Working with Tania Isaac
I wrote about her before, and now the time has come: I’m stage managing for Tania’s solo and the repertory piece she set on UW-Madison dance students. There’s a special kind of pleasure in seeing the people you went to school with behaving and excelling professionally, as well as the "old" moments when she says things like "teenagers!" under her breath at the antics of some of the dancers.
In this particular piece, Standpipe, there is one moment when the ensemble is down stage left, in dim turquoise light, and they are all moving gently, undulating with their arms outstretched as they turn. The movement of their bodies is evocative of liquid, of the sea and the swamp and is absolutely entrancingly beautiful.
We just started another run through, with some parting words of encouragement from Tania as the house went dark: "Dance with your entire bodies!"
Amen.
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