A few days ago, I found out, somehow weeks after the fact, that Gretchen Reynolds died about four months ago. I felt crushed and surprised, just as I had a year or so ago hearing of Paul, her husband’s passing. There are some words writings by friends of hers, Alexandra Karl, in 15Bytes. Alexandra’s article remembers the short-lived but charged work she and Gretchen did with co-conspirator Kristina Lenzi at DUNCE, an experimentalist space they created for a couple of years in the basement of Rockwood Art studio. I presented a solo there called Inventory, and I’ve rarely felt more at home in a space and in an audience.

Gretchen had a great respect for dancers and time-based artists of all kinds, and a radiant energy that improved works she collaborated on or just watched. At loveDANCEmore, we often talk fondly of the performance Gretchen made in our 2013 show Arrivals and Departures, which was mostly a gallery of dance films and videos. Set to Elvis, this brilliant puppet installation (I don’t know how else to describe it) involved three nearly nude men, including her husband, and a rotating stage. I think it’s maybe the piece Ashley and I might be most proud of presenting over the last fifteen years. If anyone has a video of it, I would love to set up a screening.

I will miss Gretchen immeasurably. While I don’t have a video of her work from Arrivals and Departures, Laura Durham from PBS Utah posted this lovely little film about Gretchen and her collaboration with choreographer Molly Heller on the 15Bytes instagram post announcing Gretchen’s death. As with the short thing I wrote about Paul below, feel free to email me at sam@lovedancemore.org if you’d like to add to this remembrance.

Samuel Hanson is the executive director of loveDANCEmore.