Choreographer Stephen Brown said his new production, SB Dance's "The Bucket," symbolizes his return to the basics.
"I'm going back to why I make dance," Brown said just before a rehearsal in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. "I'm a dancer, for better or worse, and here's what I have to work with. So, what do I make of it?"
Every June since 1997, Brown has produced an independent work that he hoped would expand and challenge the audience. This year's performance will adhere to that idea, but Brown said the one-hour work will not contain any spoken words, multi-media or strongly objectional material.
"It won't ask questions, like I've had my productions do in the past," he said. "It won't ask what is normal or who died or how do couples relate to each other. Instead, it will examine a little world. Kind of like how we study a snowglobe. We shake it up and watch the snow fall. In an absurd way, we are fascinated with the fact that we are holding a tiny world in our hands."
"The Bucket" is crafted to be what Brown calls "movement theater." But there are no clues in the title. " 'The Bucket' is only a title. The production's central focus is about three people — Adam, Eva and Eva — and what they have in common. It has nothing to do with a bucket, really."
Brown and former Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company members Liberty Valentine and Christine Hasegawa began working on "The Bucket" in August. "It was easier working with a small cast this time," Brown said. "We didn't have too many schedules to arrange and rearrange. And we were able to really work this production to the bone.
"Usually a dance company will work with something for maybe three weeks, but we had 10 months to get our act together, so to speak."
Still, 10 months is a long time for Brown and his dancers to change whatever it was they started doing. "We did run into a few things," Brown said. "In the time we had between creating the first movement to the last movement, we had forgotten what we had done. We open in a week and it's taken us three days to piece it all together."
However, Brown said this year's crew — set designer Mattson McFarland and lighting tech Stefanie Slade — made it easy for him to work. "There has been a huge amount of support that has helped this production along," he said. "Everyone is so dedicated. Yes, they should have been paid more, but we didn't have the fundings. However, everyone put in their all. This was truly a labor of love."
The music, Brown said, as he rubbed his hands together, will be a production highlight. "We're working with a duo called Bumcello, which will give the work a French feel. In addition, we will be using many classical favorites — the pieces that everyone knows. The music will nail people to this work."
If you go . . .
What: SB Dance's "The Bucket"
Where: Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 p.m. June 8; 8 p.m. June 13 and 14; 5 p.m. June 15
How much: $16
Phone: 355-2787 or 1-800-451-2787
Web:www.sbdance.com
E-mail: scott@desnews.com