The vocabulary and qualities of Duet for Four emerged from studio practices that attended to a "willingness to be seen," vulnerability, exposed humanity and listening. The duets (dancer and dancer, dancer and plates, dancer and light) are attentive and honest without straying into sensuality or narrative. Like a Richard Linklater film, the work opens a drawer onto a world with specific though perhaps indescribable governing principles. Nothing has "happened," but the air has changed.
Duet for Four emerged from reflections on a toxicity of language and blame that I perceived surrounding the #MeToo movement in 2017-18. In the context of necessary and overdue conversation about consent, power and gender dynamics, dialogues often villainized men at the exclusion of assessing toxic power more broadly. With this work, I sought to explore--in collaboration with the cast--the differences, possibilities and potentials of vulnerable and collaborative space shared by two men, in conjunction with and juxtaposition to space shared by women.