Title: Unfold/Entwine

Premiere: September, 1998, Power Center, Ann Arbor, MI. Presented by Ann Arbor Dance Works. Commissioned by the International Computer Music Conference. subsequent performances at Washtenaw Community College (3/99) and the Betty Pease Studio Theater (4/99), Ann Arbor, MI. Restaged on the Danza Abend dance company in fall 1999, San Jose, Costa Rica, retitled as Desplegar/Entrelazar, at which time it was set to a different score, Double Portrait by David Borden. In 2002, the work was also restaged on the Park Avenue Dance Company, Rochester, NY.

Duration: 14 minutes

Music: Enfold/Entwine, by Diane Thome

Dancers: Lucille Anderson, Lily Baldwin, Megan Fuqua, Heather Mathews, Maia McKinney, Deborah Miller, Colin Mysliwiec, Angela Youells, Rishauna Zumberg

Lighting Design: Mark Berg and Mary Cole

Costumes: Jessica Fogel. Jessica Hahn did a partial creation of costume tunics.

Props: Jessica Fogel

Description: The impetus for this work came from the ICMC commission and the title of the music, “Enfold/Entwine” by Diane Thome. Those two evocative verbs propelled the movement ideas. The process for creating this work is described in detail in a lecture demonstration (linked below) presented at Washtenaw Community College, in celebration of Women’s History Month in March 1999. As per the press release: “The dance phrases are based on the literal unfolding of body parts, or of costumes, and on a broader level, of self. The word ‘entwine’ inspired movements based on cat’s crades, as well as human knots, as well as simple gestures such as braiding hair. In creating the dance, the idea emerged that the more on unfolds, the more one becomes entwined, and vice versa, as in any intimate relationship.” Friendships between women are also emphasized. The slow building and brooding architecture of the music created a rich aural environment for the dance. When I set the dance on the Costa Rican dancers, they intuitively recognized and embodiedthe emotional content of the movement. This was not by way of my coaching, but rather by way of their training and movement experiences in dance as theater.

Lecture Demonstration WCC March 1999

Program

Review

Rehearsal notes

Correspondence with composer Diane Thome

Flyer