Sylvana Christopher
SylviDances creates and produces work with dancers, artists and musicians.
RAW Artists Bonanza!
Mathew Patrick Heggem, creator and founder of LeftSide Labs, without haste proposed a new work on SylviDances for his upcoming gig at RAW Artists at The Filmore Concert Stage October 24th 2019. Maggie and I jumped at the chance to line up a gig. This was our first performance since Maggie’s February hip replacement and Mathew seemed fired up and ready to create art!
We learned 2-3 key choreographic phrases which he expertly manipulated and then spaced the three of us let the attention of the viewer dance back and forth from one dancer to another (smartly reserving unison for climactic sections nearing the end). Mathew made costumes using his mother Monica Davis’s artwork which had bold colors and circles. We donned these homemade dresses with pink bob wigs, black gloves and lotta juuuushhhhq!
It was a welcome back to our bodies with new musically driven jazzy vocabulary danced on a fabulously elevated stage with chandeliers hanging above. We WERKED that catwalk with all our 1980’s housey underground New York flavored grit (Maggie and Mathew earned their actual chops living and dancing professionally in NYC while I was slogging it out here in DC). Mathew’s dance really suited the Artists event made for the showing and sharing RAW Art! I hope to participate in this event again next year!
Sylvana Christopher 