BANDALOOP
Bay Area-based dance sensation BANDALOOP returns to Seattle for a newly commissioned work to be performed both inside and on the exterior of UW’s Meany Hall. The group specializes in “vertical dance performance” where dancers in climbing harnesses perform intricate choreography at dazzling heights, engaging the architecture of their surroundings. The spectacle turns the expected relationship of body to surface sideways, creating floaty, ethereal dance works that seem unbound by the laws of physics. BANDALOOP is a great option for families or anyone looking to see physically audacious dance and entrancing, whimsical choreography.
Oct. 5–7 / Meany Hall
Peggy Piacenza
Veteran Seattle choreographer Peggy Piacenza presents a new work that takes on a fundamental quest: the search for meaning inside life’s beauty, pain and profound absurdity. The Event combines dance, theatre, text, film and a cast of respected Seattle performers inside a set of swirling pink cotton candy. Piacenza has worked substantially with fellow Seattle-based choreographers Pat Graney and Dayna Hanson, and has a similar aptitude for portraying human complexity through layered mediums. Informed by the choreographer’s sense of mortality after turning 50, The Event promises to be a highly personal work full of surreal imagery that speaks directly to your subconscious.
Oct. 19–22 / Base: Experimental
Arts + Space
Joanna Kotze/Kim Lusk
Velocity presents a split bill of two rising choreographic stars. The first is New York City’s Joanna Kotze, who won the prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer in 2013. Kotze brings 2013’s It Happened It Had Happened It Is Happening It Will Happen for its West Coast debut, which confronts the seductiveness of structure and order through abstract movement. The second artist, Kim Lusk, may be less nationally known, but locally she’s making a name for herself as she churns out balletic parodies to nostalgic ’90s synth beats. Lusk’s bone-dry humor is delivered via sharp-as-a-tack choreography, and her last piece at NW New Works was one of the most beloved of the festival.
Nov. 3–5 / Velocity Dance Center
