GATHERING BONES

Gathering Bones | 2012

This epic performance event features a 52 minute dance piece created by Maya Soto with original music composition by Seattle composer Paurl Walsh, as well as an interactive gallery space where the audience is invited to step right into the creation of the work. Gathering Bones premiered in Seattle in May 2013 to sold out houses and rave reviews. Gathering Bones then toured to Portland as part of Pacific Dance Makers and Conduit Dance Inc.'s Dance+ Festival.

Gathering Bones is a movement collage exploring themes of internal personal power, feminism and femininity through dance, music and art. Soto dives into princess, warrior and queen archetypes through a variety of cultural histories and resources. This performance goes back in time, exploring stories and myths of powerful and wild women.

In Gathering Bones, the performers are both the damsels in distress and the heroes of the moment. Nine diverse, athletic, technically proficient, powerful dancers are constricted by giant fluffy dresses, balance tiaras perfectly poised on regal heads, and move through bursts of fierce locomotive movement. They are princesses. They are warriors. And in the end, they are both at the same time. They are poised and wild and tender and ferocious. Dark, earthy and feminine, they share a transformation story through the power of movement. This work providing an intimate up close and personal performance, transporting the audience into a world of myths and stories.

Choreography | Concept | Direction: Maya Soto

Original Sound Score: Paurl Walsh

Performers | Collaborators: Danica Bito, Teresa Hanawalt, Amy Johnson, Jana Kincl, Cristen Klaja, Erin McIntire, Uraina Nagy, Carla Negrete Martinez, Maya Soto