Watch the 2020 DanceVisions Resident Artist, Joe González, perform “The Wash.” Titled to convey multiple feelings: burnt-out exhaustion, brain washing, but also cleansing. Inspired by watching people’s behaviors and movement patterns at the height of the pandemic and observing their anxiety around their identities without their usual daily burdens. González asked himself, “Who are we outside of societal pressures and expectations? Do we even know what we like and what we need when left with only ourselves?” The ballet is an exploration of the societal “machine” before the global pandemic versus the push toward self-discovery that the lockdown has engaged us in.
To generate material for “The Wash”, the dancers culled gestures performed mindlessly in everyday routines, formulating them into movement phrases, and contrasting improvisational structures representing each dancers’ “authentic selves.”
Premiering fall 2021
Cinematography/visual: Les Rivera
Lighting: Stephen Petrilli
Dancers: Joe González |Courtney Epps |Naoko Brown |Mikaela Fenton | Amilia Colon-Nova | Ciera Thorne
Artistic Director and Artist in resident: Jeanne Ruddy
In affiliation with Jo-Mé Dance Theatre and Philadanco! (Philadelphia Dance Company)
This film was made possible by Performance Garage Dance Visions residency and a number of private funders and foundations.