Choreography - Jennifer Backhaus
Music - Bella Fleck
Number of Dancers - 9
Premiere - The Alex Theatre, Glendale, CA
Awards and Nominations
Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography - Short Form - Jennifer Backhaus
Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design - Rhonda Earick
Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Design - Monique L’Heureux
McCallum Theatre Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival Muses 2nd Place Award
Lester Horton Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Performance - Company
Lester Horton Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Performance - Male Category - William Lu
Reviews
[Jennifer Backhaus] picks the perfect music, and she’s got a great sense of humor. At least, one could assume so, based on this example of her work. But as far as choreography goes – did anyone really set this piece? These dancers flow as naturally as a spring of water, and they do it amongst a room full of chairs. Ms. Backhaus has transformed her simple, wooden chairs into something like a partner, a shadow, a weapon - and every dancer has one. The dancers’ relationship to their chairs defines them. The chair poses fundamental questions, like: shall we live together or not? Shall we notice these others? Shall we watch or participate? The use of side lighting and the pale, nuanced backdrop are as exquisite as a summer’s day, but when summer’s gone, when the dancers have died and gone to heaven, they might expect God to ask them: How well, how soundlessly, how generously did you move with your chair?
- Joanna Beresford, McCallum Theatre
...a clever and entertaining suite for 10 who spend a good portion of the dance on wooden chairs. It is another unselfconscious frolic, and the dancers dug into it wholeheartedly, which made it all work...[company dancer] William Lu is a risk-taker, throwing himself to the floor, into the air, without heed. He leapt like a cat and landed on the back of a chair (!) in January."
-Laura Blieberg, The Orange County Register
