The Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre, in its 24th season, presents an in-process performance of Dance on the Pond, on September 30, from 3-4pm, on the grounds of the private home of Janice Pickering in New Paltz, NY. This performance is in preparation for the company’s upcoming full-length dance, Habit Formed, featuring 10 dancers for the 2024 March premiere in New York City. The work examines the habits of humans; habits that engender both freedom and harm.
Staged specifically on the Pickering property for four men and three women, the dancers will scatter around the pond and over the landscape. The audience chooses from which vantage they view the dance. They can sit in place or move with the dancers. Solos, duets, and group sections will be performed. A duet could be one dancer on one side of the pond and one on the other. It takes a great deal of effort to perform out-of-doors. There is no sprung floor, the ground is uneven, and there are vagaries of sun, wind and rain. Typically, on a stage the Selwyn dancers dance barefoot, whereas outside they wear shoes which subtly accommodate the movement. Seeing dance apart from the traditional proscenium context and in a natural environment allows the audience to appreciate the up-close athleticism of the dancers, to notice their sweat and experience their exertion, notes Selwyn.
The germ of this idea started with Selwyn’s reading list that includes James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. The book covers, for instance: developing a stronger identity, believing in yourself and making tiny easy changes that deliver big results. “Habits,” states author Clear, “are the path through which we forge our sense of self. If you can change your habits, you can change your life.” Selwyn, a yoga teacher, brings her yoga practice to her choreography by recognizing, she says, “how we show up in the world by considering our actions, and our own accountability to our actions.”
In the studio, the company worked with gestures that are indicative of habits. These gestures are developed into full body movements or executed by one part of the body or the other, for instance, the leg or the arm. The gesture of climbing a ladder came up again and again, remarks Selwyn. The dancers imagined struggling to climb the ladder toward personal growth, toward the person they hope to become. They imagined climbing the ladder with small-spaced rungs resulting in slower progress to rungs so far apart that it’s impossible to attain goals.
Rob Dutiel, with Anna-Alisa Belous, are collaborating on scenic design. They are considering cages, netting, rocks, and a rope ladder that will be in relation to and manipulated by the dancers. Scenic elements become a metaphor for habits that show up in our lives. Belous, also the costume designer, has designed black pants below the knee and patterned dress shirts for the men. The women will wear halter dresses in complementary purples and blacks. “Against the green landscape the colors will pop,” Selwyn says.
Janice Pickering adds, “I love dance. For most of my adult life I have danced: contra dance, swing dance, cajun, zydeco. I attend performances locally and in NYC whenever I get the chance. For some time, I have had a vague dream of being involved in some way with a dance company, so when I heard that Ms. Selwyn was interested in having a performance outdoors in the country, this was my chance. I am particularly thrilled to be able to watch how dancers and choreographers create their work, especially how they weave the physical movements with the psychological concepts of Habit Formed. This is going to be an awesome performance!”
Catherine Tharin danced with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. She teaches dance studies and technique, is an independent dance and performance curator, choreographs, writes about dance for Side of Culture, and is a reviewer and editor for The Dance Enthusiast. She also writes for The Boston Globe. Catherine lives in Pine Plains, New York and New York City.
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