My Turkey Sandwich to perform

When Aaron Wood and Sarah Donohue were in graduate school at the University of Utah, they decided to form a dance company when they graduated.

"We did a couple of collaborations while we were in school and decided to do something together," said Wood, a member of Repertory Dance Theatre.

The name of the pick-up company is My Turkey Sandwich.

Wood said he and Donohue thought of the name because it's fun and unique.

"Also, people have their own take on what a turkey sandwich is," he said.

Last year, My Turkey Sandwich produced a production at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center under the Repertory Dance Theatre's Link program. This year, Wood and Donohue are back for an encore, with more dancers.

"Last year's was basically a short performance with duets and solos we did," Wood said. "This time we have more dancers, some actors."

The title of the performance is called "Open Faced — With a Side of M.A.Y.O., said Wood. M.A.Y.O. stands for Movement, Activists, Yielding, Oeuvre.

"We try to come up with different titles that complement the turkey sandwich name. "While we do dances that make commentary on what's going on in the world, we also create works that have some humor.

"We wanted to make a dance company that makes dance that's accessible to everyone," he said. "We want people to come and let go of their worries and enjoy the performance."

This year, Wood and Donohue have recruited former Ballet West dancer Mark Borchelt, now on the dance faculty at Utah Valley University, for a work called "Satie Blues."

"Sarah also teaches at UVU and Mark had seen us in RDT's 'Chairs' and said he wanted to work with us," said Wood. "So he created a duet for us."

Wood set a solo on RDT member Nathan Shaw, called "The Making of Me."

"That piece was part of my master's project when I was at the U. in 2006," said Wood.

Wood and Donohue tapped into the U.'s theater department and asked actors John Terry and Gabrielle Gaston to appear in the humorous "Play by Play."

"We knew when we started the company," Wood said, "that we wanted to incorporate dance, theater and film."

In addition to the aforementioned works, "Open Faced With a Side of M.A.Y.O," will also feature the debut of Wood's "As You Are, I Was — As I Am, You Will Be," and Donohue's "A How-to Guide."

"The hard part of putting the performance together was working around each of the dancers' and actors' schedules," Wood said. "They all have lives and they all have different demands. And luckily, through RDT's "Link" program, we were able to rehearse on Saturdays and occasionally in the evening."

Helping the work was also the fact that all of the dancers and the lighting director donated their time.

"It was a huge help and we really appreciate their dedication to this," said Wood.