Danspace Mission, New York, NY.
June 5, 2025.
Megan Williams Dance Tasks (MWDP) introduced an evening-length work, Seen, in early June, on the Danspace Mission on the Saint Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery in NYC. The intergenerational work explores the seen and unseen identities inside every of us, and makes use of dancers of their 20s via 60s, an atypical alternative however one which helps the mission of the work. MWDP was began in 2016, and tackles a variety of human experiences via dance. Music by Tristan Kasten-Krause and Alexander Scriabin was carried out dwell (Isabelle O’Connell, Tristan Kasten-Krause, Brendon Randall-Myers and Zosha Warpeha).
Saint Mark’s Church is a longtime supporter of the humanities and particularly dance. Trendy dance legends like Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham each danced there, and Danspace Mission has been working since 1974, offering area and support to smaller dance artists. It’s becoming that Williams carried out right here – an area that’s multiple factor and an area that’s stood the check of time is an ideal framework for this work, because it noodles via the concepts in regards to the roles we play in our lives that stay tucked away, in addition to honoring the worth of dance artists far older than we regularly see performing onstage.
From the surface, one sees a steepled church, grand in nature, constructed of sturdy stone and trumpeting its goal to the world. Past its formidable exterior, nonetheless, two worlds exist collectively: Episcopalian worship and dance (Danspace Mission and New York Theatre Ballet, the latter of which makes use of the studio area). As Williams states in this system notes, “Dancing at all times offers us a spot to be seen and a spot to take refuge.” At its finest, faith gives the identical. The parallel nature of those concepts converging underneath the identical roof displays the summary tales Williams tells in Seen.
The efficiency befell in a big corridor, previously used for companies and presently retrofitted for dance efficiency. There are not any wings and as an alternative have everlasting bleacher-like buildings on three sides of the area — locations the dancers lounged and watched the efficiency once they weren’t dancing themselves, a side of the work in and of itself, reminding us that dance accommodates extra energy when noticed by different people.
It’s very important to notice that when Williams selected to each dance within the piece herself, and embody different dancers of their 50s and 60s, she demanded we see these elements that develop into hidden, both by our personal selves, or the world round us. The inevitable bitter capsule of a dance profession is that it’s finite: one thing everyone knows moving into, however can be one thing that would have a extra nimble boundary if we select to see it, and permit for it to increase. As an viewers member, there was a specific serenity to watching older dancers onstage. They moved from a spot of profundity and with a comforting gentleness.
Costumes in shades of blue, each vibrant and subdue, supplied the visible reminder that issues develop into clearer about who or what they’re when contrasted with different issues. Williams’ fearless alternative to incorporate a variety of ages and the generosity of all of the dancers to embrace it elevated this manufacturing. The dance world can be effectively served to see extra such older dancers onstage. Alongside youthful dancers, each shone brightly – the sunshine of youth and the sunshine of expertise bouncing off one another to light up these hidden corners of every.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
