May 22, 2011 | 8PM
$15 gen
Collage Pink is a colorful and exciting performance event featuring new work by Seattle choreographer Maya Soto and is performed by a cast of seven of Seattle’s most powerful dancers.
The Piece
Collage Pink is a dreamscape. It is a story, told in the abstract dream language of color, images and action. Possessing hints of a wonderland, Collage Pink is driven by the rich heavy beats and haunting melodies present in the eclectic sound score.
Choreography stems from the weighted momentum and full body movement modern dance has to offer. It also taps into a sense of bound energy, power and rhythm. The dancers work in a movement vocabulary that is a little bit of everything. Nothing is off limits here.
This piece combines elements from very different dance forms, creating a movement experience full of soul, breath, ferocity and power. The cast of Collage Pink leaves it all on the dance floor in this highly athletic playful dance offering.
Impressions
“Soto Style represents drama, athletics, determination and a strong spirit. The work is dynamic, engaging and ENTERTAINING.” – Marlo Martin (producer of The BOOST dance festival)
“Soto is of course a master of her own style, blending not only two different styles of dance but also finding ways to meld coquettish smiles with imposing attitude and aggression. The dance goes through several transformations in costume and style, as if building personality rather than stripping it away. One of the highlights is a great deal of fascinating partnered work, exploring themes of action and reaction, as well as having one dancer mirroring another only to throw in sharp contrasts when the symmetry is broken.” – Steve Ha (writer for seattledances.blogspot.com)
The Artists
Maya Soto has been creating, performing and teaching dance in Seattle since 1999. Over the years, she has performed with many local artists and companies including: LeGendre Performance Group, Big Red Dance Company, Amy O’Neal and Sandstrommovement. As a performer, Soto has been featured in performances such as Northwest New Works Festival, Bumbershoot, and Full Tilt.
Soto is co-director of NorthWest Dance Syndrome (NWDS), a collaborative modern dance company, choreographing and producing work in Seattle since 2003. Through her long standing collaborative work with NWDS, Soto has co-choreographed and produced three evening length dances: Americanism (2005), Red Tent (2006) and Junknation (2009). Nocturne, a dance film created collaboratively with NWDS and film director Tyson Theroux was featured in Next Dance Cinema (2007).
Soto’s choreography has been performed in theaters such as: On the Boards, The Merlino Arts Center, Erickson Theater, Velocity MainSpace Theater and The Firehouse Performing Arts Center. She holds a BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts and a Washington state teaching certificate. Soto joyfully teaches dance at Evergreen High School – Arts and Academics Academy.
Soto Style (created in 2010) serves as an avenue to pursue individual choreographic interests. Soto Style has been featured in festivals throughout Washington including The BOOST dance festival, Artopia sponsored by the Seattle Weekly and the BAM Artsfair. This new body of work stems from a growing curiosity about the relationship between street and social dance styles, break dancing and modern dance. Soto Style is a way to seek some common ground between a world of technique, abstract art and dance as a display of self confidence and personal identity. Drawing on elements of funk, rhythm, popping and a variety of dance styles, Soto brings together classical dance training and a sense of play and entertainment. This work is full body, physical and fast paced. Soto Style is about creating dances that blend and blur the style lines. This is contemporary dance rooted in rhythm, visceral images and the pursuit of kinetic power.
Performers: Gabriel Bruya, Karen Grady-Brown, Teresa Hanawalt, Amy Johnson, Anne Motl, Uraina Nagy and Maya Soto
Lighting Design: Gwen Maksym
