Choreography
Synesthesia
“The one thing I want more than anything right now?
Is a button that pauses life
So I dance
And everything else ceases to exist
Movement is an anomalous blending of the senses
When I hear music
My body begins to paint
And we fill the canvas with rich vibrant colors”
-Nika Dolynuk
Photo Credit~Fin Polon
Last fall, I embarked on a choreographic project at a time that I felt most disconnected from dance and my body. I was just recovering from a back injury that had prevented me from being able to dance for several months, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep dance, a most crucial part of my identity, a part of my life. Synesthesia is a modern dance piece combining different art mediums, dance, poetry, and paint as a way to express human connection. With such an additional powerful art medium, I had to push boundaries in a way that I had never had to before. I encouraged myself to explore how I could incorporate the paint with dance in multiple ways, from spreading and pouring to splattering and throwing. I also had to investigate and play around with how best to set up the dance and introduce the various components, paint, poetry, music, the setting, and dance to my audience in a cohesive and manageable way. Putting myself and my ideas out there was never going to be easy. I often had to push myself even when I was tired, frustrated, creatively stuck, or full of self-doubt; this project forced me to overcome these emotions. It was also the support, determination, and love from my cast that made this dance ever possible.
but come back…
“five friends speaking as matches spark
i trace embers to the earth
i find moonlight in the dark
sometimes i am a hundred hallways–song
and a minotaur spooling thread
they are waiting by the entrance, they are living not the dead…”
-Sitara Effat Ahangari
Photo Credit~Lee Cohn
Synesthesia
