very vary
Something is always ajar, someone is not quite right. Sometimes all is right.
Oldest child, responsibly full. Make-break-take. Order out of the chaos.
It’s all going to be.
Welcome, remember, imagine.
Parade your animal, let it loose. Decorate the wild.
very vary.
This piece chapters the remembered, imagined and future lives of these six performers. Throughout the work, Heller reveals the performers' biographies with both care and subtlety, while challenging the audience and space with rapid delivery. With a love for decoration and complications within choreographic structure, Heller enlivens the space by framing created scenes. These framed moments allow the performers and audience to enter into a scenario where story-telling emerges. These scenarios, much like chapters of a pop-up book, evoke a dimensional narrative that is at times both literal and nonsensical. very vary includes collaborations with composer Mike Wall and visual artist and puppeteer Gretchen Reynolds.
chapters:
Chapter I: Things we do well
Chapter II: Medusa
Chapter III: Something is not quite right
Chapter IV: Tangled in a lion’s paw
Chapter V: Charlie and Buster
Chapter VI: Third eye strobing
Chapter VII: Stumamobility
Chapter VIII: Soli (tear)
Chapter IX: Fear
Chapter X: Bee’s knees
Chapter: XI: Top cool
Chapter XII: You’re gonna grow up to be
Chapter XIII: We are
Chapter XIV: Band of animals
Running time of evening length: 1 hour, no intermission
where, when, video:
Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Berkeley, CA (December 2017):
Eccles Regent Street Theater, Salt Lake City (May 2017):
In addition, excerpts of very vary were performed at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Eccles Auditorium (May 2017).
Press
KUED channel 7 (2017):
Featured artist for “Verve: Living the Creative Life.” Online series highlighting the creative process of diverse Salt Lake City artists. Link HERE
DIY Dancer (2017):
Vibrant Performance + Potent Language: A Post Performance Discussion with Molly Heller, published recording of a post performance discussion following the Bay Area tour of very vary at Shawl Anderson Dance Center, Berkeley. Transcribed conversation by Jill Randall. Link HERE
ODC Dance Stories (2017):
“A Pop-up Dance,” by ODC Theatre resident writer, Marie Tollon. An interview and preview for very vary. Link HERE
Dance Matters (2017):
Review of very vary at Shawl Anderson Dance Center, by Michelle Lavigne. Link HERE
Dance teacher magazine (2017):
“6 Strategies to Boost Performance Quality from your Dancers,” by Rachel Caldwell. Interview identifying the ways in which very vary utilizes expression. Link HERE
Life as a modern dancer Blog (2017):
Featured artist, seven-day preview for Bay Area tour of very vary. Link HERE
The School of Dance Blog, University of Utah (2017-2018):
Featured faculty in “Molly Heller Broadens the Definition of Dance in very vary” and “Assistant Professor Molly Heller at The Yard,” by Kate Mattingly. Link HERE
SLUG Magazine, SLC (2017):
Review of very vary at the Eccles Regent Theatre, by Kenzie Allred. Link HERE