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I finally got around to getting the b/w film developed that I took of my recent live dance performance “Progress.” [as you can tell, I’m a total amateur at photography.]
Tori Lawrence’s “Progress” (dancers: Ellie Goudie-Averill, Taryn Griggs)
dress rehearsal of “Progress” (dancers: Ellie Goudie-Averill, Taryn Griggs)
dress rehearsal of “Progress” (dancers: Ellie Goudie-Averill, Taryn Griggs)
I started working on the concept of “Progress” when I was in grad school last year at the University of Iowa. The piece was originally set on two student dancers (Anthony Pucci and Calvin Windschitl). I then added in a third dancer (Flannery McAdam) when we took the piece to the American College Dance Association. This past Fall, the Lawrence Arts Center wanted me to create a work for their stage, so I decided to extend “Progress” and set it on professional dancers Taryn Griggs and Ellie Goudie-Averill. I had a budget this time, so I decided to design a much larger set and work with CSF resident musicians Shiny Jets. Tucker and Shanté were awesome musicians to work with and I’m hoping that we can perform the piece again soon (it all depends on funding). I think that the piece is still unfinished and that there’s probably another section to create (and maybe a larger cast appears halfway through the piece). It keeps turning out to be one of those projects where I think it’s at its final stage and then I realize on opening night that it’s still not done.
Shiny Jets are hidden behind a white wall for the first half of the piece… the wall then gradually lifts all the way up to reveal the band
early stages of “Progress” when it was set on undergraduate dancers at the Univ. of Iowa