By Kitoko Chargois
PearlArts Studios

After OCTAVIA, which drew inspiration from the life and sci-fi works of Octavia Butler and …on being…which explored race, gender, and identity, STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos decided to lighten the mood with PLAYGROUND in 2014. PLAYGROUND examined movement in the context of a simpler and more innocent time: childhood. Melding childhood reminisces, PLAYGROUND explored movement, topography, and memory. In today’s 10 year retrospective, we travel back in time with SPdp&SS dancer, Jessica Marino Mitcham. Read on for a glimpse behind the piece!

What memories of childhood did you tap into for playground?

I grew up on a beautiful farm riding and taking care of horses. This experience as a child taught me so much about kinetic dialogue - horses are such smart, playful, and personable animals. I have many sweet memories running around the farm with my friends pretending we were horses; galloping, cantering, trotting, jumping over fences, putting on performances as if we were show horses competing. It was silly, but so physical that the memory lives very vividly in my body and easily lent itself to building phrase work and movements patterning that I could share in the playground process. The various “gaits” of the horse have unique speeds, rhythms, movement qualities, and ground coverage. It was really neat to use this as material from my past for phrase work and share with another chapter of people that mean a lot to me. We used it in various sections of the piece as a transition motif done in silence.

In 2016, the company toured the PLAYGROUND in Colorado and you were newly pregnant. Did this affect affect how you approached the work or thought about play?

I had HORRIBLE morning (all day) sickness, just found out we were pregnant, and the company was on the road for our first multi-city tour to high-altitude locations. To say there were emotions surging my entire being is a major understatement. It’s a bit of a blur thinking back now. I was terrified, overwhelmed, joyful, excited, nervous, panicked, and full of so many uncertainties. I was MAYBE 4 weeks pregnant at that point but with a lot of research I was confident I could perform without causing pregnancy complications, though it crossed my mind constantly. I immediately became more thoughtful about my practice as a dancer and to the “how” of every movement sequence. I turned the volume up on listening to my body in a way I didn’t realize could be so heightened - almost like a superpower. I was constantly tired and felt like I was going to puke but also so excited to be embarking on that growth stage with the company (I am SPdp&SS’s booking manager too, so I was also working hand in hand on all logistics with our presenting partners). I think my performance was immediately changed forever, but I don’t know if that change was distinguishable to anyone else. I can’t say I was playful on that tour - but I did instantly take on immense gratitude for my SPdp&SS family and my time dancing has since become even more sacred to me.

Recently Staycee Pearl and the company taught the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School an excerpt of playground, how was it revisiting the work several years later and teaching it to a different generation of dancers?

It was such a good time. A great challenge for all of us and very different then the original! The skeleton was similar but the nuances and guts of the pieces changed to more reflect the youthfulness of the PBT students. The casts were bigger so that changes the way themes and motifs were used, it’s also one of those pieces that the nitty gritty of the movement generation process was essential to our character discovery. To not necessarily have that luxury of time with the student cast gave us the opportunity to really try and find the vocabulary to quickly and effectively connect to the essence of play. It was a joy to see their growth in the process and I am SO sad that project had to be put on hold due to COVID-19. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to work with the dancers on this again.

A rehearsal of PLAYGROUND with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. Photo: Kitoko Chargois

Something really special about the choreography is that elements of childhood games were woven in. What did that process teach you about the relationship between play and movement/dance?

It taught me new ways to access freedom in my joints and shed layers of judgement! Side note: kids are such efficient movers. I love watching Chalmer dance his floor work. I tell him all the time, “ah, good thing I went to college to learn how to do that — you’re way better at it than me!” (Chalmer is 3).

STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos is celebrating its 10th anniversary and the birthday of our cofounder/choreographer Staycee Pearl all of May with a month-long retrospective to honor the company’s history of innovative dance, multimedia experiences, and meaningful collaborations. In honor of our 10th anniversary, we’ll be sharing a series of blog posts dedicated to giving you an inside look at our productions through the decade.

If you’re just tuning into our anniversary series, be sure to check out our Anniversary retrospective series here: