RDT Presents A Choreographic Showcase Featuring Work By The RDT Dancers & Staff

Returning for the fourth season, Repertory Dance Theatre presents an evening of choreography by the RDT dancers and Artistic Staff. EMERGE, January 3-4, 2020 in the intimate Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, features all new work.

RDT prides itself on being not only a revolutionary institution of modern dance, but also an incubator for dancers and choreographers. RDT dancers are encouraged to be technically proficient dancers, inspiring teachers, as well as innovative choreographers.

EMERGE will feature work by six of the current RDT dancers, as well as Artistic Associate, Nicholas Cendese. Choreography will feature RDT company members and guest dancers from the community, and pieces will range from solos to larger group ensembles. Choreographers include Jaclyn Brown, Nicholas Cendese, Lauren Curley, Trung "Daniel" Do, Dan Higgins, Megan O'Brien, Jon Kim, and Ursula Perry.

Sixth-year company member, Jaclyn Brown, is choreographing a solo on former RDT dancer, Angela Banchero-Kelleher. Banchero-Kelleher was a dancer with RDT from 1985-1992 and from 1998-2006. She is also a professor at Utah Valley University, where Jaclyn was her student from 2009-2013. According to Brown, "This solo is an effort to thank my beloved mentor, who never lost sight of me. She is a gifted performer and should be celebrated for the many lives within her reach that have been changed for the better."

RDT's Artistic Associate, Nicholas Cendese will be presenting two works. One will revisit a concept RDT first attempted during last season's VOICES concert. Cendese will work with local dance teachers to create new work and celebrate the amazing work they do bringing dance into the lives of Salt Lake City students.

Education Associate Megan O'Brien will present a quartet - Trick Mirror - as a small glimpse into recovery. After 8 months of rehabilitating from an extensive surgery, O'Brien uses this piece to bring softness, support, unlikely strength, delusion, hope, identity, and sparks of magical joy, release, and freedom. For her, "it is a reminder that joy and pain can fit together."

Jonathan Kim, first-year company member, will be exploring bittersweet endings with his duet entitled until you are no more. In this contemporary work, two dancers move in parallel motion until the audience sees the fracturing of their relationship. It is not overwhelmingly sad or destructive, it simply is coming to an end.

RDT is proud to give this opportunity to our dancers. Many RDT dancers have become accomplished choreographers in their own right, including many who have presented their own work through RDT's Link Series. Current dancer Dan Higgins will present his second full-length evening show in the Black Box this week in SPEAK, running December 12-13.

After four years of presenting this show, it is always both exciting and inspiring to see the immense talent of the RDT dancers presenting work of their own.