When somebody calls from home—home being Denmark, in this case—and asks if you’d collaborate on a dance/multimedia project pertaining to gravity, it’s hard to say no, no matter how obtuse the subject matter initially might sound. When the person calling happens to be Jens Horsving, one of the most prolific and wellrespected composers working in contemporary Scandinavia, it’s nearly impossible to say no.
“For me,” says Denmark native and Ririe- Woodbury Dance Co. choreographer Charlotte Boye-Christensen, “gravity is just inherent, a force that we don’t really think about, something we just deal with. Then I thought about the push and the pull. Being pulled to the Earth. Falling and dropping. Resisting. Actions. Relationships. Then I realized the depth and seriousness that is there with gravity, especially when I took it away from a purely physical place.”
Perhaps that was precisely where Horsving was expecting Boye-Christensen to take the work. In the same vein, he also enlisted renowned Copenhagen-based music ensemble FIGURA to help him flesh out the idea. In fact, thanks to the Danish government stepping in when funding for the project suddenly fell through, the band will be joining RWDC onstage in Salt Lake City for the work’s premiere.
“They are so wonderfully and incredibly creative and sophisticated musicians,” says Boye-Christensen. “There is such an ease on how they approach things—very experimental. They are such dynamic performers, and to have them onstage—to have that energy and exchange between dancers and musicians— makes everything exciting, raw and immediate.”
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company: Gravity @ Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, 801-355-ARTS, Dec. 17-19, 7:30 p.m., RirieWoodbury.com
