A Recomposition: I Don't Know and Never Will (2018)

A RECOMPOSITION: I Don’t Know and Never Will

Premiere: October 2018
Z Space, San Francisco

Last June I received a letter from someone who was a part of my life years ago, who touched me in a way few people have. It was in answer to a letter I’d written months before. His letter was not dramatic or emotional or personal. Still, reading it was a visceral experience; it took me back in time, it hit me in the heart. That letter was the genesis of A Recomposition. A Recomposition, a drastic restructuring of the ideas underlying I Don’t Know and Never Will, asks “How does each of us connect the past to the present? What does one hold onto?” The performers and the audience reach back and uncover stories, buried or forgotten. Ms. Fain tells her own story, through her words from today and letters from decades ago. She invites the audience to be a part of the performance by writing a note to someone they have lost touch with. Some of their notes, chosen at random, become a part of the performance. These personal stories are the backbone of A Recomposition.

The installation encompasses the audience, musicians and performers with wood, soil and branches. These elements represent the stuff of our lives, the roots of our selves, our history, the fullness of the soul. What we do with this stuff is at the heart of A Recomposition and our attempt to ask “What do we carry forwards with us?”

A Recomposition is a collaborative effort by all the artists. Our discussions, experiments and breakthroughs bring all of our voices into this work. The four dancers worked from seed movement phrases, ideas and prompts in building the highly physical, tightly crafted movement. The emotions and ideas in the text of the letters are the genesis for Jordan Glenn’s live percussion score.

Photos: Stephen Texeira