PREMIERED AT COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA (2016)
Excerpts of Six Suites were shown at The Garage (2012, 2013), Dance Mission Theater (2013), The MilkBar (2014), and Mills College (2014)
MUSIC:
Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach
Suite No. 1 in G major
Choreography and performance: Amy Lewis
Music performance: Jim Kassis
Costume: Melissa Castaneda
Suite No. 2 in D minor
Choreography and performance: Sonsherée Giles
Music performance: Eli Wise
Costume design: Sonsherée Giles
Suite No. 3 in C major
Dance: Shinichi Iova-Koga
Music: Suki O’Kane
Costumes: Shinichi Iova-Koga
Props: Suki O’Kane
Suite No. 4 in Eb major
Choreography, performance, and costumes: Janet Collard
Sarabande: performance by Janet Collard and Shinichi Iova-Koga
Music performance: Alex Keitel
Suite No. 5 in C minor
Prélude: choreography and performance by Christy Funsch and Peiling Kao
Allemande: choreography and performance by Christy Funsch
Courante: choreography and performance by Peiling Kao
Sarabande: choreography by Christy Funsch; performance by Peiling Kao
Gavotte: choreography by Peiling Kao; performance by Christy Funsch
Gigue: choreography and performance by Christy Funsch and Peiling Kao
Music performance: Crystal Pascucci
Suite No. 6 in D major
Prélude: choreography and performance by Shinichi Iova-Koga
Allemande: choreography by Amy Lewis in collaboration with Sebastian Grubb; performance by Sebastian Grubb
Courante: choreography and performance by Janet Collard and Sonsherée Giles
Sarabande: choreography and performance by Christy Funsch
Gavotte: choreography and performance by Peiling Kao
Gigue: improvisation from a score created by Sonsherée Giles; performance by Collard, Funsch, Giles, Iova-Koga, Kao, and Lewis.
Music performance: Katrina Wreede
ABOUT
Curated by Amy Lewis, Six Suites presented six unique dance works to Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach. The artists involved worked separately on their own individual suite with complete autonomy. Approach, choreography, instrumentation, and musician was chosen by each artist without input from Lewis. Six Suites rallied the Bay Area dance community around a specific subject, that is, the examination of choreographers’ continual fascination with Bach, and the possibility of relating contemporary interests to a codified, iconic, and much-loved score. Part of the goal of the project was to address Lewis’ interest in collective impact, in what happens when several artists tackle the same issue. Alternately, just as P.U.S.H.’s historical work asks the viewer to look at several different ways of living life, Six Suites asks the viewer to witness six different ways of working with Bach.
