“Dance is a temporal art form,” said David Marchant. “Each movement captures the present moment while gesturing toward past and future.”
Marchant, a professor of practice in dance in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, is artistic director for “It’s Time,” the 2024 WashU Dance Theatre performance. The evening-length concert will explore the relationship between time and dance through six new and original works by faculty and guest choreographers.
The program, which takes place Dec. 6-8 in Edison Theatre, will open with Marchant’s “Waiting in the Darkness,” a new premiere for 16 dancers. “’Waiting’ is an attempt to describe the anticipation of change,” Marchant explained, “including whatever hopes or fears the waiting and wondering evokes.”
Next on the program will be “habit-at/us” by dancer and research scientist Elinor Harrison (AB ’01, PhD ’18). The piece is inspired by Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D-printed environment that NASA uses to test the effects of long-term space exploration, and by the work of French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu, whose conception of habitus emphasizes the social and collective ways that society assigns value.
In “The Scattered Chairs (A Palimpsest),” Associate Professor Joanna Dee Das revisits “The Green Table” (1932), a classic modernist ballet by German choreographer Kurt Jooss (1901-79). Having lived through World War I, and wary of Hitler’s rise, Jooss sought to highlight the futility, viciousness and absurdity of war. Das, with permission from the Jooss Estate, reimagines his masterwork for contemporary audiences.
Following intermission, the program will continue with “Hold on to times like this,” an exploration of memory and experience by MJ Imani. A St. Louis native, Imani trained at COCA and in 2017 served as its Katherine Dunham Pre-Professional Division Fellow. She founded her own company, 314 Movement Lab, in 2020.
“We apologize for the noise” is a video featuring Marchant’s dance improvisation students. Filmed in one continuous take amidst the stacks of Olin Library, the performance grew from a shared set of movement parameters and ethical commitments. It could not be destructive. It could not disrupt or distract nearby students. And any books handled must be returned to their original locations.
Concluding the concert will be “World of Another” by Stephanie Martinez, the dance program’s 2024 Marcus Guest Artist in Residence. Founder of the Chicago-based PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Martinez has choreographed dozens of works for the Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispánico and other top companies. “World of Another,” which debuted at Ohio Contemporary Ballet in 2021, examines the concept of othering — the ways we create invisible divides between “us” and “them” — and its impact on our collective humanity.
“By exposing the unseen stories that shape our interactions,” Martinez explained, “’World of Another’ urges us to recognize the shared humanity in those we might otherwise dismiss.”
Tickets and performances
Performances of “It’s Time” begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8. Performances take place in Edison Theatre, located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6465 Forsyth Blvd.
Tickets are $20, or $15 for seniors, students and WashU faculty and staff, and free for WashU students. Tickets are available through the Edison Theatre Box Office. For more information, call 314-935-6543 or visit pad.wustl.edu.
