Seattle Dance Collective to Present HERE & NOW

Seattle Dance Collective has announced the upcoming release of HERE & NOW, a collection of three new films created during the company's month-long summer residency on Vashon Island, Washington. The premiere is set for November 11 and will be available for streaming through November 21. Viewing access begins at $20.

HERE & NOW features contemporary choreography from critically-acclaimed artists, including Chicago-based Robyn Mineko Williams, choreographic duo FLOCK (Alice Klock and Florian Lochner), and the young Brazilian-born Juliano Nunes. In addition to Klock and Lochner of FLOCK, the dancers hail from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Whim W'Him.

"We were thrilled to assemble such talented and generous artists from around the world for this program," said SDC Co-Artistic Director Noelani Pantastico. "Having the opportunity to spend an entire month together creating new work was truly a gift, especially given the fact that for most of us this was our first chance to dance with a group of this size since the pandemic began."

Rehearsals took place at two theater spaces on the island, following strict COVID-19 protocols: Vashon Center for the Arts, home of the state-of-the-art Katherine L. White Hall and site of SDC's debut performances in 2019; and Open Space, a multi-use arts and community center. The three pieces were filmed by Bruno Roque in-studio and on location at Mukai Farm & Garden, a beautiful property listed on the National Register for Historic Places celebrating Vashon's Japanese-American and agrarian history.

Mukai Farm & Gardens greatly inspired Robyn Mineko Williams, who created a site-specific piece set on six dancers, including a role for her young son, Knox. Mineko Williams began making her own work in 2001 at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, with whom she danced for 12 seasons, and has since choreographed for multiple dance companies in the US and around the world.

FLOCK's 5 Favorite Things includes six dancers who, along with the composer, were each asked to identify five favorite things about themselves. These "nuggets of personal positivity", as described by Klock, were used as a starting point for the choreography, and were eventually woven together into a theme of community, trust and support. The work was filmed from start to finish in one continuous camera shot, a technique that gave the dancers a heightened sense of performing the piece as if they were onstage, without multiple takes and editing used by most current dance films. The camera, in essence, becomes the seventh dancer, moving around and within the group to immerse the viewer directly into the piece.

The third film in the HERE & NOW collection was created by Juliano Nunes, a young Brazilian dancer and now sought-after choreographer who trained in Rio de Janeiro and Germany. To Dust is a striking duet for Alice Klock and Florian Lochner, set to an original score by composer Travis Lake.

HERE & NOW will be streaming from November 11-21, 2021. Tickets start at $20 and will be available for purchase beginning the date of the premiere at seattledancecollective.org.

Where You Stay

Direction & Choreography: Robyn Mineko Williams

Music: Brian Case and Tenci

Dancers: Jacqueline Burnett, Jane Cracovaner, Andrew McShea, Noelani Pantastico, David Schultz and James Yoichi Moore

5 Favorite Things

Choreography: FLOCK (Alice Klock & Florian Lochner)

Direction: FLOCK & Bruno Roque

Music: Wolff Bergen

Dancers: Jacqueline Burnett, Jane Cracovaner, Andrew McShea, Noelani Pantastico, David Schultz and James Yoichi Moore

To Dust

Choreography: Juliano Nunes

Direction: Bruno Roque

Music: Travis Lake

Dancers: Alice Klock & Florian Lochner