Choreographer’s Notes

I am considering making these my program notes for our upcoming show -
it may be too much info - personally and generally -
However, I find that it is information I want to share -
So you get it shared. right here.
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Side note - This is what went into the program......
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Notes on
Right Before You Fell

Between people in relationships, or strangers in close proximity, is space with a tangible quality that fascinates me.
Relationships that work are balancing acts. Connection, communication (silent and verbal), laughter...and then, there are those experiences we’ve all had that don’t really qualify as “working”.
And where do we, as New Yorkers, go when things aren’t working? Often, we go walking. In 1999 I took that idea to new heights. I found myself walking the streets of the Village, the East Side, West Side... Below 72nd Street you name it I know it, because I’ve walked it. For hours.
A friend asked me if I walk to get away from, or walk to go towards. I’d like to think I am always “going towards”. I was searching for understanding of myself, love and who knows how many other things....and I needed to move to do it.
At a Christmas party in 2005 I began talking with a friend about the saying “the elephant in the livingroom” - and my fascination with communication grew deeper - what if there was a view into our minds when we had something we couldn’t say - What does it look like, and how does it get physicalized?
Once all of the dances were intertwined, I found there was something larger then all of these minor ideas of communication.
There is a deeper communication we all long for. A love that spans this life and the next however our beliefs systems may tug us. My grandfather left this life’s stage recently, and gone over to the Bright Side of the Road...he is dancing there while we dance here.

This performance is dedicated to the memory of Louis J Sanducci.

Long walks, doorways, and a small search is begun and ended simultaneously.

Melissa Riker
Choreographer