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Jim Vaiknoras
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Jim Vaiknoras
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Discussion
Coming to life Exit Dance explores themes of renewal and rebirth in 'The Cruelest Month'
After many years of friendship and artistic collaboration, the members of Newburyport's Exit Dance Theatre enjoy an easy, natural companionship.
The five founding members have been dancing together for more than 21 years, and the nine dancers currently in the troupe seem to exhibit an ease with one another that translates to the modern dance pieces they perform on stage.
"We dance together every Saturday and Wednesday — we practically live together," says Exit co-director Wendy Hamel of Merrimac. "We're a very close group."
That closeness is what has kept Exit going strong all these years, added co-founder Fontaine Dollas Dubus of Newbury.
"We all work collaboratively," Dubus says. "We really look forward to working together, and I think it shows when we're performing."
Exit is the product of founding members Dubus, Cheryl Fisher-Schwind, Stephen Haley, Susan Atwood and Linda Lazarro Mangini, who first met through the dance program at the former Bradford College, and set about launching their own company in 1987. They fashioned their company in the spirit of ultimate collaboration, seeking to provide each dancer an outlet for his or her unique artistic expression.
"When we started (Exit), we wanted each and every member who wanted to choreograph to be able to do that," Dubus says. "In other places, dancers are just dancers."
The company continues its collaborative approach this weekend when it presents its latest dance ensemble production, "The Cruelest Month," at Newburyport's Firehouse Center for the Arts.
The program, which introduces seven new dance pieces, draws its title from the first line of the T.S. Eliot poem, "The Waste Land." It depicts April as a month for breeding lilacs out of the dead land.
"It's a beautiful poem of how there's warmth, but there's also the mud," Dubus says. "It seemed to work with me because there was a certain longing there."
True to the show's title, all of the new pieces choreographed for the program touch on feelings of longing and loss, while exploring the brilliance of renewal and rebirth.
"Limerant Objects," Hamel's first choreographed piece for Exit, introduces a love triangle where one man (dancer Edward Speck) carries on relationships with three different women. It is set to a bluegrass version of Ben Harper's "The Woman in You."
Nicole Duquette's piece — titled "The Surviving Heart" and set to a ballad by the popular group Evanescence — explores the stages of grief in losing a loved one. And a dance choreographed by Newburyport residents Sarah George and Erin Foley titled "Amniosis" seeks to embody the eternal, changing nature of life.
"We tried to think of something eternal, that was always changing and growing, but not necessarily toward one goal," Foley says of the piece.
Dubus' contribution — "Katse Kala," or "sit good" as it's known in Greek culture — provides a commentary on history from the feminine perspective. It uses chairs to symbolize how women were largely forced to "sit out," and so little documentation exists showing where they stood on the most important issues to humankind.
Fisher-Schwind of Boxford, who has been on sabbatical for the past year due to an illness in the family, returns for this performance with the choreographed piece "Bite the Baby," which is inspired by her late mother, who died last year after a long illness. One year later, she wanted to honor her mother's happy, wild personality.
"Bite the Baby" is one section of a larger piece titled "Love," and delights in the more uplifting aspects of the word.
"It's very silly," Fisher-Schwind says.
Fisher-Schwind brought her title to Exit's dancers, who immediately seized on the archetypal feeling of loving a baby, lover, child or pet so much you just want to squeeze it. She said George, Foley and Speck were critical in developing the movements that best expressed this feeling. They experimented as a group until they got it just right.
"I'm just an engineer," Fisher-Schwind says. "We built it together. When you're teasing these images out, you know when you see it. When an audience sees it, they can't help but get it."
Fisher-Schwind expects the company will perform to packed houses this weekend.
"Exit always sells out," she says. "It has a really strong local following."
In good company
The members of Exit Dance Theatre
r Fontaine Dollas Dubus, Newbury
r Cheryl Fisher-Schwind, Boxford
r Wendy Hamel, Merrimac
r Sarah George, Newburyport
r Erin Foley, Newburyport
r Edward Speck, Byfield
r Nicole Duquette, Atkinson, N.H.
r Darlene Doyle, Amesbury
r Tricia Walsh, Georgetown
r Adrienne Mincz, guest choreographer, Ipswich
IF YOU GO
r What: "The Cruelest Month," Exit Dance Theatre of Newburyport's 21st season performance
r When: Tomorrow and Saturday, 8 p.m.
r Where: Firehouse Center for the Arts, Market Square, Newburyport
r How: Tickets $18 adults, $16 students. Call 978-462-7336 or visit www.firehouse.org.
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Newburyport High grad takes1,600-mile ride of a lifetime — by scooter
Mike Avagianos, who grew up in Newburyport, set off from Boston on his scooter July 10 on an adventure to recharge his batteries and contemplate the next phase in his life. He reached his destination of Austin, Texas, this past Sunday.
Mike Avagianos was bored, dissatisfied and ultimately unhappy. However, unlike many in his shoes, he decided to do something to change all that.
He embarked on sort of a cross-country excursion, from Boston to Austin. -
Labor Day Festival packs in final stanza of summer fun
Newburyport native Kathy Heywood is bringing back her Labor Day Festival for the second year, an event that marks the end of the summer season with a nod to helping local charities and organizations.
Heywood, a former chairwoman of Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming summer celebration, planned the festival last year after the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce & Industry decided not to hold its annual Buskers Festival, a longtime Labor Day weekend tradition in the city. -
The Lookout: Artist's watercolors highlight 'Historic Port & Neighbors'
Watercolorist Anne Recchia uncovers "Historic Newburyport & Neighbors" as the featured artist this month at Bridge Gallery in downtown Newburyport at 1R Water St.
Recchia was inspired to create many of the paintings in the exhibit after completing a course on historic preservation at Boston Architectural College. -
Back to School
Ready for a fresh take on the after-school snack? We've dreamed up some delicious new approaches to keeping the kids content after they get off the bus.
DRIED FRUIT AND POPCORN BARS
Start to Finish: 1 hour (10 minutes active) -
When it comes to nutritious choices, parents need to do their homework
You want your back-to-schooler to eat a healthy diet, so you pack a "wheat" bread sandwich and tuck a "juice" drink in her brown-bag lunch. But did you know that loaf simply labeled "wheat" may be just white bread with added coloring? And the "juice" drink may contain more water than juice?
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