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Event
the BOOST dance festival
The BOOST dance festival returns March 2224, 2013, for a stellar 3-day run at the Erickson Theater, in Seattle, Washington. Year 4 promises to be the best yet. Following 3 years of sold-out successes, this young festival is quickly maturing into one of Seattle's most respected dance shows. Known for its attention to detail and thoughtful direction, BOOST 2013 explodes onto the stage for 3 jam-packed evenings hosting 9 artists and 48 performers. The 2013 BOOST dance festival artists are Elia Mrak, Anna Conner, Maya Soto, Michele Miller, Alana O Rogers, Sarah Kathryn Olds, MaryAnn McGovern, Kristen Legg, and Marlo Martin.
Staying true to its vision, the BOOST dance festival sought out a diverse and talented panel of adjudicators to select equally enticing and engaging artists. The 2013 panel of adjudicators included Kate Wallich, Amy O'Neal, and Matt Baker, as well as BOOST co-directors Kristen Legg and Marlo Martin. The adjudicators have worked across the country as choreographers, dancers, and directors. Their backgrounds span from academia to commercial work to concert works. Each panel member generously offered honest and thought-provoking feedback to all BOOST applicants. By offering transparency in the selection process BOOST can effectively assist all potential artists in their growth and development, fostering a supportive community that engages in dialogue regarding the making and presenting of dance.
A 2012 BOOST artist who has been making dance, teaching, and performing for over 20 years in New York and Seattle shared, "It was great to hear the panel's take on my movement and written explanation. I realized how little communication there is of that sort in the festivals today. It's especially interesting when you don't have a personal relationship with the artist on the panel. Interpreting their opinions without solid feedback is difficult. Reviewers have their place, artists see from the inside out." This confirms that honest and constructive feedback is invaluable.
Each year the BOOST dance festival melds into a bigger, better, more powerful festival and this year's changes can be seen at the very core of the production. Long time producer and director, Marlo Martin, welcomes a co-director, Kristen Legg, to the BOOST team. Martin and Legg have a long and rich history. Each began in Michigan and graduated with their BFAs in dance from Western Michigan University. Years after graduation Martin and Legg began to forge a new relationship. Martin performed with Redd Legg Dance (Legg's brainchild) and Legg danced with oaklanDrive (Martin's company from 2005 to 2008). They also currently work side-by-side at eXit SPACE and direct takePAUSE each year at Broadway Performance Hall. About the newly defined partnership Marlo shares, "It was a simple choice to pursue a co-directorship with Legg. No one else I know has the experience, the drive, the focus, and the humor that she does. I know that together we will make BOOST into the very best it can be, offering Seattle a long-running, consistent, and provocative dance festival. We have a unique perspective, our Midwest roots are strong and our past influences continue to inform our choices today." Bringing a fresh look and direction while taking risks is a priority for the new team at BOOST.
Each evening of BOOST 2013 will feature a different bill of artists. Anna Conner, originally from LA and a 2009 Cornish grad will be presenting an excerpt from "Red in Luna" an ongoing movement-based project rooted in the exploration of honesty and kindness but not in the context the audience may initially think of. Conner's view of honesty is through the lens of pack mentality and speaks to the ugly aspects of those who do whatever it takes to get ahead of the pack. Conner will bring together a quartet of powerful dancers, Alice Gosti, Julia Cross, Maggie Hotchkiss, and Conner herself, who are all capable of biting into her intricate choreography with emotional commitment and physical prowess.
Elia Mrak recently returned to his roots in Seattle after studying, performing, and creating dance throughout Western Europe, Spain, Argentina, and Mexico. He has exploded onto the dance scene, most recently in Velocity's Bridge Project and can be seen this summer at Northwest New Works. Mrak is working with Erica Badgely and Kate Wallich, and he couldn't of chosen a more dynamic duo for his work about female energy. Having learned from his mother that feminism is about pendulums, he works from extremes to settle into equilibrium. Mrak's work is about playing in the extremes of the body in order to access the imagination and spin stories from the movement and mind. Mrak's work by his definition is structured improv, which inspires much curiosity about what will happen with Mrak, Badgely, and Wallich working together. The BOOST panel has recognized Conner and Mrak as artists with exceptional talent and potential; their works will take the stage each evening of the festival.
Michele Miller, a past panel member, returns to BOOST as an artist. Miller has created a trio about the dynamics of three, the unique situation of having a strong relationship in a pair that is automatically changed dynamically when a third person enters. The piece is inspired by the dynamic in Miller's own family, having a child that has two households and moves back and forth between them, leaving the family sometimes a pair, and sometimes a family of three, and the unique relationships they all have with each other, separate from the family as a whole. It embraces all of the tension and fabulousness of that situation.
Alana O Rogers, as well as Maya Soto, return to the BOOST dance festival this year. Roger's work explores the evolution of self and the past versions of self. She will include ensemble, duet, and solo work within the structure of the piece while experimenting with the creation of a central character, which is something new for her as an artist. In contrast, Soto's work oozes with character driven material, her works are dramatic and theatrical all the while pushing the physical boundaries of the human body. This year Soto brings an excerpt of her work Princess/Warrior, exploring themes of internal personal power, gender stereotypes, feminism, and femininity though the creation of movement characters. Always a pleasure to see Soto in her own movement, she is accompanied by a new configuration of female dancers, nine powerful Soto Style Princess/Warriors take over the stage with conviction and passion.
BOOST also welcomes MaryAnn McGovern, a Chicago native, to this year's line-up. McGovern's company has performed in the mid-west and her work most recently has been seen at Velocity's Bridge Project. McGovern's concept for her work is based within the rehearsal process, she intends to cast dancers with opposite aesthetics from her own and take note, as well as capitalize on the resulting differences while creating a piece for performance. Another BOOST newcomer is Sarah Kathryn Olds of Serendip Dance Brigade. A Cornish grad, Olds has been making work with Serendip since 2008. Her latest creation, titled murTOWN, is a dreamed up world constructed in Old's imagination, murTOWN is filled with people who are trapped by their own set of rules. Within the work, dancer, Eric Aguilar stands out as a main character whose movements and sensitivities to detailed choreography draw the audience in for more. murTOWN will be an interesting world to visit.
Rounding out the 2013 BOOST artists are the directors themselves, Kristen Legg and Marlo Martin. Kristen Legg will present an excerpt from her newest work, An Irritating Cerebral Itch. Based on the concepts of love, lust, and attraction, this work delves into the darker sides of commitment, or lack thereof, while also bringing light humor to the topic. Legg uses ballet-based movement, mixed with gestural phrases and theatrics to depict first love, the personification of lust, and love at first sight, among others. Redd Legg Dance commissioned local composer Alexander Bishop to create the dynamic score. The full-length version of An Irritating Cerebral Itch can be seen in April alongside Martin's company.
Martin brings her signature style and noted company badmarmarDANCE to the BOOST stage. This year badmarmarDANCE is working toward a full-length piece and will be showing an excerpt at BOOST to wet the appetite and hopefully entice the audience to come for more April 2021 at Broadway Performance Hall. Martin is committed to exploring the human condition and this season she is motivated by investigating the individual and how the complexities of a person are mostly overlooked or misunderstood within the span of the average day and average relationship. Martin's work uses the personal experiences of her company members to inform and direct the work as a whole. Marlo hopes the audience will see themselves within the stories of the seven performers and will reflect on their own personal relationships, perspectives, and motivations. As always, badmarmarDANCE brings intensity with highly athletic movement, skilled precision partnering sequences, and a direct impassioned focus aimed at including the audience.
The BOOST dance festival 2013 is BOOST at its best. Veteran choreographers will share the stage with the up and coming talent and young choreographers on the rise. This BOOST team is dedicated to cultivating new relationships between artists and the audience while producing a highly engaging show. The BOOST dance festival brings it all togetherdance, passion, artistry, and power. Come be a part of the fury!
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LocationThe Erickson Theater (View)
1524 Harvard Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
United States
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