Hello from the road!
Gathering Wild is in Charleston, SC for our first “Summer Excursion” as well as our first time ever participating in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. On Monday, we performed 27 for the Dance at Noon series. It was a grueling but wonderful day starting with tech rehearsal from 8-11 am (which meant leaving the house at 7 to drive and find parking) for our noon performance. The company got a little bit of a rest over lunch at Fleet Landing before heading back to the theater to tech for the Dance Festival.
We were quite pleased with audience turnout--especially for our debut Charleston performance--and stoked to receive so much good press from Charleston’s publications. Just before leaving this past weekend, we were surprised to discover that 27 had been pegged as Charleston Magazine's top pick in dance to see at the festival! Reviews in today's Charleston City Paper described the show as “...innovative and eclectic, pulsing with energy..." and “...worth seeing for it’s courage and strangeness.” We particularly appreciate an article in The Post & Courier. Writers Mary Gibble and Dani Villalobos seemed to have really sunk their teeth into the show’s intention:
"Morrison's dark chants, accented tribal beats, evoked the eerie post-mortem tone that characterized the section as a whole. The dancers' loose, whimsical upper bodies and almost inebriated expressions took on the tone of Morrison the man rather than the content of the songs."
"The choreography was dynamic and visually complex..."
"The work is well-crafted and ambitious.."
We feel so fortunate for these reviews as we proceed further down the creative path of 27. I think we will really be able to benefit from their unbiased commentary; the company has been in discussion all morning and everyone is motivated to take 27 back to the studio.
This afternoon (Tuesday) we contributed our first piece from The Sutra Project to Dance Festival, hosted by Robert Ivey Ballet. We had additionally intended to perform a 30 minute selection of 27 at the stage set up in Marion Square but took a long lunch at Hyman’s when that was cancelled due rain. (Hush puppies and margaritas--an excellent plan B if you ask me!)
In addition to two successful performances, the trip has provided an excellent setting for company bonding (which is really a much more mature way of describing a series of pranks involving the 2 foot tall "Vacation Santa") and birthday celebrating. Happy birthday Sally (yesterday) and Z (tomorrow)!! We have been spoiled by the incredible Lake House at Bulow Plantation--seriously people, this place is ridiculous. There's plenty of room for twelve of us in this vast, gorgeous lodge. With the exception of the taxidermic menagerie that doesn’t fall within many of our decorating tastes--bazaar but hugely entertaining!--it is impeccably decorated. The house looks over a wide shallow lake, complete with it’s very own private piney island (and wooden bridge for your convenience)! Some of the earlier rising dancers claim to have spotted alligators but most of my animal encounters have been with our adopted "Kitchen Cougar." And bugs bites. Lots of bug bites. But I guess that’s to be expected when the group spends several hours each night drinking bottle upon bottle of wine on the huge back porch.
We have been able to save a lot of mullah by cooking dinners and breakfast at the house--compliments to Chef Z, and a handful of our other notably kitchen-accomplished dancers (I generally take on dishwashing)! We’ve fed ourselves these three days for around $20 each!
The company is covering as much as it can bearing in mind our travel to NY next month: $285 for theater rental and $1,155.50 for 3 nights of accommodation at the Lake House (comes to about $30 per person each night). One of Gathering Wild’s goals for our next year (our fiscal year runs Aug-Jul, so we’re at the end of our current one) is to be able to cover more travel expenses like gas, per diems, checked bags when flying, etc. Until then, these trips rely on the enthusiasm and commitment of Jerylann and dancers. We truly, sincerely cherish our every opportunity to spend time with each other, dancing and otherwise. When those opportunities happen to be located in gorgeous, historic coastal towns, frankly, all the better.
If you are able and willing to help the company cover some of these expenses please visit the site for this summer’s online giving campaign:
For every $20 donated you’ll be entered to win one of three pairs of tickets to see The Sutra Project this fall. Not to mention, that any contribution is hugely helpful in covering travel expenses. These trips provide great opportunity for Gathering Wild to grow as an artistic entity and offer us invaluable exposure to new audiences and partnerships. With every performance we do our best to offer technically proficient, audience-accessible dance and represent Atlanta as a nationally preeminent dance and arts community. But we can’t do it without your support! (Literally, we still need to book ground transportation in NY!) Please consider giving $20!
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| family dinner |
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| "oh Santa!" |
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| "Kitchen Cougar" supervising dinner prep |
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| post-production lunch at Fleet Landing |
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| the flock is on the move |
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| on the back deck, where most of our time was spent |
