Below are two impressions of Traverse, a dance film that graced the stage of the Rose Wagner Theater a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of the month….
As someone who grew up in Utah and has had the opportunity to explore its many landscapes, I was looking forward to seeing Traverse, a dance film that would feature beautiful locations from all around the state. What I didn’t expect was the nostalgic, soft invitation into a journey that happened six years ago and has continued to grow into the work that was shared last week. Hearing cast members Samantha Matsukawa and Eliza Tappan discuss their relationship to the film then and now as part of a pre-show conversation, it was clear that the process has stayed with them since its creation, which speaks positively to the skills of the director, Chris Lee, in such a collaborative setting.
The opening number was a live performance choreographed by Nick Blaylock with performers that included some of the original cast members and some new ones. The movement was intimate and tactile with playful, dynamic partnering. I could see little stories everywhere in the solos that emerged from the soft, full-bodied group work and in the relationships that formed between the dancers. Every moment of the choreography was connected and thoughtful and the performers were unapologetically committed to the moments of risk and release. The lighting design for this piece, created by William Peterson, was stunning and framed solo moments beautifully amidst the constant movement around them. As the piece finished, I found myself holding my inhale, caught in a sense of hope and joy that continued onward and upwards.
The films themselves were aesthetically gorgeous and seemed to delve into one idea at a time. To accompany the movement, they chose popular, lyrical songs that directed most of the timing and feeling of each work, leading to a somewhat dramatic flair. The first film at a dry lake bed was entirely in slow motion, focusing on the grit of the dancers running and falling into the dirt. The second in a prairie felt like a battle of growth and movement that used a lot of mirroring effects and increased speed. Another in Goblin Valley was full of goofy isolations and detailed gestures matching the wild curves of the rock around them. One film around a large bonfire contrasted the speed of the movement with the sounds of the dancers’ breath, and the bright fire against the dark sky made each moment eerie and vast. Each film was short and to the point, but I still found myself aching for some more variety in the editing. A majority of the time the video had been slowed down or sped up, so we rarely got to see the dancers moving at their real speed, which did help to match the tone of the music but eventually felt monotonous after multiple vignettes that were almost entirely in slow motion. The movement in the live piece was so generous, I felt some of that energy had been lost in the editing of the films.
I really enjoyed seeing the process of the film creation, how it was open to and aware of the landscape and the joy and sincerity with which the individuals interacted with each site. The overexposed images and unsteady camera work between each featured film had me laughing and smiling as they documented their journey around Utah. I felt that the film as a whole was witness to how this journey and these landscapes changed the people involved, inspiring them to embrace the moment and each other full-heartedly. It left me hopeful and filled with gratitude for the land that I live on.
Kara Komarnitsky grew up in Salt Lake City and recently graduated with a BFA in Dance from Ohio State University with minors in Environmental Science and Business. Her work approaches the complexity of human interconnection with the planet, pulling inspiration from the natural world and environmental research. While her primary medium is dance, Kara regularly uses projections, film, sound, and interactive technology to create immersive performance experiences. Her piece Tales of the Deep (2018) recently won third place in the Midwest Climate Summit’s Climate Stories Competition and her thesis, Interconnect (2022), received an Honorable Mention at the OSU Denman Research Forum 2022. Other places her work has been presented includes the OSU Student Concert, OSU BFA Showcase, and the Ohio Dance Festival Professional Concert.
On July 1, 2022 the Jeanné Wagner Theatre premiered Traverse, a live performance and film screening six years in the making. The documentary meets screendance collaboration began as an idea proposed by Chris Lee, then an adjunct professor in the U Department of Film & Media Arts. The aim of the piece was to work indisplinarily, with dance professor Eric Handman and U student Nick Blaylock assembling a cast of six dancers who would embark on a five day road trip across Utah and make a screendance specific to each site.
The resulting film captured the behind the scenes of a series of screendances inspired by Utah’s diverse landscapes, from the deserts of Ibex Well to Moab. Each segment used a different movement vocabulary crafted in response to its setting. In the six years that have passed since this project, screendance has advanced into a more subtle field than when Traverse was born, which showed in the intensely stylized color filters and pop ballad songs used. Some of the sites created dances that were immersive; sprialing twists and intricate arm sequences of one scene by a crackling fire mesmerizingly matched the grit and texture of the environment. Other sites were overbearingly edited and leaned heavily into dramatic effects, gluing together scraps of theatrical snippets that masked the dancers’ abilities to make artistic choices by splicing their movement into seconds.
Despite this, individual artistic choice was clearly displayed as a central theme of the project. The interlayed scenes of art and artmaking allowed the audience to connect with the dancers as people rather than performers. Unafraid of the camera, the dancers showed their effervescent personalities—playing pranks on one another and singing Paramore on the side of their broken down car. The film lovingly witnessed the friendships born of this project. Although the art in Traverse was at times laboriously serious, it was balanced by the documentary’s focus on the lighthearted youth of the artists and their excitement to create together. In a world where audiences are used to increased emotional accessibility through social media, this was a brilliant reconceptualization of art that reflects life.
Preceding the film screening, Blaylock debuted a new work that also featured six performers. Dancers Samantha Matsukawa and Eliza Tappan of the original Traverse cast reflected in an interview on their excitement to return to Blaylock’s process and their passion for the project. Their energy joined by new dancers displayed the growth of Blaylock’s choreographic abilities. His new piece felt similarly thematic to the film, with shifting horizontal formations that looked like rippling landscapes. Tumbling duets brought depth to the work, with dancers unfurling their arms and legs over each other in linked melding movements. Natalie Border’s solo was a stunning highlight of the piece that fully demonstrated the intricacy of her prowess.
Traverse as a student driven project was inspiring. The energy brought to the film through its subjects was heartwarming and softened the harshness of its editing. Watching the film in an audience full of Utah artists, the connections displayed through the film between dancers and the land were palpably present at its screening. Nick Blaylock’s new piece complemented and elevated the film, just as the artists in Traverse have matured. These works in tandem created a balanced experience that invited dancers to make friends, go new places, and appreciate the place we live in for its flaws and perfections.
Brianna Bernhardt is an artist, administrator, and freelance writer who graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah studying Modern Dance and Creative Writing. She currently works as the Community Development Coordinator at the Community Foundation of Utah and has interned with arts organizations like loveDANCEmore and SALT Contemporary Dance. She is driven by nonprofit development, arts advocacy, and community engaged learning. Her creative work and philanthropic aspirations seek to enrich life for all people.