By Kitoko Chargois
PearlArts Studios
STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos (SPdp&SS) was born purely from a desire to dance. When her dear friend and colleague Jamie Murphy brought up the idea of getting dancers together to make work, Staycee Pearl was inspired. “I guess you can say I just couldn't stay away from dance,” she said. “It just happened so easily I couldn't resist. I also wanted to create a vehicle that supported like-minded artists both emerging and mid-career.” When then Executive Director of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater Janera Solomon offered her a residency at the theater to start the dance company, it was a done deal. From there, Staycee and Husband/Creative Partner Herman Pearl amassed a talented team of dancers and designers and set upon building a vision. The result was a new way of doing movement and sound for their partnership. Here’s how circlePOP defined a new era for Staycee and Herman Pearl’s creative ventures.
1. The power of collaboration
Large screens by Mitchell Barutha project video by Carolina Loyola as part of the stage installation.
Before circlePOP and STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Sos, Staycee and Herman had collaborated on several projects, but they were used to handling all aspects of the production. With circlePOP, they were able to spread their wings. “circlePOP was the first work where I needed to marry several different elements and teams,” said Staycee. “We had Carolina Loyola Garcia heading up a team of Robert Morris students who created video imagery to my specifications. Kelly Lane Designs created original costumes including specifically printed patterned fabrics. Herman was on sound, and Mitchell Barutha created a new extended stage and enormous screens that made up the installation.” In addition, there were 13 dancers and guest performers.
2. No limitations
The Kelly Strayhorn Stage was specially extended to come out into the crowd. The extended stage covered the first two rows of seats.
One of the defining elements of a STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos production is an unwillingness to set limits. With resources at their disposal, Staycee and Herman took a daring step with their first production. As mentioned above, they extended the Kelly Strayhorn Stage into the audience by about 20 feet! “I wanted the stage to represent an environment that was more than a stage for dancers to populate. I needed the environment to speak to the audience before dancers entered. I've always been interested in installation as set for movement. And I needed the stage to reach into the audience, breaking the wall between the audience and performers. It was just one way to achieve the expanse we were going for and I hope it read accordingly.”
3. The foundation for a new format
With the support of the Kelly Strayhorn Theater and then executive director, Janera Solomon, Staycee and Herman were able to build a dance company from scratch. The space they were given allowed them to grow at their pace as they experimented with different models for building their vision. Of the process of creating circlePOP, Staycee says, “I learned the most about myself during this process and it's when I committed to the process of creating immersive evening length works. Something I'm still working on.” In the last decade of STAYCEE PEARL dance project & Soy Sos, the influences of Staycee and Herman’s early works have only strengthened from piece to piece with movement and sound components growing more and more textural and all enveloping.
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.
circlePOP Credits
Staycee Pearl - ChoreographyHerman “Soy Sos” Pearl – Sound
Carolina Loyola-Garcia – Video design
Kelly Simpson-Scupelli / Kelly Lane Designs – Costumes
Bob Stineck – Lighting Design
Mitchell S. Barutha – Set Development
Dancers:
Kerra Alexander
Cassie (Shafer) Kauffman
Jamie Murphy
Amanda (Meaders)Varva
Renee Smith
Laura (Warren) Warnock
Daphne Driscoll
Guest Performers:
Lisa (Belcher) Dji
Gwen Ritchie
Guest Youth Performers (ATC Members):
Shakira Stephens
Micheal Curry
Robert Almond
DeVaughn Robinson
If you’re just tuning into our anniversary series, be sure to check out our Anniversary retrospective series here: