel RDT does best, cultivating and curating all styles of modern dance. Of the twelve choreographers, it was truly special to work with a mentor from college (Sharee Lane) and one of my dearest friends over the last twenty years (Natosha Washington). I could not have been more grateful to create…
For the past seven years, Salt Lake has been my home and Repertory Dance Theatre my family. Last year, I made a difficult decision that RDT’s 2019/2020 season would be my last with the company. Saying “farewell” next year will be one of the toughest things I have to do. “RDT is the best University,” is something my boss, Linda Smith, says jokingly on occasions. Jokingly because sure, you’re not paying for a diploma but what she is referring to…
Upon starting the 2019-2020 season with Repertory Dance Theatre, I found myself thrust into the moment. In the dance world, there is never enough rehearsal time and never too much preparation because our art can always dig deeper and discover new depths. As the newest dancer just starting my first year, this proved true. Besides learning INSIDE OUTSIDE, our season opener, I had to catch up on dances from the education outreach programs and lecture demonstrations. The sheer number of pieces…
When learning new dances, as a company, we have a flexible system in place that allows us to best serve each choreographer’s individual needs. In the topic I’m writing about today, this flexibility comes in the form of learning from a former company dancer and current staff member rather than the choreographer himself. During my seven years on the company, we have learned four dances this way. Usually, we use this method for two reasons. One, restraints on scheduling and…
When I heard we would be working with Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof again, I was truly ecstatic. Five years has passed since they last worked with us (2014), and during that initial five week process they developed a new work for the company titled By the Snake. This time around they re-staged a piece from their repertory, Outdoors, that will be performed this October in Salt Lake. Immediately when they walked into the studio it was as if no…