What is Utopia? Is it a place we could build on Earth or is it a particular mindset that we can reach through our own individual journey towards enlightenment? On December 13th, renowned choreographer Valerie Green will be premiering her brand new dance performance entitled Utopia at Danspace Project inside of the Saint Mark’s Church on East 10th Street.
Valerie Green unpacks the perfect society with ‘Utopia’
“I like being challenged with each new creative adventure.” — Valerie Green.
A collaboration between Valerie Green’s company Dance Entropy (VG/DE) and the visual artist Keren Anavy, the performance brings understanding to the meaning of the word “Utopia” by trying to grapple with how achievable it is in our lives through both movement and art. Throughout the piece, dancers interact with large-scale 10-foot cylindrical paintings to an original soundtrack composed by Mark Katsaounis creating their own solitary and group movements to weigh the possibilities of reaching an actual perfect society.
“For me, as a choreographer, it’s been a completely different process to work with such objects. I like being challenged with each new creative adventure,” says Valerie Green about the process behind Utopia. “It was a challenge to see what I could make with these. It was really interesting for me the whole time to process and to see what working with the structures means. The piece is about questioning where Utopia resides.”
“The visual artist brought up the idea of ‘Utopia’ and then I had to think about how I as a choreographer wanted to make something about ‘Utopia’. For me, I came up with a concept of it being about questioning ‘Utopia’ residing on the inside. The whole choreography, the premise is around this exploration of where ‘Utopia’ resides. Each dancer is on their own process in finding that inside their own selves and then alongside a community. Having clarity with what the story is and how to achieve it and being clear with the intention, with each dancer, with each dancer working in relation to the others as a group, with relation to the art and the props involved. It’s a very all-consuming, immersed challenge to be thorough in exploring the idea and using the pieces of art.”
Utopia will run from December 13-15. Advanced tickets to Utopia are available for $22 to the general public and $15 for Danspace Project members and can be purchased at danspaceproject.org or by calling the box office at (866) 811-4111. There will be a limited amount of tickets at the door based on availability at the door for $25 (cash or check only), but you may not want to wait until that point to witness this spectacular event.
This article was written in partnership with Valerie Green and Dance Entropy. For more info and ticket information, head over to danceentropy.org.
