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For the cast and crew members who work on SB Dance shows, only one thing is for certain — nothing is for certain. They know the journey will never be a clearly depicted one — and that's exactly how they like it.

The company is preparing for "SNaked: The True Story of the Garden of Eden," which plays at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center downtown from Saturday through June 18. The piece is described by executive and artistic director of SB Dance, Stephen Brown, as: "The tale of original sin retold in SB Dance's signature style of movement, theater and object. Nudity and profanity, plus beauty, humor and a new creation from your favorite subversives."

SB Dance has presented an original piece every year in June since 1998. The work aims to surprise audiences with adventurous content, delivered with a dose of humor and athleticism.

"We make it ourselves, don't do work by others, and regularly collaborate with a deep bench of performers and designers," Brown, who created the show, said. "Consider this hyphenated vocabulary: non-stop, evening-length, fully-produced multi-media. It's complex territory. We're the only ones foolish enough to tackle it on a regular basis.

"Finally, we are lucky to play the role of trickster coyote in this community. We say it out loud, poke fun, walk around naked, and peek into the off-beat corners of humanity. Folks often ask if the purpose is to provoke. Well, being provocative IS fun. But the point is to make art that requires the audience to stretch their minds, to try to understand characters and situations that are beyond everyday life, that defy identification and that rock the [expletive] out of our comfortable lives."

Winnie Wood said her trajectory as director of the piece has been, at the very least, unusual. "It began in the way it always does when Stephen and I start a new work," she said. "We talk, he writes, we talk some more, he writes some more.

"He sends me scripts but I usually don't read them. He choreographs and I watch, delighted. Now and then I make a suggestion. The piece begins to take shape, the characters emerge, the story starts to make sense to us. "

Wood said the challenge for her is to be smart enough to make the piece play.

"I think our work often speaks," she said, to how people "really are: In all their glory and possibly naked, or angry or insane or whatever they might be and believe me, they have their reasons. In this piece we have skewered a belief system that has not always been kind to our brothers and sisters whose sexuality might be questioned by those who don't seem to understand sexuality at all. So I'm thinking the Family of Man who do understand it might get a kick out of this particular skewering."

The show features John Allen, Christine Hasegawa, Nathan Shaw, Annie Kent, Rick Santizo, Florian Alberge, Kim Campa and Natosha Washington.

Allen is at the end of his second year with SB Dance. He says the easiest part about being in "SNaked" is working within a cast that has an easy creative chemistry. "The majority of the time the work is made organically and without drudgery," Allen said.

He said his favorite parts of the show are moments that cause him to explore outside of his known and comfortable experience of performance. "For example: dancing with a wheelbarrow," he said. "Dancing on and interacting with a material that looks like dirt from the garden. Dancing in heavy boots. Navigating a set that can feel like a maze at times."

The challenges, he said, mostly have to do with the amount of curve balls that Brown throws at the cast to keep things interesting.

"Just when you start to feel comfortable with a section, he will add another layer of complexity to it," he said. "This does two things. It can obviously add more depth to the work. But it definitely keeps you present and engaged as a performer and gives the work a potently raw and energized feel."

Hasegawa, who has performed in about 15 SB Dance shows, said she felt compelled to dance with the company after seeing "Scampdance" in 1999.

"It was like nothing I had ever seen before," she said. "I was blown away by the intricate web of ideas that Stephen had woven together with movement, imagery and spoken word. So, I asked to be a part of his next work in 2000 and I have been hooked ever since.

"Stephen loves to push each dancer's physical and mental comfort zones. This can be difficult and it hasn't gotten any easier over the years that I have worked with SB Dance," she continued. "This is because every show is so completely different from the last. Every show has its own set of challenges and boundary pushing. But, what has changed is that I am more open to letting Stephen push and tease and coax me into new directions. "

And with "SNaked," she said, "I have to admit that I secretly like getting really, really dirty." —

Get "SNaked"

Original sin gets an SB Dance spin in Stephen Brown's newest original creation — "SNaked: The True Story of the Garden of Eden" — opening in conjunction with Utah Pride Festival. For mature audiences only.

When • Saturday, June 4, (Pride preview) and June 10, 11, 17 and 18, 8 p.m.

Where • Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $17.50-$22.50; 801-355-ARTS (2787) or artsaltlake.org; more information at http://www.sbdance.com