This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Choreographer Ann Carlson, whose 75-minute piece "Elizabeth, the dance" being performed by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company this weekend, is known for her task-oriented creative process exploring concepts of humanity. She often creates work with nondancers, sometimes animals, including a full-length outdoor performance with aspects of competitive sheep herding. Carlson's recent residencies at Stanford and UCLA yielded "The Symphonic Body," an orchestra composed of gestural portraits based on the motions of the participants' workday.

Yet Ririe-Woodbury commissioned Carlson to create a dance on trained dancers who don't end up dancing. Her task-oriented process is purposeful and tries to get at the fact that these performers are human. It could be that the dancers just don't own the material yet, but it didn't feel honest or the tone was not resonant. The only exception was the authentic performance by Alexandra Jane Bradshaw, who is retiring from the company at the end of the season.

Titles set expectations, and from "Elizabeth, the dance" we really do expect a human story — not a literal narrative, although there are many literal references throughout the work, but a narrative arc to make sense of all the bits and pieces. In general, the images were very sad: sad clowns, people collapsing, ballerina smashing herself on the floor, and other excessive characters.

The clown bit was a moment of witty irony as the costumes became the changing element while the single movement phrase was repeated. There were many great isolated ideas, even if they were butted up against each other disjointedly. But the theatrical elements were not particularly successful, either. The repeated building and breaking down of the giant, Styrofoam, puzzle-piece wall became mundane. It could be that all the stopping and restarting of ideas within the dance was meant to make the audience feel as if we too were running into a metaphorical wall.

A highlight of the performance was a personal story by dancer Bashaun Williams, accompanied by his skillful dribbling of a basketball. He clearly has a relationship with the ball, something athletes develop over years of practice. I've watched Williams onstage as a dancer since he joined RW, but my knowledge of him as a human immediately deepened.

The program notes offer a lot of information about Carlson's reasons for creating the piece, a list of nine things she pays homage to. It seems that any one of those would be enough to focus on. Carlson, like all choreographers, wants us to respond, but without some structure it's hard to know what to respond to.

The sound score included a verbal checklist from dance pioneer Doris Humphrey's "How to Make a Dance." I can't recall if it included Humphrey's most famous quote, "All dances are too long," but "Elizabeth, the dance" could use some editing and reshaping.

Given Carlson's reputation and past work, I think it's fair to assume that this performance was only the first phase of her refining process for "Elizabeth, the dance." —

Ririe-Woodbury's 'Spring Season'

Ann Carlson's performance piece "Elizabeth, the dance" is more performance than dance, juxtaposing Carlson's personal and dance history. The piece presents a lot of interesting ideas, but lacks a narrative arc.

When •Reviewed Thursday, April 13; repeats Friday and Saturday, April 14-15, at 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday

Where • Leona Wagner Black Box at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $15-$35, $5 more day of show; Art Tix outlets and artsaltlake.org

Run time • 75 minutes (plus post-performance popcorn party onstage); no intermission

More information • artsaltlake.org/production/spring-season-3/ Cultural exchange honor

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company has been chosen by the U.S. Department of State and Brooklyn Academy of Music for the 2018 Dance Motion USA cultural exchange program. RW will tour to South Korea and Mongolia, providing workshops and outreach events, leading master classes for local dancers, participating in collaborative creative sessions with local artists, and offering public performances and artist discussions.

RW executive director Jena Woodbury said the "most exciting part is that the tour is not performance-based but is about community engagement through dance." Companies are limited to one suitcase to carry props and costumes and should be ready to perform anywhere, "sometimes even on dirt stages without lighting or sets," Woodbury said.

The tour is by invitation based on a company's reputation, chosen by a confidential panel of dance professionals. Launched in 2010, the program has engaged more than 125,000 people in 49 countries (and an additional 40 million people through digital platforms and social media) and offered more than 700 workshops.

Salt Lake's 53 year-old modern-dance company is one of only three troupes chosen this year to represent the "best contemporary American dance abroad." Also part of the 2018 exchange are Bebe Miller, traveling to Columbia and Peru; and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, to Kazakhstan and Russia.

BAM works with U.S. embassies to establish partnerships with leading cultural, social service and community organizations and educational institutions to create residencies that encourage cultural sharing and engagement.

According to its website, DanceMotion USA also promotes and fosters international dialogue about the arts with administrators and technical theater professionals. Through roundtable discussions and training workshops, program participants share best practices and offer ideas based on each specific country's situation — considering factors of environment, funding, education and resources — and in the process establish a network of global colleagues.

Kathy Adams