Backstory: Dancer Emily Bernet writes about the creation of Mike Esperanza's 'NUCLEUS'

As we approach the start of our second season in the US, the last couple of months have been both busy and exciting for Dark Circles Contemporary Dance. We are currently in the middle of a two-week residency with Mike Esperanza, New York based choreographer and artistic director of BARE dance company, and it has been a whirlwind of creation and exploration. 
Mike began the process with clear ideas and images that continue to develop as the piece progresses. Along with Mike’s unique movement, the piece will incorporate lighting and projections that reflect images of sunlight, the heart, and the cosmos. He moves quickly, following a constant stream of inspiration. As he creates he keeps us involved, following his every weight shift and direction change. The piece incorporates a range of dynamics, and Mike is helping us discover how to make the energy of the work build and fall like a wave, bringing the images together into one idea.
Mike encourages us to personalize the movement and keep it alive so that no two runs are exactly alike. Though we focus on clarity in both the movement and the message, he doesn’t want the work to become routine or robotic. I appreciate the trust Mike has for us as dancers, and I feel fresh and fully engaged in the work with every rehearsal.  
The images Mike has created are complex in organization and phrasing, creating dynamic relationships between each of us and exploring the motion of action and reaction. Like Chadi El-Koury’s work Words in Motion, which will be also be presented in our Fall Concert, Mike Esperanza’s choreography requires us to listen to each other as we dance. The piece relies on our connections, both physical and mental. While working with Mike, I feel that our trust in each other is growing. The height of the piece includes complex series of lifts and moments in which we are launched across the stage into another dancer’s arms. I see that we are slowly starting to take more risks, and Mike encourages us to keep taking these risks further every day. 
Mike’s residency has provided us with an opportunity to continue our artistic growth, and as always, has been a lot of fun. Mike’s creativity has challenged me to move in new ways and brought us closer as a company. I am extremely excited to premiere this new work in our Fall Series in September.

Fall Series will take place September 4-6 at the Hardy and Betty Sanders Theatre at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $12-20.

GET TICKETS: http://www.darkcirclescontemporarydance.com/

Listening to Silent Words

“Make this last run-through all about listening.” On a Monday night after three hours of rehearsal, listening while trying to turn, slide, and balance seemed impossible. We are currently in the process of learning “Words in Motion” by choreographer Chadi El-Khoury, and I am learning how to listen.

Yes, the dance itself is very physically demanding. Yoga-like in approach, the piece requires challenging headstands, body-knotting contortion, and one-legged balances. And in the first few days of rehearsal, this movement material felt foreign to us all. We readily shared dumbfounded looks as we watched master Chadi mount into single shoulder stands that seemed to levitate. After the shock subsided, a light laughter almost always followed because we knew that somehow someway, we had to learn just how to execute that exact move. Needless to say, my arms have never felt so sore!

But now after about a week with Chadi, I am learning that the dance is not about the body and its soreness, but rather about the mind. Like swimming in thick ooze, the group slowly floats into movement with the goal of synchronizing so that each stroke is in perfect unison. And more so than the dance’s demanding physicality, it is a mental test, challenging our eyes and ears to remain sensitive and aware to the group’s space and timing during the twelve-minute piece.

Chadi reminds us to listen. At first it sounded simple, but I soon learned that listening, much like mastering a headstand, takes time. Fortunately, working with Chadi has made this listening test a little easier. He teaches by example: having patience in the process by giving us the time we need to really understand the movement but more importantly, to understand and listen to each other.  

So in our last run on Monday night, I ignored the soreness in my arms, put my meticulous attention to detail aside, and instead focused on listening to the group. And the things I heard as a result reminded me why I love to dance.

In working with Chadi, my ears are growing. I am starting to listen to my fellow dancers—waiting or speeding up so that we all meet and meditate together. And as we finish up “Words in Motion,” I am eager to keep practicing how to listen to the words my peers say—even if these words are not spoken but instead danced.

Kelsey Rohr

Dancer, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance