Introduction
Kate Weare Company is based in New York, but Weare herself had a longtime identity as a “bi-coastal dancemaker.” She grew up in Oakland, California, and was drawn to movement. But she was dissatisfied by most dance forms she explored. Like Bay-area dancer Isadora Duncan before her, Weare found the trappings of ballet antithetical to expressivity. Weare discovered kung fu and its full-bodied corporeality. She received her BFA in Dance from CalArts and has presented dance regularly in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She moved to New York in 2000, and has been showing work at a variety of dance venues like Judson Church, The 92nd St Y and the former Joyce SoHo.
Dance and Music
Kate Weare Company presented the world premiere of Bridge of Sighs at Jacob’s Pillow in 2008. The company, making its Pillow debut, shared the evening with solo artist Maureen Fleming, also making her Pillow debut.
Weare commissioned the score for Bridge of Sighs from One Ring Zero. She wanted to work with them because she felt that their music would be a challenge to her. She says she thought it would challenge her, make her a little uncomfortable which would be great to push her own creative process. She thought the music’s light-hearted and ironic would balance her own “earnestness,” as she terms it.
The work was developed at the Pillow during a Creative Development Residency. Following a showing at that time, Weare explained that she was working “from inside the movement to try to get our experiences with the movement to inform me about its meaning.”
Interview with Weare and Collaborators
In an interview with Weare, One Ring Zero composer Michael Hearst, and lighting designer Brian Jones, the artists discussed the importance of collaboration for bringing the piece together for the premiere.
Choreographer Maureen Fleming shared the program with Weare. See an excerpt of her work below.
PUBLISHED March 2017