In preparation for covering their recent show, loveDANCEmore writer Arin Lynn sat down (over Zoom) with four of the artists who help comprise Cat + Fish, a local group that has been major player in the dance scene here in Salt Lake since 2014. Arin spoke with Cat Kamrath (artistic director, choreographer), Daniel Do (assistant director, choreographer and founding company member), Mar Undag (choreographer and project co-director for Fragments), and Emma Sargent (company dancer since 2018). This conversation has been edited for clarity.
Arin Lynn: What were your inspirations for the dances you just premiered?
Cat Kamrath: Gathering I looks at how we emerge from the pandemic (whatever that means now…) with a new embodied sense of self and how this knowing comes back into relationship with another. Phrase work was created based on dancer + choreographer descriptions of the sense + stretch of skin, what it means to meet + match, and relationship to self, others, + environment. Approaching this as a work in progress allowed for there to be more focus on workshopping and coming back to our dancing bodies.
Daniel Do: In this piece, my dancers and I explored emotions/feelings that arose inside of the pandemic with various directives and improvisational tasks and scores.
Mar Undag: For this piece, I was just so excited to be in a live process with other humans again. I had an idea of what I wanted to create but I wanted to keep a sense of play and have the artists approach the process like a study so that it feels like it is every evolving and changing regardless of there being any ‘set’ things or not. I didn’t want to ascribe meaning to any of the movement/phrases, but instead for each of us to have our own relationship and understanding of the material we created.
Arin: What is it like being back in the studio and navigating partnering after so long living in contactless or minimal contact dance?
Cat: I started teaching back in the studio in September 2020, but I hadn’t created collaboratively since our last Cat + Fish project in 2019. Creating this work took more time than in the past. There was definitely longer processing to create, longer settling of the choreography in the body, and lots of workshopping of the partnering moments. I tried to prioritize conversation and listening in my process so my dancers could feel safe and supported as we created.
Emma Sargent: If I am being completely honest, I felt a lot of apprehension about returning to a physical partnering practice after more than a year of distanced-only dancing. There is an undeniable vulnerability in sharing our corporeal selves, in all of their messiness, with others. My newfound nervousness was particularly frustrating because partnering has always been one of my favorite modes of dance-making. I felt very valued and held by the company during the process of re-learning how to touch and be touched. There were many awkward moments – when I stumbled trying to lift someone; when I realized that I was tensing my body whenever someone entered my “bubble;” when I hesitated before placing a hand on a friend’s shoulder… I am filled with gratitude for Cat and other members of the company who set an example of how to engage with touch thoughtfully by communicating clear boundaries.
Arin: Fragments was a works in progress showcase, how do you (the choreographer/s) envision these dances evolving in the future?
Cat: Our hope is to bring these works back in 2022 with some more rehearsal time, editing, and creating. I think our dancers would also like to come back to their bodies a bit more and develop clarity in the movement and partnering more. In past Cat + Fish Dances performances, we have quickly created work and then moved on to the next. We are looking forward to spending extended time investigating this work. I am currently feeling that Gathering I should be a quartet instead of a trio so that is my next place of exploration. We have no confirmed timeline yet (hopefully coming soon!), but we do want to revisit these three works again and perhaps present some others.
We don’t have our next project scheduled, but we will make sure to post about it as soon as we do. Audiences can find us on Facebook and Instagram at @catandfishdances. Our website will be going through a re-design so stay tuned for that reveal.
Arin Lynn is a movement artist, multimedia artist, and hoosier based in Salt Lake City. They have recently had the pleasure of working with local organizations such as Finch Lane Flash Projects, 12 Minutes Max, and Queer Spectra Arts Festival. Outside of art, Arin enjoys fried food and collecting vinyls.