An up close look at Pentacle’s Gallery artists Dorcas Román, Lorraine Chapman, and Tami Stronach.
Dorcas Román Dance Theatre © Victor Vic
Dorcas Román/Dorcas Román Dance Theatre
Dorcas Román, a trained actress and dancer, strives to present art as an essential part of society that creates real change and awareness. Incorporating contact improvisation, release technique, dance-theatre, Flamenco and Horton technique (as well as several other movement styles), the Dorcas Román Dance Theatre, based in LA, has traveled worldwide to reach diverse communities. Her work aims to generate discussion around issues such as politics, economics, sexuality, race, and social awareness.
The Dorcas Román Dance Theatre will perform Pushing at the opening night gala of the Southern Vermont Dance Festival on July 14th. Come to see performances at 4pm and stay for a meet and greet and delicious hor d’ouerves! For more information, visit HERE.
Lorraine Chapman The Company © Steve Wollkind
Lorraine Chapman/Lorraine Chapman The Company
Lorraine Chapman, artistic director of Lorraine Chapman The Company (LCTC), has been creating work since 2002. With each individual dance, she combines several artistic elements – dance, theater, visual arts – in order to explore the inquiry process of movement. Chapman is a firm believer in creating process-driven work that ultimately engages the audience as active participants rather than idle theater-goers. Stated on the LCTC website:
“As a choreographer, Lorraine explores the known elements of dance in significantly original and unexpected ways and comes to different, invented and idiosyncratic conclusions from other dancemakers. She is interested in the state of mind, heart, and spirit of ‘the performer’ … and here lies the connection to the source energy of each and every dance she creates.”
Whether driven by fear, joy, passion, or ambivalence, LCTC makes a clear choice to capture the dancer’s inner motivations and struggles, culminating in a unique and visceral performance for both the performers and audience. Recently, Chapman has become the resident dancemaker at Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH. In August, she will premiere a work for the Shaker Dance Revival Project in collaboration with David Parker as part of the inaugural Village Sunset Dance Performance, RELEASED. More information can be found HERE.
Tami Stronach Dance © Fiorenzo Borghi
Tami Stronach/Tami Stronach Dance
Creating dances based on the human condition can be a daunting task, but Tami Stronach weaves narratives through her idiosyncratic, and sometimes absurd, movement to capture our best and weirdest moments as people. “Wickedly observant” as praised by the New York Times, Stronach takes every bit of what makes us human – calling upon intellect, sensual intelligence, logic, and intuition – and works with her collaborators in a holistic fashion to bring audiences work that is funny, sad, touching, and accessible. Stronach’s latest project is a work commissioned by The Czech Center, which focuses on strengthening cultural ties between the US and the Czech Republic by presenting multi-cultural work that is educational and accessible. From their website:
“We at The Czech Center open our doors to all artists, young and seasoned, and dedicate our cultural institution and our creative spaces for you to have a foundation for your creative output. We seek to create a vibrant, progressive, international atmosphere for the propagation of social dialogue and artistic expression.”
This fall, you’ll be able to see Stronach’s work in New York, Washington DC, and abroad in Prague as part of The Czech Center’s Prague-New York Effects Festival. To learn more about this collaboration, visit HERE.