Since 2003, Festival Ballet Providence has held a series of performances called “Up Close on Hope,” named for their rehearsal space on Hope Street in Providence. Artscape producer James Baumgartner dropped in on a rehearsal last week to find out more about what makes this year a little different.
TRANSCRIPT:
Festival Ballet Providence is taking their inspiration for this performance from 1978 – the year the company was founded. The blizzard of ‘78 is the inspiration for one of the works in the program called “Deep Drifts.” Juliana Godlewski is one of Festival’s dancers who performs in the piece. She told me about a scene where two children are at home looking out at the blizzard.
Juliana Godlewski: Just a very cuddly sweet moment where you know that you’re stuck inside, so you’re gonna make the most of it, and you’re gonna have like fun little games, you’re gonna snuggle, you’re gonna watch like “turning on” the snow. So you turn off all the lights in the house, just so that in the window, you can see all the flakes coming down. It’s just like this really nice moment of silence and appreciation for snow and nature.
Of course, the ‘78 blizzard wasn’t all snuggling and games. Deep Drifts is told in 3 parts. I saw Audrey Lukacz and her dancing partner struggle against the wind as they carried each other in seemingly impossible shapes.
Audrey Lukasz: It’s a little bit more anxious…sad. We are portraying a couple that unfortunately gets stuck in their car during the blizzard, and doesn’t make it.
Along with being a dancer in the company, Juliana Godlewski is also a choreographer. In fact, all of the works in this year’s program were choreographed by members of the company. Godlewski’s work is called “remember the surface, remember the deep.” The music is from Franz Schubert, but the story comes from 1978.
Music: Franz Schubert – Impromptu No. 3, Op. 90
Godlewski: I’ve always been inspired by Studio 54 and what it meant to American pop culture at the time. It was a very, very exciting place to be. It was a place where you could really express yourself. And so learning to accept and celebrate the parts of yourselves that you’ve previously been rejected for or hated about yourself, learning to find a relationship with those parts of yourself in a way that ultimately results in autonomy and self love.
There are 17 dancers on the stage at times, and although there’s nothing that resembles the disco moves that you might have seen at Studio 54, you can see the emotional journey of a dancer in the work. At one moment, all 17 dancers are in a line, diagonal to the audience.
Godlewski: If you’ve ever been like in an elevator or bathroom with two mirrors that are parallel to each other, you look and you see just like infinite visions of yourself.
It’s a striking image from the piece, and the setting of Festival’s Black Box theater means that the audience is just a few feet away from the dancers.
Here’s Audrey and Juliana again.
Lukacz: Having grown up with that dream of dancing on a big stage, the black box is actually one of my favorite shows.
Godlewski: I think that sometimes I like to kind of like flirt with the audience. So I might try and like throw a glance or a wink – not a wink, that’s a little too cheesy. But you can see their faces, you can see the outlines of their bodies a little bit clearer. If this is their first experience in a live performance event, just that one little bit of eye contact can mean so much to somebody, and change their perspective on live arts, and yeah, having a special little relationship.
There are only 85 seats in the theater and this year’s performances sold out quickly, so you’ll want to jump on them early next year. Or you can check out the Pure Dance program in April, which features “Yet My Heart” by Chanel DaSilva. Audrey Lukacz is one of the dancers in the piece. She told me that DaSilva wanted the dancers to put their own stories into the work, so she asked them if they’d ever been in love.
Lukacz: And we all had to kind of reflect on that and see what, with that question, what we could bring to the dance that’s a little bit more personal, for us to really tap in to the piece rather than trying to portray her story.
You can find information about upcoming performances at the Festival Ballet Providence website.
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