Gotta move: projectALCHEMY Momentum Showcase is back
Choreographer Alexander Jones and his projectALCHEMY company begin the fall-to-spring season this weekend with a pair of performances at a new (for them) venue: Savant on Second, the 5,500-square-foot event space at 634 2nd Avenue S. in St. Petersburg.
The Friday and Saturday (7:30 p.m.) performances constitute the 6th annual projectALCHEMY Momentum Choreographers Showcase, with new works from four dancer/choreographers who've been mentored by Jones over the past five months as part of the Momentum outreach program.
They are Alyssa Braud, Rya DeMulder, Nicolás Andrés Rodríguez Cruz and Olivia Schmiedeke.
"We talk about life, and we talk about how that influences what they're making because nine times out of 10 – 10 times out of 10 – it influences your dance-making in some way," explained Jones, one of the area's most innovative and expressive dancer/choreographers, with a long list of professional mentors. He recently earned a Masters in Dance from Hollins University.
"They present a proposal that they work on for the next five months. And I tell them 'This proposal is going to change by the time you get to the end.' And by the end, you're still finding, you're still editing, you're still figuring out things because you're in a non-traditional space."
And that, Jones added, "is huge, because the different space is going to ask for different things from your art. There are walls in the way that normally wouldn't be there! Even choreographers that work in a traditional proscenium setting, there's always that last-moment thing that comes up for each creative.
"So that's kind of the nature of this outreach program. What you're seeing is a combination of five months of conversation, working, re-working, scrapping ... some people had to change things because they were injured.
"So there are some projects, for some people that have changed within the last month. Or within the last week! Changed completely from what they originally thought."
The projectALCHEMY season continues with , Nov. 21 and 22 at Savant with new works from company members Heidi Brewer, Emily Curry, Kirsten Standridge, Sam Kedziora and Talia Demps; next is Room and Letters, a dance/theater collaboration with Bob Devin Jones, March 27-29 at The
St. Petersburg's dance community is small, particularly in comparison with the art, music and theater worlds. Established in 2018, projectALCHEMY is the city's sole regular and recurring practitioner of modern dance.
At the heart of every new season, Jones said, is Momentum, which shows him what promising new choreographers are made of. "I really want to hear from a diverse population of people, and also from a diverse population of movers."
That can and does include movement set to art, music, video or film, movement that's incorporated into something other than simple (or complex) body movement.
"I always encourage the artists to make the piece for you, about you," he explained. "A lot of the dancers that come through are coming out of academia, where you spend so much time making for the teacher. Because you're making for the grade. You're making for validation.
"And now it's time for you to figure out what you want to make. What you're making for yourselves.
"The biggest thing out of Momentum, for me, is that it's me giving back and me helping, guiding, being a springboard for dancers to find their voice. That's huge."
