By WILLIAM MUNOZ
Founded in the fall of 2011, Bare Bait Dance offers fresh, original, professional dance-works in Montana for Montanans. The company founded in the fall of 2011 under the direction of Joy French aims to make contemporary dance more accessible to both the Missoula community as well as rural Montana communities which are largely under served in the performing arts.
BBD collaborates directly with local artists (filmmakers, musicians, visual artists and actors) to create interdisciplinary dance-theatre works.
Another goal of the company is to strengthen the Montana dance community by providing paid performance jobs to skilled professional dancers. These dancers are encouraged to explore and develop their creative work both as dancers and choreographers. These pursuits and opportunities allow them to expand their knowledge and skill set as teachers of younger dancers.
Bare Bait Dance also brings to Missoula performers and choreographers from around the region in order to cultivate a richer appreciation for contemporary dance. As a part of this effort, BBD opens its fourth season with “Settle”, a multi-media, multi-generational dance-theatre work wildly delving into domesticity, cultural ideals and family traditions. Choreographed by Missoula-born, Rachel Oliver, “Settle” pokes and prods at the cultural motives both transforming and resisted. In this evening-length work, original music by Colorado-based Jesse Manno collides with dance-films, powerful solo and duet performances, and our great grandmother’s best china. Part memoir, part universal, Settle reveals the cracks in our personal facades and the ways we help one another to clean up the mess.
The dancers are Kaitlin Kinsley, Brittany Gaudette, Jes Mullette, Rachel Oliver, Lori Mitchell, Rylee Moore, Amy Ragsdale, and Joy French.
The performances will be presented September 5 & 6 at 7:30 pm each night – plus a 2 pm matinee on September 6 at the Open Space in the PARTV Building on the UM Campus in Missoula. (Across from the Adams Center)
In addition to the performances, Oliver will teach a workshop, open to the community based on her unique movement voice which blends improvised and choreographed phrase-work: September 4th, 5:30-7 pm, $10 (PARTV Bldg, 005, UM Campus, Missoula, MT)
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