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We Have Always Been There

Madison Shorter standing inside a bench that is propped up.
Madison Shorter in "Safety is not the same as Dimishment," by Alethea Alexander in the UW Dance Presents 2019. Photo by Steve Korn.
Alexander, Alethea and dancers. We Have Always Been There. New dance work performed at the Faculty Dance Concert. Meany Hall, Seattle, WA, 2019.

We Have Always Been There is a response to the disappointing continuance of systematic roadblocks for women. Choreographed in collaboration with the cast of ten dancers, the piece addresses the long history of women in the workforce who have consistently been present in physical and social labor without explicit recognition. The opening movement of the piece is a meditation on physicality, precision and machine-like collaboration between the dancers, and uses French sound artist Martin Messier's Sewing Machine Orchestra and Dutch artists Lasse Munk and Søren Andreasen's D.O.R.T.H.E. (a 15", pretty pale but incredibly warm and caring max/msp patch") to explore this history. 

We Have Always Been There is a celebration of women's tenacity, dexterity, collaboration humor and stamina. Sometimes humorous, sometimes sincere, the piece simply asks for the women on stage to be seen and to be heard.

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Ongoing
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