New Original Works Festival 2016 – Program Two at REDCAT
Laurel Jenkins M.F.A. ‘15 and Chey Chankethya M.F.A. ‘14
See Dance Now calls Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance alumnae Laurel Jenkins M.F.A. ‘15 and Chey Chankethya M.F.A. ‘14 "commanding performers" with "astonishing control" in a complimentary review of their new work, SOMA PATH.
"Laurel Jenkins is an artist who definitely keeps her eyes and ears on the past, the now and the future. Her work always “pushes the envelope”, causing her audiences to become involved and to leave the theater thinking about the meaning of her work. For this festival Jenkins teamed up with Cambodian choreographer Chey Chankethya and composer Miguel Frasconi to create a beautiful blending of music, dance forms and cultures for SOMA PATH. Jenkins and Chankethya met while pursuing MFA degrees in Dance at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. In SOMA PATH traditional Cambodian dance combines with American Postmodern dance. Together these two artists took hand, arm, head, leg and torso isolations, then changed and expanded them throughout the work to produce a dramatically new movement vocabulary. They began standing next to each other expressing their own individual style before literally melting them into one idea. Later the two separated and the movement vocabulary developed even further. Frasconi performed his dynamic electronic score live at a table located upstage left. Frasconi amplified and distorted sounds he created with large glass bowls and other items. Watching him reminded me of composer David Tudor who worked with Merce Cunningham."— Jeff Slayton, July 29, 2016
"Laurel Jenkins is an artist who definitely keeps her eyes and ears on the past, the now and the future. Her work always “pushes the envelope”, causing her audiences to become involved and to leave the theater thinking about the meaning of her work. For this festival Jenkins teamed up with Cambodian choreographer Chey Chankethya and composer Miguel Frasconi to create a beautiful blending of music, dance forms and cultures for SOMA PATH. Jenkins and Chankethya met while pursuing MFA degrees in Dance at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. In SOMA PATH traditional Cambodian dance combines with American Postmodern dance. Together these two artists took hand, arm, head, leg and torso isolations, then changed and expanded them throughout the work to produce a dramatically new movement vocabulary. They began standing next to each other expressing their own individual style before literally melting them into one idea. Later the two separated and the movement vocabulary developed even further. Frasconi performed his dynamic electronic score live at a table located upstage left. Frasconi amplified and distorted sounds he created with large glass bowls and other items. Watching him reminded me of composer David Tudor who worked with Merce Cunningham."— Jeff Slayton, July 29, 2016
