Authenticity Project was a collaboration between myself, artist/sculptor Alicia Renadette and young dancers of the Williston Northampton School. Authenticity Project made its debut as part of Please Wear Appropriate Attire in the Eastworks building on October 16-18, 2015.
Using clothing and accessories as a metaphor for how we perform identities, dancers were asked to describe moments of compromised authenticity. Alicia Renadette responded to the unfolding process with full costumes for six dancers as well as three fantastical headdresses that reflected female archetypes: “trophy wife,” “ballerina/warrior superhero,” and “working woman/cheerleader.” These became characters in the opening Doll Box, in which dancers performed two-dimentional movements in odd, futuristic recesses that were originally built to display home products marketed towards women.
Runway, which followed, included a light show, a fog machine, and electronic music by Tony Silva. These dancers-turned-models looked back at their spectators as personal and group narratives unfolded. The following sections, Dollhouse and Medicine, choreographed by Gabbrielle Record and Calvin Ticknor-Swanson earlier in the year, were repurposed for this new context.
Performers: Abby Berry, Makenna Hambley, Haruka Ikemoto, Nancy Kang, Destiny Nwafor, Kassandra Orcutt, Gabrielle Reccord.
Photos by Tracey Eller.
