Interview with Nathan Trice of nathantrice / RITUALS

Nathan Trice is filling our studios in the afternoon this week. He and his company nathantrice / RITUALS are here giving all that they have got and hoping that workshop participants do the same. Following rehearsal this Wednesday, Trice spoke with me about his thoughts about his identity as a human being, his company's performance this weekend, and a possible 'made for TV' show.

Peridance Capezio Center How's your workshop going?

Nathan Trice It's good. Class was great. The students seem hungry, so I'm happy about that.

P.C.C. What are you focusing on for this workshop?

N.T. I just want them to feel good and breathe. I want them to find a deeper alignment between matter and breath, and of course have a good time with it, to just relax. My job is to break (the tension) down.

P.C.C. Describe your signature move

N.T. Undulating and rippling arms

P.C.C. Who do you admire as a dance artist in New York?

N.T. Ryoji Sasamoto. He's one of my dancers. 

P.C.C. Why?

N.T. He is a bit surreal. His relationship with space is surreal.

P.C.C. What does that look like?

N.T. He looks like his is constantly dissolving and forming in space.

P.C.C. When do we get to see him (and the rest of your company) next?

N.T. We have a performance this Friday, August 10th, at this space called FreeCandy.  

This is going to be our third episode at this space. The episodes are part of a project called Strange Love, which is about courtship, intimacy and love, and how four couples deal with those things.

P.C.C. Can you explain more about the project?

N.T. I've been working on Strange Love about 4 years now. We created an episodic performance series which we perform once a month at FreeCandy. I wanted to do something different, rather than just have a performance one weekend and then just be done with it.

P.C.C. What is the thing you define yourself as first.

N.T. I am an organism in constant process, In constant expiration. I'm always exploring the process of how things are happening. 

P.C.C. What was your first job in new york?

N.T. I was working for these two Italians who rented out an apartment building and ran a delivery service out of it. I thought it was quite entertaining. 

P.C.C. And how did you transition to becoming a dancer?

N.T. Well first, the restaurant moved into kiosks in Bryant Park. And then I auditioned for (the dance company) Momix.

P.C.C. What was your worst audition experience? 

N.T. It wasn't really 'the worst,' but it was a scholarship audition for the (Alvin) Ailey program. My intention at that time wasn't to go to Ailey. I auditioned as moral support for a friend. I was standing next to Matthew Rushing, a principal dancer at Ailey, and he had had 10 years training, and I had just been training for a year and a half, so it was embarrassing, But I didn't care. I just got up and did it for the heck of it. And I ended up getting the scholarship.

P.C.C. Any other notable audition experiences?

N.T. I didn't audition a lot. I waited until I was confident in myself. I knew that auditions would make me really insecure, so I said 'let me wait until I feel really in my body.' 

P.C.C. And at what age was that?

N.T. Oh, we’re getting into ages now.

P.C.C. Sorry... 

N.T. No, it's not a problem. I started dancing at age 24. I was in the Navy at the time and when I started (dancing) I had two more years in the military.

P.C.C. That sounds like a 'made for TV movie'

N.T. You know, Debbie Allen wanted to make a television series about it. But, no.....

P.C.C. Have you ever said there was something you would never do as a choreographer?

N.T. There's not much I wouldn't do, except make something that was empty of substance. 

P.C.C. If you make a piece and you're satisfied with it, is that enough?

N.T. No. If I make it public, and I'm satisfied with it and that's it, that's self-absorbed. There's no consideration for other humans. We have to spend time on audience cultivation. It is (the choreographer's) responsibility to touch your audience with what you have to say. 

Find out more about nathantrice / RITUALS' upcoming performance here

and Peridance Capezio Center has MORE amazing workshops throughout the year. Learn about them on our website!

What do you want to ask Nathan Trice?

Exciting news! I will be interviewing Nathan Trice this week, and I want to know what questions you have for him!

Nathan Trice's workshop, August 6th to August 10th, promises to be an amazing opportunity for Peridance students. A New York based dancer/choreographer Mr. Trice has trained at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and with Aulani Chun in San Diego. Read more of his bio here.

Post your questions on the Peridance Capezio Center page and view his answers later in the week on this blog!

Class with Sean Curran

Sean Curran used to have to remind himself that dancing was meant to be a joyful experience. "I used to tell the dancers to point their toes!" Curran said in the middle of his weeklong workshop at Peridance Capezio Center yesterday. Now, he says, "I just tell them to smile." With this said, Curran beams with the giddy grin of the Cheshire Cat. The class responds with wide smiles of their own. In four days, Curran has obviously built a rapport and healthily silly relationship with his students. The class is eager to approach dance according to his requests, which include smiling, yawning like you just woke up, and laughing on command. This last task revealed the trust that Curran fosters in his classes. I was taking the workshop for the first time yesterday, and found that laughter was stuck somewhere inside my chest when he asked us to laugh. It wasn't going to happen. I was so caught up in my own judgements of myself that this simple task- one that probably is enjoyable to the participants- would not come naturally to me. I write this not to chastise myself, but rather to explain the true enjoyment that the students seemed to experience at Peridance this week. They were smiling and laughing heartily. And, possibly because their contentment spread all the way to the last tips of the hands and feet, they were pointing their toes, too.

Hello from the new Peridance Blogger

Well, 2 weeks in to working at Peridance Capezio Center, I think that now might be the appropriate time to introduce myself. My name is Sofia Strempek and I am new on staff at Peridance. I'm going to be taking over the blog, updating it as much as possible with anything and everything exciting happening at Peridance!

I've written for my college newspaper's Arts Section, am published in Salt Lake City's dance journal loveDANCEmore and kind of love everything about dance (Saba's intro Modern class outside the office is making me smile so much right now! Those students are so amazing to watch move so bravely and with such emotion, when they have hardly ever danced before!). I majored in Modern Dance at the University of Utah, moved to New York the day after, and 2 months later I'm here. And I'm sooo excited to be working at Peridance.

I want this blog to be as interactive as possible. I want you to let me know what you want to know about. I want you to tell me what's working, what's not working. This blog is for YOU! You want me to interview someone? Research something for you? I'm in. Let me know. You can always email me at peridanceny@gmail.com

Let's make this fun. First up- taking Sean Curran's amazing workshop. Look for some words on that experience later this week.

Peridance Contemporary Dance Company in Union Square

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“It’s hot,” is the first thing out of Kentaro Kikuchi’s mouth once he has finished performing for Union Square’s Summer in the Square event. This is stating the obvious – the stage is burning to the touch and sweat coats performers and audience alike – but it cannot not be left unsaid. It is really, really, hot. But the show goes on.

  

Peridance Contemporary Dance Company performed work by Kristin Sudeikis, Sidra Bell and Igal Perry last night for the audience gathered in Union Square.  Judging from the quickly growing number passerby who stopped to watch, the contemporary company appeals to a wide array of people.

“The last show was really well received,” says Union in the Square event worker Jennifer Terry of PCDC's previous performance in Union Square on July 12th. “People were asking when Peridance was coming back” she says.

The show begins with Kristin Sudeikis’ I am you. Madison McPhail is onstage alone, but the whole company is already performing as they stand to the side of the stage, their focus on Madison. Throughout the 40 minute show the dancers are present whether onstage or not, and their commitment to one other is evident; Kentaro and Midori Nonaka are in perfect unison in Sidra Bell's The Ungathered.  Nikki Holck and Kentaro partner with a solid trust that results in swirling turns and lifts. Leigh Lijoi and Zach Thomas exchange private glances in Igal Perry’s El Amor Brujo and the audience gets to feel like they are a part of the duet.

The sweat flies off of the dancers bodies like projectiles now. It’s not getting any cooler and the sun isn’t setting fast enough. But if the PCDC dancers are getting tired, it doesn’t show. And the audience just keeps growing.

Sidra Bell’s The Ungathered is all reaches and balances, a dance that yearns to extend beyond the physical limits. But those limits that the dancers do reach are extreme and exciting. Timothy Emmett Lee Ward balances in posse for so long, it is like he does not believe in falling. Developpe’s a la seconde seem to aim for the sky. The strength necessary for such movement is countered by the graceful, performances of PCDC.

The dancers are naturally emotive, and they shift quickly between choreography that is hard and fast or slow, almost animalistic. Like yesterday’s rapidly changing weather (some later events had to be cancelled due to incoming storms) Peridance Contemporary Dance Company is able to perform highly dynamic work.