Juliana F. May‘s evening length quartet is a story about feeling and form. At the onset of the piece, the audience is told to move into the center of the space. The dancers are situated on the perimeter and the audience is guided by the musicians in a slow motion do-si-do with the performers. This prescribed changing of places is the first in a series of events attempting to disarm the body and neutralize the performance space. Units of movement, voice, shape and time create a textural divide between the body’s intuitive sense of movement and a more formal or externalized approach to composition. These hierarchies are addressed in an effort to integrate formal concerns and emotional content.

Choreography by Juliana F. May. Lighting design by Chloe Z. Brown. Original live music by Seth Garrison and Clara Hunter Latham. Performances by Anna Carapetyan, Nicole Mannarino, Eleanor Smith, and Maggie Thom.

“Performers (and Audience) in Step” – Gia Kourlas, New York Times