DARLING
DARLING explores vulnerability and intimacy through the presence and absence of touch. More than romance—how does touch inform relationship? This work suggests and supports alternative views on gender and sexuality. It exposes the viewers’ own biases towards the perceived power and strength of the people onstage. Rooted in form, the movement is created in reverence to its lineage yet subverts traditional ways of being within dance partnering by proposing new ones.
This work was created for and premiered by HSD. It is currently being performed in different re-imagined versions by Santa Barbara Dance Theater and in a duet form for HSD.
DETAILS
Premiered March 2020
55 & 30 minutes - 5 dancers
17 minutes - 2 dancers
Concept, Direction, Choreography: Hélène Simoneau
Original Music: Mary Kouyoumdjian
Performance: Marielis Garcia, Donovan Reed, Gianna Theodore, Carlo Antonio Villanueva, Claire Westby
Dramaturgy: Melanie George
Costume Design: Quinn Czejkowski
Lighting Design: David Ferri
All of the artists above have collaborated to inspire the development of this piece.
Videographer Justin Reich; Editor Minos Papas
“I am interested in digging into the other ways that touch informs relationships. A play on who’s dominant, who’s submissive. Who’s leading, who’s following. And how can that change?”
– Hélène Simoneau, Choreographer
PROGRAM NOTE
Written by Dramaturg Melanie George for the March 2020 premiere of DARLING
DARLING, the title of this work, is a term of endearment on its face, but like honey, doll-face, sweetheart, and the purposefully double-edged “bless your heart,” it can be wielded for other purposes. Out of the wrong mouth, babe and similar words can warp from endearment to terms of bondage. This space between intent and impact is at the heart of DARLING. In spite of the connotation of the title, tonight’s work has no sweetness. Any lightness in the piece is purely physical, derived the virtuosity of the dancers’ bodies encounters with space. DARLING is concerned with the intersection of intimacy and agency. Its recurring themes — contact and the exchange of power — winnow through the work like smoke, alternating between engulfing the action or lingering, like a suggestion. DARLING centers on motion over emotion, but not at the expense of humanity and affect. Like real-world relationships, the dynamics between the performers adapt continuously. Agency is not always as it seems, as resultant power slithers between movers often within the space of a weight shift, a touch on the shoulder, or a meeting of the eyes. There is a nuanced understanding about human interaction here, investing in resultant relationships over performative melodrama. Simoneau’s choreography imbues the spaces between movements with a tension that revels in the proposition that the end is prologue for the next moment. This is not a work of impulse. There are choices being made by the choreographer and dancers at every turn, tilt, and balance.
When I first began working with Hélène Simoneau, I was intrigued by her commitment to form, at a time when formlessness seems to be the default of the day. Simoneau’s work is firmly in a lineage with classical training while still feeling reflective of its time. We glean her perspective on contemporary dancemaking in the asymmetrical manner movement phrases are linked together, and the sinuousness of the movement vocabulary. In Simoneau’s landscape, classical is not a euphemism for formal or staid. Her movement is alive, dynamic and sensual, and particular. Accordingly, her cast reflects these same values. Be it Marielis’ harnessed focus, Carlo’s concentrated lightness, Donovan’s soaring vulnerability, Gianna’s fluid openness, or Claire’s powered serenity, there is a sense that only through their commonality and differences can an optimal performance be achieved. In some ways, DARLING functions as a manifesto of sorts for the Helen Simoneau Danse aesthetic: Valuing impact over impulse, Simoneau has a true commitment to craft, shown so clearly in the attention to architecture and subtlety. This work is purposeful and considered.
DARLING is a patient, but not passive, work. I invite you to consider this as you view tonight’s performance. Allow the manner in which the piece builds tension to affect you. Consider the metaphors inherent in the spatial and dynamic relationships. Interrogate the role of language on empowerment. Above all, I encourage you to engage with DARLING through time, space, and your relationship to both. It is a work meant to affect your senses and sense of self.
COLLABORATORS
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Quinn Czejkowski
(they/them)
Costume Engineer
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David Ferri
(he/him)
Lighting Designer
-
Melanie George
(she/her)
Dramaturg
-
Mary Kouyoumdjian
(she/her)
Composer
THE MAKING OF
Listen to Mary describe her creative process:
“There's a strong focus on intimacy and agency and the tension in between. The nature of the violin itself is to create tension between the bow and strings, the gliding of notes or the grit of the contact of the bow. This is all friction and release. And I really enjoyed thinking about how that tension could translate through the choreographer's choice of physical contact, the power dynamics, and on subtle gestures like touch and eye contact.”
– Mary Kouyoumdjian, Composer
PRESS
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
This project was made possible, in part, by: The James G. Hanes Memorial Fund; The N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources; Creative Arts Initiative at University at Buffalo; The University of North Carolina School of the Arts; New Music USA; NYU Tisch School of the Arts; O’Donnell Green Music and Dance Foundation; annual program support and/or endowment gifts from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust; Baisley Powell Elebash Fund; and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
CREDITS
Photos: Peter Mueller, Kate Enman, Ollie Young
Understudies: Gregory Hamilton, Sean Lammer, and Savannah Spratt
Alternate cast member: Kayla Farrish
Additional Contributions by Dominica Greene, Burr Johnson, Catie Leasca, Ana Maria Lucacio, Bianca Melidor, Troy Ogilvie, and Moscelyne ParkeHarrison