Repertory Dance Theatre's 53rd season opens with a tribute to yesterday and today in SPIRIT, October 4-6. The concert features two historical works (including the modern dance classic, "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" by Donald McKayle) as well as two world-premieres. We will be featuring interviews with each of the choreographers as we lead up to the show. See
Repertory Dance Theatre's 53rd season opens with a tribute to yesterday and today in SPIRIT, October 4-6. The concert features two historical works (including the modern dance classic, "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" by Donald McKayle) as well as two world-premieres. We will be featuring interviews with each of the choreographers as we lead up to the show. First up
In this final video post, choreographer and former RDT dancer Francisco Gella talks about his inspiration for choreography, as well as offers advice to young choreographers about the creative process. Gella has been commission to create choreographic works for Repertory Dance Theatre, Ballet Pacifica, California Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet’s Shut-Up and Dance Production, PHILADANCO’s Danco on Danco program, Laguna Dance
Francisco Gella danced with RDT from 1996-1998. It was his first professional dancing job after graduating from the University of Washington. Later he went on to dance with Philadelphia Dance Company and, later, Ballet Pacifica and the California Ballet. In the video below, Gella talks about what it has been like to work on the other side of creation
What is the difference between loneliness and being alone? Choreographer Francisco Gella attempts to answer that question here, along with the need to embody on stage the human impulse to be alone while fearing loneliness. His effort, filled with virtuoso contemporary movement and an unusual stage prop, makes its first appearance in his new commission for Repertory Dance
In this artistic statement, William "Bill" Evans talks about his upcoming concert at Repertory Dance Theatre (Nov. 16-18, 2017) TOP BILL, a retrospective of five decades of choreography. Evans, an RDT dancer alum, has regularly returned to Utah, where he is from, to create new work for RDT and to re-stage contemporary classics from his prodigious oeuvre. RDT's
Written by Linda C. Smith Artistic/Executive Director We live in a country like no other. As Americans, the landscape we call home has always been part of our continuing story. Since the early 1990’s, RDT has been commissioning works that celebrate and examine our human connection to land and water, critical issues here in America’s Mountain and Southwest regions. SANCTUARY focuses
by Stephen Trimble The leaders of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition use the word “healing” whenever they define their relationship with the redrock of Utah's public lands. Eric Descheenie says, “By protecting these sacred ancestral lands we can take an important step towards healing.” Descheenie, a Navajo, emphasizes this “indigenous truth” as the foundation for all discussions about why
In Part II, Linda C. Smith, RDT's Executive/Artistic Director, reported on the group's visit to Fry Canyon Ruin, the precipitious switchbacks of Moki Dugway and a kiva at the Cave Tower Ruin before the dancers spent time doing improvisation, culminating in a shamanic healing ritual by one of the Native American guides, Ida Yellowman (Dine). Here in the final
In Part I, Linda C. Smith, RDT's Executive/Artistic Director, talks about the origins of RDT's new commission, inspired by the recently proclaimed Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. To tour the Bears Ears is to enmesh in oneself in the cultures of Native Americans who have lived in this area from time immemorial. It is not only