At MANCC, Barnes examined the way in which she uses context to create meaning in her work by re-defining the collaborative nature of her relationship with dramaturg and designer Kelly Hanson. In the past, this type of collaboration was typically defined by the parameters of a new work, and limited by the time frame and number of hours inside a theater prior to premiere. Due to the nature of the choreographic fellowship residency, Barnes and Hanson were able to work collaboratively from the beginning on the research and development of Suddenly Summer Somewhere, engaging community throughout the process. Barnes extended invitations, and as a result, engaged with our community through showing three versions of staging, lighting, costuming, design, and musical options for the new duet, well in advance of the premiere in 2007 at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church. Collaborators included dramaturg and designer Kelly Hanson and dancer Anna Bass.
ARTIST OUTCOMES
By working with costume/set designer Kelly Hanson for a week, and dancer Anna Bass for three weeks, Monica was able to experiment with the utilization arrangement and practicalities of a large number of props, lent by the Tallahassee Little Theater. Other than having the time and resources to work with Kelly at the creation point of a piece, Monica also valued the opportunity to work in the same space (the black box), without having to strike her set after each rehearsal, recognizing the positive impact that had on her ability to deepen her movement and choreographic ideas. As a means to deepen her research content about age and longevity of relationships for Suddenly Summer Somewhere, Monica also spent time attending social dance events and classes with elderly Tallahassee community members at the Tallahassee Senior Center and The American Legion Hall.
Suddenly Summer Somewhere will premiere at Danspace Project at St. Marks Church in October of 2007.
COMMUNITY OUTCOMES
The FSU and Tallahassee communities were enriched by the opportunity to see Monica’s duet, Suddenly Summer Somewhere, in three stages of development at MANCC. The third stage of the presentation of her duet in progress was to the entire FSU Dance Department students, faculty and staff; four students were included as dancers in this particular showing. Dance majors from Dan Wagoner’s choreography class also spent an hour and a half in dialogue with Monica about life as an artist in NY, and developing/sustaining a successful choreographic life.
“The nostalgia and preciousness of the friendship between the two characters in the piece revealed themselves more and more throughout Monica’s residency. I think the success of that partly came by scrapping ideas that didn’t work, revealed by audience feedback at MANCC, and further exploring those that did.” Patty Phillips, Interim Co-Chair of the Department of Dance.
BIOGRAPHY
Monica Bill Barnes is a New York based choreographer whose work has
inspired the New York Times’ Jennifer Dunning to say, [hers is] “the kind of humor-not a snicker in sight-that is in woefully short supply in dance these days.” Barnes has created eleven evening-length dance works for her own company, Monica Bill Barnes & Company (MBB & CO.) ranging from a two woman vaudevillian traveling side show to an intergenerational dance extravaganza for fourteen performers. Her latest work commissioned and presented by Dixon Place, Hollywood Endings, had Barnes described by Deborah Jowitt of The Village Voice as “one of the wittiest young choreographers around--she can stir your heart as well as make you laugh.”
Barnes choreography has been produced in over twenty venues in New York City ranging from Joe’s Pub (Dancenow/NYC - DancemOpolitan) to Symphony Space (Dance Sampler) as well as Danspace Project/St. Mark's Church, Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop, Dixon Place, Dancenow/NYC/The Festival and Dancing in the Streets. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally by organizations including Jacob’s Pillow, The International Fabbrica for Choreographers (Florence, Italy), The Fourth International Dance and Movement Festival on the Volga (Yaroslav, Russia), Tanz Festival (Karlsruhe, Germany), Sushi Performance and Visual Art (San Diego, CA), DancePlace (Washington, D.C.), The Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Yard (Martha's Vineyard). She has been the invited Guest Artist at the North Carolina School of The Arts University, University of California, San Diego, University of California, Riverside, Vassar College, James Madison University, Shenandoah University and Dance New Amsterdam's Modern Guest Artist Series (1999 to present). In 2003, Lincoln Center Institute commissioned This ain’t no Rodeo! a two-woman show that has since been performed over one hundred times through the LCI Repertory Season 2003-2005.
Her latest site-specific dance, The Limelight Fountain Tour, which was described as "too much fun to miss" by Jack Anderson of The New York Times, is an outrageous dance event where community members perform in working public fountains. Originally commissioned by San Diego Dance Theater's Trolley Dances, The Limelight Fountain Tour has been performed in New York City's Bowling Green Fountain through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SITELINES Festival (July, 2005) and Philadelphia's Love Park through The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival (September, 2005). Through various site-specific projects and intergenerational large group works, Barnes has brought over seventy-five people to the stage and continues to create work that reflects everyday life with humor and poignancy.
COLLABORATORS
Kelly Hanson
Anna Bass
Kelly Hanson (dramaturge/designer)
In a variety of contexts ranging from theatre and opera to modern dance and installations, designer Kelly Hanson continually pushes the boundaries of her collaborative role. With Monica Bill Barnes, Kelly has helped to create over a dozen new works by designing environments and costumes as well as collaborating on the content and structure of the dances. She has also designed for choreographers Tami Stronach, Jean Isaacs, Heidi Miller and Joe Goode, in works that have been seen on both coasts and in Europe. In the theatre, Kelly has worked extensively with theatre legend Tony Walton as a co-designer, assistant director and assistant designer. Most recently, her work was seen as Mr. Walton’s associate designer for such projects as the national tour of The Boyfriend, directed by Julie Andrews, the Broadway production of Well, and currently, a new American Ballet Theatre production of The Sleeping Beauty to premiere in New York in fall of 2007. Kelly’s extensive design work for the theatre includes sets for King Stag directed by Andrei Belgrader (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Fatboy (SoHo Thinktank/Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2004), The Claiming Race (Theatre for the New City, NY), Frankie (Irish Arts Center, NY) and Antigone directed by Athol Fugard (Cork, Ireland.) Kelly was recently awarded the inaugural Rising Star Award by USITT and Entertainment Design Magazine, which featured her work in its March, 2005 issue. She earned her M.F.A. in Design from University of California, San Diego.
Anna Bass (dancer)
Bass was born and raised in Virginia and graduated from James Madison University with a BA in Dance. She flew the southern coop to move to New York and has since had the fulfilling pleasure of working with artists including Alexandra Beller, Christian Canciani, Donna Costello, Aviva Geismar, Shannon Hummel and Teri and Oliver Steele. She has been working with Monica Bill Barnes since 2004.
