Choreographers find place at RDT

Choreographer Molissa Fenley said working with Repertory Dance Theatre was just the thing she was interested in.

"I found out that RDT was looking for choreographic essays for a competition based on the idea of the company's theme, 'Sense of Place,' " said Fenley during an interview just after an RDT rehearsal. "That was up my alley. I found two other people to work out something with me and had about two weeks to make a piece."

RDT had received 45 entries from across the country, said the company's artistic director, Linda C. Smith. Fenley, director of Molissa Fenley and Dancers, was one of two choreographers to be chosen. The other was Stephen Koester, co-founder of Koester/Creach and a faculty member at the University of Utah's department of modern dance.

"Molissa's work was based on physical location," said Smith during an interview. "She was enamored by the American Southwest and the people who reside there.

"Stephen's work was an exploration of a location in the mind, and what things are lost when we lose memory. They both are interesting works and fit this program perfectly."

Fenley, who hails from New York, was excited she was chosen.

"I did a work that involves a lot of percussion," she said. "The Central American and Native American rhythms were a part of the inspiration for the work."

Weaves and patterns of the Native American blanket also provided inspiration.

"The idea is based on the intricate blankets that are produced from these cultures," said Fenley. "The entire space of the stage is active and alive with movement. I found the zigzagging and diamond patterns extremely pleasing to the eye and wanted to capture them for the stage.

"And I wanted to keep the horizontal motif of these patterns intact for the movement on the stage."

The work, titled "Desert Sea," is about 15 minutes long and features a message about diversity.

"I've noticed when we people talk about diversity, they talk about African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans," said Fenley. "But there is little talk about the Native Americans. And I wanted to focus on that culture."

Fenley took a dance troupe to the American Southwest in 2000 and that planted a seed in her head.