Tracie Stanfield, artistic director and choreographer for the New York City-based Synthesis Dance company, isn’t really interested in whether audience members “get” the meaning of a specific dance number.
Stanfield would rather have viewers experience some kind of emotional connection or reaction to the pieces she choreographs, and that’s what she hopes Synthesis Dance’s May 3 show will provoke in Haines audience members.
Synthesis Dance will take the Chilkat Center stage 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. The show is sponsored by the Haines Arts Council.
The performance will mark the first use of a new portable dance floor secured by the Foundation for the Chilkat Center for the Arts as part of its “Lights, Sound, Action!” upgrades project.
Stanfield launched Synthesis Dance in New York City in 2002. The all-female contemporary jazz company will bring six dancers to Haines.
The show will balance light, accessible, fun jazz pieces with high art contemporary work as well, she said.
“I’m really interested in bridging the gap between art and entertainment,” Stanfield said. “I want people to leave maybe having made an emotional connection to the work, but also having had a good time.”
Dances range from a modern piece depicting dancers who construct dolls that come alive, to a jazz piece set to a Radiohead remix.
The Huffington Post UK said of Synthesis Dance: “(The group) thrilled and mesmerized with their versatility, their musicality, their masterful fusion of classical and contemporary forms and their combination of integrity and intellectual rigor on the one hand – or foot – and sharp instinct for entertaining on the other. Their work is fresh, diverse and brilliantly put together.”
Synthesis Dance will also hold a school performance and short workshop at the Haines School on Monday, May 2.