PRESS KIT // REPERTORY
Grass is Green (work-in-process) (2020)
Choreographed by Chuck Wilt
in collaboration with the performers
Performed by: Maximillion Canion, Kyle Filley, Babatunji Johnson, Dasol Kim, Rebecca Margolick, Courtney Mazeika, Jennifer Payán, Alisya Razman Adam, Chuck Wilt
Drag queen & live cellist: Rose Nylons
Full length: 60 minutes
Available in the round (preferred)
can be adapted for proscenium setting
About:
Grass is Green is an evening-length work for eight dancers and drag queen/live cellist, Rose Nylons. Grass is Green is inspired by cycles of rebirth both within humanity and the land we are a part of. The work reflects on moments of Queer history - including the AIDS epidemic of the 80s/90s - in conjunction with the ongoing destruction from wildfires throughout the world. These particular devastations are considered within Grass is Green in order to further understand what connects us to each other and the land we are a part of, as well as how to honor the continuous cylces of rebirth.
Grass is Green has been created with support as an Artist in Residence at the 92nd St. Y's Harkness Dance Center, as an Artist in Residence at Brooklyn College through the CUNY Dance Initiative and as an Artist in Residence at Berkeley Ballet Theatre. The work received additional support from Marta Miller's Certain Bird Residency in Vermont, KT Nelson's RoundAntennae Residency in San Francisco, LITVAKdance in San Diego, and more TBA.
Grass is Green (duet excerpt)
Past Showings of Excerpts:
May 11, 2019
Passport to Dance, Encinitas Community Center, CA
July 21 & 26, 2019
Fusion International Exhibitions, Kaga & Tokyo, Japan
March 7, 2020
LITVAK & UNA split-bill, Encinitas Library, CA
March 14, 2020
AIR Showing, Berkeley Ballet Theatre, CA
COLORING (beginning/ending with Melanie Charles)
Premiere:
March 8-9, 2019
ODC Theater, San Francisco
Past Performances:
October 4-5, 2019
Dig Dance Series at 92nd St. Y, NYC
November 10-17, 2019
Chutzpah! Festival, BC Islands and Vancouver
"The mood (of COLORING) is one of
radical vulnerability,” “Eloquent sincerity”
-DANCE ENTHUSIAST
COLORING (2019)
Length: 60 minutes
Choreographed by Chuck Wilt
in collaboration with the performers
Performed by: Maximillion Canion, Kyle Filley, Dasol Kim Rebecca Margolick, Jennifer Payán, Courtney Mazeika Alisya Razman Adam, and Chuck Wilt
Drag queen & live cellist: Rose Nylons
Live vocalist & flutist: Melanie Charles
About: COLORING is an evening-length work for seven dancers and one guest drag queen/live cellist. Inspired by themes of identity and unity, COLORING asks the question “What do we have in common?” and draws inspiration from personal narratives, interviews and bodies of artwork from LGBTQ people.
Motivated by a sense of urgency to find commonality at this time in history, the work includes research on the lives and work of queer people and is intended to bring awareness to commonalities of humans, regardless of identity or background. COLORING is structured as episodic dances, which become more colorful over time.
The premiere of COLORING was made possible in part by the Opportunity Fund at ODC Theater supported by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Created with support as a choreographic fellow for the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab, made possible by generous support from the Ford Foundation, created (in part) during the Tisch Summer Residency Festival at New York University, with support from KT Nelson's RoundAntennae Residencies and Marta Miller’s Certain Bird Residency. Wilt created COLORING, with additional support, while an Artist in Residence at the Launchpad through Dance Initiative (CO) and as an Artist in Residence at the 92nd St. Y’s Harkness Dance Center. Excerpts of COLORING have been performed for Movement Research at the Judson Church, The Spectrum Dance Festival (CO), Create : Art (NYC), and for 92nd St. Y's AIRS during APAP.
Deserts (2017)
Choreographed by Chuck Wilt
Performed by 5 company dancers & 6 guest dancers*
Length: 75 minutes (with intermission)
4 Dances: Atacama, Bronco, Cadet, and Fatima
Atacama: 11 minutes
Originally performed by Daniel Alwell, Kyle Filley, Rebecca Margolick, Jennifer Payán, Maximilion Canion*, Mitchell Christie*, Sarah Esser*, William Noling*, Holly Sass*, and Sherah Shipman*
Bronco: (two duets) 20 minutes
Originally performed by Kyle Filley & Chuck Wilt, Rebecca Margolick & Jennifer Payán
Cadet: 10 minutes
Originally performed by Chuck Wilt
Fatima: 30 minutes
Originally performed by Daniel Alwell, Kyle Filley, Rebecca Margolick, Jennifer Payán, and Chuck Wilt
Works can be performed individually or consecutively as an evening-length performance
World Premiere: July 14-15, 2017 Jack Crystal Theater, NYC
About:
Deserts is an evening of dances reflecting on human connection. The four works included in Deserts are chapters of a whole and were made within two years.
Atacama is an ensemble work: six guest performers alongside the company. The work was inspired by the Atacama desert, the driest in the world.
Bronco consists of two duets. Each journeys through the development of connection between two people while questioning masculinity and femininity.
Cadet is a solo performed by Wilt that was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe’s book ‘Polaroids’, and is an exercise for the self on acceptance. Cadet is considered an introduction to Fatima.
Fatima is a work for five dancers that is inspired by Paulo Coelho’s book 'The Alchemist.' The work invites the audience through scenes of play, peace, defeat and power.
"UNA’s Deserts is a unique mode of dance presentation...it reads as an EP, or a collection of essays – each segment at once complete and limitless in potential."
A GIRL (Restaged in 2018)
Length: 20 minutes
Choreographed by Roy Assaf
with Rehearsal Assistant Ariel Freedman
Solo performed by: Rebecca Margolick, Jennifer Payan and/or Chuck Wilt
Premiere: TBD
Soloists may perform consecutively for a 40-60 minute version
Available for proscenium
Can be adapted for gallery or museum settings
SELECT COMMISSIONS // FILM
Mural (2019)
Choreographed by Chuck Wilt
in collaboration with the dancers
Performed by the Alvin Ailey Fordham BFA Seniors (Class of 2020)
Commissioned by The Alvin Ailey School
Radiant (2019)
Choreographed by Chuck Wilt
in collaboration with the dancers
Performed by LITVAKdance Company (CA)
Commissioned by LITVAKdance
Ariel (2017)
UNA Productions
Dance Film
Official Selection of the 'Festival of Recorded Movement' in Vancouver
Directed and Edited by Chuck Wilt
Cinematography by Jake Saner
Featuring Ariel Freedman
Music by Mike Wall