Stand 23
TCDP
July 2nd - 9th
Picture of TCDP NewVo Fellowship 2022 dancers during an Informal Sharing at The Croft. PC: Benjamin Cheney
Image Description: Two duos of dancers stand in close proximity in connected shapes, all reaching towards the sky with different hand shapes. Both of the dancers in the front are in a lower level shape then the dancers behind them. They all stand on a grey marley floor. A deck railing, trees, and a lake can be seen in the background.
Traverse City Dance Project joined us for the beginning of their summer season. While here they rehearsed multiple works for their tour. Some of the dances were shared as a part of the schoolhouse sharing on July 5th at the Horton Bay Schoolhouse.
Lynn Bowman & Rhea Speights
August 7th - 12th
Rhea and Lynn PC:
Image Description: Two dancers are inside a greenhouse attached to a cement block facade of a larger building. A vine climbs up the facade and over a grey doorway of the facade, which frames one of the dancers. The dancer framed by the door is in mid jump with the left leg behind them in attitude, a slight bend of the knee, at hip height. Their arms are reaching above their shoulders framing their head. They are wearing red clogs, blue jean, an aqua undershirt, and a grey cardigan. They have long brown hair that is caught in the loft of their movement. The dancer in the foreground is also in mid jump. They are using both of their hands to assist in the lofting of their body by pressing into the top of an orange traffic cone. Their right leg is bent at the knee with the line of the lower leg matching the line of the dancer in the backgrounds lower leg. They are wearing black sneakers, blue jeans, a purple and white striped undershirt, and a green cardigan. They have dark brown hair that is should length with bangs. Their hair moves linearly in opposition to the momentum of their body.
Dance artists Lynn and Rhea will spent their residence time at the Croft examining dance making, friendship making, secret selves, and relevance in the dance world and asking; what it means to be mid-life dancers. The conversation that spirited these questions went something like this:
Lynn: Hey, Rhea, how are you?
Rhea: Pretty, good.
Lynn: What have you been thinking about lately?
Rhea: Well…that I am mid-fortes and if I consider my family history and genetics then I am about halfway through with my life.
Lynn: Whoa, ya, that’s a lot to take in and sit with…maybe we should make a dance about it.
Rhea: Ok!
A bit about Lynn: Lynn grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa, she started dancing in her family's living room and never stopped. Lynn has been schooled in dance at Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, Luther College BA, The University of Iowa MFA, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (London), and Central Michigan University MA. She lives in Mid-Michigan and is interested in art-making as a form of place-making in her rural community (lynndances.com).
A bit about Rhea: Rhea is an artist and teacher, working primarily in dance and video. Their work has been presented in backyards, galleries, and theatre spaces across the United States. Rhea holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Telecommunication and Film from the University of Alabama. Rhea is currently on faculty in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Alabama (rheaspeights.org).
A bit about us: We met in 2009 in Birmingham, Alabama, and have been making dances on and off ever since. Sometimes dancing for one another, in duets, and as co-choreographers.