We’ve done it! We finished our season with a week packed full of filming. Us six dancers traveled to the 21c Museum Hotel Chicago each day to record sections of our Home Season work, “Cartography of Peace” choreographed by Kia S. Smith. Lucky you, because today I’m giving you the low down on how filming went and how we went about all the challenges that came our way. And here’s your reminder that if you have not bought your tickets…DO IT! The link is scdtcartography.eventbrite.com and the virtual premiere of our show is on June 26, 2021. We cannot wait to share it with an audience!

As a company, we have been in rehearsal for this piece since the beginning of March. It began with Kia’s concept, exploration of movement, and finally the setting and staging of the choreography. This all led up to our week long taping of the project in the first week of June. Our wonderful videographer, Matt, shot all of the scenes and we worked with two incredible collaborators (Joelle Lamarre as our soprano vocalist & Alexandria Hill as our violinist). Let me tell you, collaborating with other artists was nothing short of amazing. The amount of passion and pure talent in one room was inspiring. Speaking with each other post-project, it seemed that all of us gained respect for one another’s craft. Working with each other heightened our own experience and, if I can say it, bettered our dancing overall.

Day one we entered the museum space to lighting set up surrounding two large paintings. The space was much more condensed than we expected it to be, so we immediately began to re-space our choreography. There were certain sections where we had to be so close to one another and modify and adjust the choreography to fit within the camera’s range. Right after spacing, we began to record some vocal elements that Kia will edit throughout the piece. There is a poem that is repeated throughout the work, so some of us dancers recited the poem while Alexandria improvised and Joelle sang. Moving forward, we went section by section, changing costumes with each song and mood change. The entire work reflects different stages of peace – peace with joy, peace after trauma, peace in chaos, and peace & quiet. Each section comes with it’s own feel that is reflected in the music choice, costuming, and lighting. We got through two sections in our first day and wrapped with filming by 2pm!

Day two ran similarly – directly into recording choreography of the last two sections that remained. As performers, these tend to be very long days, but as a company that gets along a little too well, we lighten each other’s spirits and joke around to keep the energy alive. My favorite memory from this filming was towards the end of day two when we were all tired out of our minds. We were about to run a section another time and all of us (Kia and Joelle included) just burst into laughter and took our jokes too far. I love that our company is able to laugh at ourselves while simultaneously getting lots of work done.

So much happened and so much work was put into putting our show together. As a company, we celebrated and went out to dinner after our final day. This season brought us closer and we are proud to be our own family that supports, challenges, encourages, and inspires one another. This truly is a passion project of Kia’s and I’m sure it will be reflected when it debuts on June 26 virtually!!

Our season is wrapping up, but we are thrilled to share this one last performance with you prior to Season 5’s launch. You won’t want to miss it!!