Sarah's Sunday Scoop from September 10th, 2016
KYL/D is happy to add another member to its company, intern Sarah Trested!
About Sarah:
Sarah is a student, dancer, teacher and choreographer from Long Island, NY. Sarah started dancing when she was very young and her studies have increased to a more serious level when she enrolled in LIHSA, a performing arts high school located in New York. Sarah has attended the JSSI Intensive in New York and the T. Lang Sweatshop in Atlanta, GA, among others. She has performed at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks, as well as other venues throughout the East Coast. Sarah’s choreography has been performed at Seymour Weiner Theater in Long Island and Conwell Theater in Philadelphia. Sarah is currently a double major at Temple University where she is studying Dance and Economics. Studying at Temple has presented Sarah with opportunities to work with several leaders in the dance community including Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Kun-Yang Lin, and Molly Shanahan. She is also a dance educator for NSDC and a performer for KN Dance&Entertainment. Sarah is excited to be apart of the KYL/D family!
PICS OF REHEARSAL
Kun Yang’s newest work entitled Santuario (a.k.a Sanctuary) takes a real world event and translates it into a work of art. The piece is in response to the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, which occurred on June 12, 2016. The work carries the viewer to a new world where the tragedy becomes reality. Watching the company work on the piece, I was transformed into a experience where the story screamed through the movement.
Sanctuary is set up as if the dancers are in the nightclub, enjoying themselves; the people around them; the music; etc. They are all having fun, just another great night out with friends and loved ones. Suddenly, the piece takes us through all that occurred once danger was near. The piece brought me to tears, smiles, joy, frustration, anger, and everything in between. Observing rehearsals allowed me to experience the issues that came up during the process of creating the piece, for both the choreographer as well as the dancers.
Below is one example-
Question/Problem: How do we make the piece as authentic as possible for ourselves as well as for those viewing it?
Answer/Solution: We reflect on what each section of the piece means to us and draw from that sensation, reflecting on how we felt when we first heard about the shooting. Thinking back to times where we felt lost, vulnerable, helpless, etc. are all useful ways to make the work as genuine as possible for ourselves as well as those watching us.
Kun-Yang encourages his dancers to form strong physical and mental relationships with each other to help translate the movement for those viewing it. Strong relationships on stage are vital for a piece that has such deep meaning and emotions. The dancers are working on solving the question mentioned above for themselves, along with many others, as they dig deeper into this powerful work of art that is "Sanctuary".
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