10 Reasons Why YOU Should Come See Secrets & Motion

This weekend is your last shot to see Secrets & Motion for awhile.  Maybe forever.  Here's a BuzzFeed-inspired list of reasons not to miss it!!

1.  Accessibility.  You don't have to 'get' dance to enjoy this one.

We solemnly swear to curb the use of spoken word, angsty gestures, full nudity, and modern-dance face in this production.

2.  A welding mask makes a vital appearance... at least once.

Vital, we tell you.

3.  The World Series will be over, you'll need something to fill your time.  

Citizens, meet art.  Art, citizens.  Go be friends.

4.  Real Boston people anonymously donated secrets to the show.  Even better, some of them are a little bit awkward.  

We still love all of our secret-donors.  Thank you for your secrets- good, bad and weird.

5.  D--- in a box.  Five of them.  (Dancers, that is.)

You should see what Step 2 entails...

6.  Buying a ticket supports college graduates that picked art as a life-choice, forgoing the idea of 'getting rich quick'.  Come help us convince our parents we made the right choice.  

Anyone can be an English major, but only the strong can tackle a dance degree ;)

7.  Light-up prosthetics...

Need we say more??

8.  50 Shades of Grey has nothing on us.  Costumes for this show feature at LEAST 10 shades of off-white.

Also 2-3 shades of maroon, lots of mismatched black, various browns...

9.  A lot of paper was destroyed before and during the show.  Come protest, environmentalists (just buy a ticket first)!

Don't worry tree-huggers, we actually save the paper, we just have no idea what the heck to do with it.



10.  Finally, our show abbreviates to S&M.  Where else in Boston can you go check out a show titled S&M this weekend and not be embarrassed to tell your friends??

November 1 & 2, 2013 - 8pm
Boston University Dance Theater
915 Commonwealth Ave - Boston, MA

Buy Tickets Here!

Questions?  Contact us at 617-477-4494 or tickets@luminariumdance.org.

Kim Thoughts...

Secrets & Motion (thought into words and vice versa)

**Note!  I wrote this post about our upcoming summer/fall Secrets&Motion project awhile ago, and have been trying to keep it at arm's length, while immersing in our Lowell Quilt Project.  I am letting my thoughts out in an attempt to release them from my active brain space, and keep them simmering until later spring.**

Listening to Myrlie Evers-Williams speak at the Inauguration made me once again aware of why I've wanted to work with words for so long.

In planning the start of last year's season, or maybe end of the one before, I brought up working with diary pages in the context of the candid thoughts of youth, but it wasn't the right time for such a project.  At the tail end of Mythos:Pathos, really as fodder for grants and something to put on paper for the next year's marketing materials, I threw the idea of turning words into a full-length performance again, and it took root.  Moving forward with an equally motivated codirector, we decided we wanted to pursue text (both original and preexisting, anonymous and owned) and we would find it through community members and library books and other sources, and we would treat it with dance.  A solid assortment of text-turned-dance would be a shot to capture who exactly we are.

Words are so important, even if they never become words.  Words are progress.  Words document, propel, and provide narrative to history.  Words are birthed thought (yes, I'm still going!), opinion and communication.  Words are protection and unfortunately sometimes weapons.

An important idea to me, personally, is how often words are forgotten or dissolve from our brains. The fables, myths and cautionary tales we read as kids are so often forgotten or discredited with adolescence.  Advice from our parents, those things we never said we would do or allow again, our wedding vows- what falls by the wayside?    A wonderful side-effect of this project is the amount of time we will be granted to meditate on words we might otherwise just read through; selecting text will be a vital task.

While Merli and I will be creating and merging segments together to form a larger show, I think my own focus will be selecting historic and contemporary texts and comparing them to original and personal pieces to find both difference and universality.  This, as always, is bound to change and in need of specificity, but it's currently a nice way to think about time travel through words, thoughts and dance.

Ok... now, bring on the quilts!

-Kim

Memento Mori @ Mobius

Just a little over a week ago, Luminarium was preparing to present selected works at Mobius in Memento Mori, an exhibit and series of performance nights dedicated to the concept of remembering one's own mortality. Both LDC Directors were thrilled when not one, not two, but three of their works were selected for the show.

During Gallery Hours, Merli's film What seems so is transition played on loop along side Jimena Bermejo-Black's Tears, running from October 20th through October 24th. On Thursday evening, members of Luminarium attended the Gallery's opening, viewing work from the various sculptures, painters, and video artists in the space they would perform in the following evening.

Louise and Merli pose by What seems so is transition,
created by Merli in 2009 and performed by Louise.

The following evening, Luminarium presented Merli's Casting Shadows, Tearing Holes, which proved to be quite a challenge! Especially considering the large paper screen the dancers tear their way through literally took up the back wall of the space. With roughly 13 feet by 18 feet of danceable space, the performance proved to be extremely visceral for its audience, who not only heard the tearing of the paper up close, but felt the air rushing past them as the dancers swept past the front row, dodging those on the floor. 

By 8pm it was clear that the performance artist for 8:30 was a no show. Luminarium was asked to perform again. Unfortunately, the set up for Casting Shadows, Tearing Holes is extensive, and the company found itself out of paper and out of time. Looking around the room, it was Dahne who suggested performing a different work from our repertoire: Kim's Within from the Upon | Within Project, which will be performed one last time at Green Street Studios this coming Friday and Saturday in Y.E.S.

The company quickly sprang to action, with three of the piece's four performers, and Merli jumping in with the little bits she knew of the fourth dancer's role. Of course, this is what Mark chose to film as he, and others, stood outside the Gallery, peering in through the window...

Within

The evening concluded with a beautiful performance art piece by Mobius' Sandy Huckleberry, and Kim's Agonía. Everyone who viewed Luminarium's work was wonderfully supportive, and many were taken by Kim's two pieces, which worked well in the small, intimate space. It was a challenging, but wonderful experience for Luminarium; an experience that has us all excited by the thought of working with Mobius some time in the near future...perhaps in 2012.

LEAP! Photos, Thoughts & Thank You's.

Many thanks to everyone who made LEAP: Leading & Engaging Artistic Pursuits such a success last night. We are so grateful to the dancers of Luminarium Dance Company, for their shared talents and dedication. Thanks to Rob Flax for his beautiful harmonies, and to Meghan Boehmer for her patience with Amyko’s costume and for helping with our tech. Thanks to Erich Hagan, and the Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre. Thank you to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, for allowing us to do this project. A special thanks to the Jordan Boys and Girls Club, especially to Michelle, Gina and Emily who helped facilitate the logistics of this program and concert, enabling things to run smoothly. A final thank you to ALL of the JBGC members who participated in the many aspects of the Performing Arts Project. We have enjoyed watching and working with you in master classes, workshops, art projects and night programs. (Tyra, Deanna, Omarra, Daniela, and Alexis: I have very much enjoyed seeing what you brought to rehearsals and seeing you grow as dancers, nice work! - Kim)

For those of you wishing to see images from the show, both behind the scenes and during, please scroll down to view the beautiful photos taken by Steph Hodge. View her full portfolio at www.stephhodge.com.

Before the show. Scenes from backstage:

Dahne prepares her hair.

Merli laughs as the company discusses the benefits of potassium to calm nerves before a show. Turns out it really works!

Chevaun French braids Amyko's hair for her solo.

Meanwhile, Kim introduces the JBGC members to the company members with whom they are about to perform.

 The show begins. After a brief improv from the audience to the stage, the company is ready to perform:

Stand by me - Choreography by Kimberleigh A. Holman

What we bring... (A sample of our company's varied artistic styles.)

Mark Kranz: Tap and Capoeira

Merli Guerra: Classical Indian Dance (Odissi style)

Lori Celeste: Classical Ballet

Dahne Ledford: Ukrainian Folk Dance

Christin Collins: Hip Hop

...for the stars - Choreography by Merli V. Guerra

*For insights on this piece by the choreographer, visit www.merliguerra.blogspot.com!

Everything But Blue (The Film) - Choreography by Kimberleigh A. Holman, Direction and Editing by Holman and Guerra

you have hands, too? - Co-Choreographed by Merli V. Guerra & Kimberleigh A. Holman

*While difficult to see in these photos, all the dancers but Merli have written on their shirts. When Merli arrives with a blank shirt, there's only one thing for the other eight to do...

Some silliness. The "curmudgeon" section, as it has come to be known in rehearsals.

A moment with the full cast, before bursting into dynamic overlapping solos.

The end!

A final thank you to all those who attended the show, and to those who attended from afar in spirit. We are grateful for your support and are happy to share these moments with you in our blog!

This post brought to you by:

Merli