Our spring student dance show, over under on in between, opens tonight! Amidst the bustle of the end of the school year, the Harper Joy Theatre was able to conduct an interview with returning guest choreographer LROD, whose piece C A C T | U S will be performed this weekend in the Freimann Black Box Theatre. LROD, who hails from El Paso, TX, is inspired creatively by many different mediums and themes. LROD’s website states that “LROD’s mission crosses the borders we carry in co-creative spaces sharing radical tenderness with each moving body. LROD creates inclusive installations, surreal dance-works, and integrates emerging technology with care.”
How did you get into choreographing?
I have always been involved in choreography since I was a small human. Making solos in my bedroom, or group performances with friends. Dancing and seeing dances has been a big part of my daily practice. Another nod would be movies, video games, MTV and VH1.
A lot of your work is inspired by Latinx movement. Can you tell us a little bit about how that came to be?
Knowing more about dance history has helped me research and understand that Latin forms along with other diasporas have been present all along. I am Latinx and the movement I am inspired by is responsive to the very practice of community, expression, and agency.
What is “radical tenderness” and how does it manifest in your work?
Radical Tenderness is defined by Guillermo Gómez Peña first in the La Pocha Nostra pedagogy and workshop spaces. Then, Dani and Daniel did further work that can be accessed here. For me, Radical Tenderness is not definable but more of a mobilized philosophy. My years studying dance, performance arts, and movement-based practices through liberatory and adaptive strategies informs the very way in which I move through the world and share time with others.
Technology and film often are incorporated into your dance pieces. What are some of the different ways that you use that? How, if at all, has technology/film been used in the choreography for over under on in between?
Technology is often defined by what is new. I have a nod to technology in the way that references the 1950/60s and John Cage, but in C A C T | U S we are working with advanced technology ideologies like portaling, bending time, and loops.
I know you performed a piece of your own creation in last spring’s Studio Series. How does it feel to come back to Whitman, and how is it different creating work that is for students to perform versus for yourself?
I love Whitman. Walla Walla is a special place and I am happy to be here any time. Working with other artists is what makes this work livable and fulfilling. I don’t recognize a difference between myself and students. I love to learn and I learn every time the creative process arises. The pedagogy informs everything I do and it is how I mobilize for an ensemble or for solo work. I resonate with intentions, community, and alignments during these processes, which takes a lot of cultivating and crafting, but usually deep listening and love.
What do you hope for this piece that you are creating for the show? What is your favorite part of what you’ve created?
C A C T | U S is a special work made specifically for Ruby, Hunter, Helena, Anna, and Neave. My favorite part was being in process with such amazing humans. What a gift.
Here is the description we made from the program:
| we bloom together, we teleport ourselves
through reflective states of urgency, play, and contemplation
as the landscape
emerges, closes, and opens
along the impacted anthropocene |
To see LROD’s choreography and the students that bring it to life, over under on in between runs from May 4-7 in the Freimann Black Box Theatre. Visit our website or contact the HJT box office for ticketing and more information.