By Mandy Fang | Special to the NB Indy
Dance has a home on theater stages, in dance studios, at social functions, and now in museums alongside physical paintings.
Newport Beach resident Jennifer Backhaus, founder of Backhausdance Company, has pursued unconventional venues for showcasing their repertory over the years. Most recently, the award-winning dance company worked with Casa Romantica in San Clemente and Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar. This month, they are collaborating with the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) in Santa Ana.
This Co-Lab Residency will merge Backhaus’ contemporary dance with Brennan Roach’s contemporary art. Roach’s paintings often include human elements in unconventional settings while incorporating surrealist features in a style he has coined as “Visual Morphology.”
“We are going to figure out a way to translate some of these ideas into movement and then structure a piece that takes place in the museum space—more like a gallery that somehow is reflecting what you are seeing in the art work like bringing part of it alive; the emotional content, the fantasy of it,” explained Backhaus. “We work together to see what we notice and how it resonates with us, and we will create something together.”
The residency is sponsored by a grant from the city of Santa Ana and will be free to the public. This project is coming together in the span of two weeks.
Audiences are invited to watch open rehearsals every Thursday, September 11 through 25, from 12 to 1 p.m. A workshop about how to make dance that is inspired by visual art will be hosted on Saturday, Sept. 20 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The residency will have its grand finale performance on Saturday, Sept. 27 from 2 to 3 p.m.
What makes this project so unique is the emphasis on collaboration: Art created interpreting other mediums of art, and choreography whose impetus is another artist’s work.
When it comes to their art, artists can be quite precious with others’ interactions and interpretations of it. However, both Roach and Backhaus are ecstatic at this opportunity:
“He just said, ‘Do whatever you want. Here is what I have, do something and I am excited to see what comes out.’ I love supporting and bringing awareness to other local artists,” said Backhaus.
In creating choreography, choreographers often rely on music and musicality for inspiration. Roach’s musical persona, Weird Roach, will dually inspire the movement. Not only is Roach’s visual art being showcased, but some of his rock-and-roll instrumental tracks as well in an atmospheric soundscape.
“One of my biggest pushes has been to program something where the company is partnering with other arts or cultural organizations in Orange County and making work outside of a traditional theater space—bringing dance outside of the theater so people can interact with it where people might not normally buy a ticket,” said Backhaus.
To RSVP for residency events and for more information, visit https://www.backhausdance.org/events/co-lab.
