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A Sort of Explanation (2004) stereophonic tape, saxophone, and video for dance

Excerpts performed in Garrett Hall, UVA, April, 2004
Full work performed at McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, May, 2004

Music, video, saxophone: Peter V. Swendsen
Text: Dinah Gray
Choreography: Dinah Gray and Ashley Thorndike
Dancers: Gray, Pamela Hetherington, Jen Tweel Kelly, Kelly Silliman, and Thorndike
Additional performers for preview and recording: Matthew Burtner and J.J. Cromer

A Sort of Explanation is Prospect Dance Group’s first evening-length work. Created specifically for a small performance space, it is a chamber work of sorts, comprised of more than a dozen contiguous sections that include various combinations of one to four dancers, music for tape and saxophone, text, and video. The work takes three poems by Gray as its starting point, with musical, visual, and choreographic elements sometimes developing distinctly and sometimes in tandem. The end result is a generally open narrative that hints at specificity, but leaves the audience to its own experience.

© 2004 pvs.