{"id":385032,"date":"2026-07-03T14:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385032\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:59:09","slug":"the-band-is-back-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385032\/","title":{"rendered":"The Band is Back Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, June 26, 2026 dance theater artists Laurel Jenkins, Sarah Leddy and alexx schilling came together for a one-night-only performance of DANCE BAND: On the Verge at Stomping Ground L.A.<\/a> The sold-out show read as a creative reunion for this trio, who describe DANCE BAND as (among other things) \u201ca performance practice established years ago when we all lived in Los Angeles, danced in each other\u2019s work, and trained with choreographer-performer Ros Warby<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many academically informed artist statements, which can feel difficult to parse, or disconnected from what the audience perceives, the DANCE BAND project description explains exactly what the artists did on Friday night: \u201c[had] an ongoing performance conversation\u2026.about motherhood, fascism, and ageing dancing female bodies\u2026.inviting humor, vulnerability, and full-throttled rage dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 Cheryl Ashbury, Cheryl Banks-Smith, Julieta Garza, Sarah Leddy, Elle Lewis, Carol McDowell, Alicia Moseley, S\u00e1ra Rau\u0161alov\u00e1, and Edwin Sig\u00fcenza in \u201c#OMGODDESS\u201d, Choreography by Sarah Leddy \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

The show begins with Sarah Leddy\u2019s<\/a> #OMGODDESS, an ensemble piece to an eclectic sound score that ranges from choral music to German Punk. (Music: Kali Malone& Etienne Ferchaud, Don Nichols, Acht Eimer H\u00fchnerherzen and London Dance Collective.) The title suggest a cheeky comment on internet culture or watered down spirituality, but the material is unironic, alternating between earnest reverence and rage. Leddy is obviously interested in joining all kinds of bodies on stage, as her cast is multigenerational, with varying degrees of formal training.<\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 Sarah Leddy and Edwin Sig\u00fcenza in \u201c#OMGODDESS\u201d, Choreography by Sarah Leddy \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

As the piece begins, the ensemble dressed in black (Costume support by Kay Barbera<\/a>)\u00a0 builds a human sculpture garden in silence. Then, three performers begin to wander and imitate the others, in regal postures all over the floor. The performed imitation suggests meaning, but it is unclear how this connects to the next section, during which Leddy thrashes and travels across the floor alone, long limbs flicking vigorously. In this section, she repeatedly returns to a parallel second position and trembles from foot to crown. Her gaze is confrontational but the thrashing seems to serve personal catharsis more than aggression toward the audience. At one point she tumbles to the floor, and it\u2019s hard to tell if the fall is intentional. If the goal is catharsis, I\u2019m not sure it matters either way. In the final section, dancers\u00a0S\u00e1ra Rau\u0161alov\u00e1 and Edwin Sig\u00fcenza repeat circular passes of more technically demanding movement, while Leddy ends up in a plaid flannel shirt that marks her as different from the group. Raw emotionality and strong articulation of space make this piece satisfying, but it\u2019s difficult to sense the throughline across the work\u2019s three sections.<\/p>\n

The cast of #OMGODDESS was Cheryl Ashbury, Cheryl Banks-Smith, Julieta Garza, Sarah Leddy, Elle Lewis, Carol McDowell, Alicia Moseley, S\u00e1ra Rau\u0161alov\u00e1, and Edwin Sig\u00fcenza.<\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 alexx shilling in \u201cCloud State: Solo Study, Choreography by shilling \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

Next on the program is Cloud State: Solo Study, with choreography, performance and text by alexx shilling<\/a>; music by Ingram Marshall. The lights come up on shilling in a bell-shaped, floor length garment stage right. She slaps her thigh to punctuate rhythmic, spoken text that refers to different colored \u201cstates,\u201d making an allusion to the electoral map. With a cadence somewhere between spoken word poetry and nursery rhyme, the text moves associatively between ideas, but always re-grounds with the word \u201cstate.\u201d \u00a0The script turns aspirational, dreaming of \u201ca state that cares for us, a state that holds us,\u201d and then schilling lands on \u201ccloud state\u201d which initiates a transition. From here, language distorts into gasps expressed through the whole body with dramatic shapes. Ultimately, this sequence of wordless sounding and shape-making expands into traveling movement, highlighting schilling\u2019s fluidity, groundedness, and clear command of her instrument. I couldn\u2019t help but wonder if for schilling, clouds represent symbolic medicine in dark times.<\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 Laurel Jenkins in \u201cDawning\u201d, Choreography by Jenkins \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

Next, Laurel Jenkins<\/a> dances alone in her piece, Dawning, which lasts the length of one song \u2013\u00a0 \u201cMinnesota,\u201d\u00a0 by Mick Flannery and Ana\u00efs Mitchell. Here the choreography is simple. Jenkins faces the audience center stage for the duration of the piece, in a\u00a0second position pli\u00e9. She creates an ongoing pulse by shifting her weight from one foot to the other, which almost makes it look like she is bouncing on horseback. Jenkins then accumulates a series of upper body gestures, all while maintaining the repetitive weight transfer. There\u2019s a sadness to this dance, but the unrelenting weight shift also suggests the will to keep on keeping on.\u00a0Choreographic simplicity leaves space to pay attention to the song, whose first lyric is the word \u201cMinnesota.\u201d This links Jenkins\u2019 solo to schilling\u2019s \u201cstates\u201d and calls to mind recent events in Minneapolis. About this song, Mick Flannery said<\/a> he was \u201cinspired by what\u2026. appears to be an evermore fractured and polarized American society.\u201d Dawning feels like thematic thread that ties the program together and diversifies the emotional tone.<\/p>\n

\"Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 Laurel Jenkins, Sarah Leddy, and alexx shilling in \u201cOn the Verge\u201d , Choreography by Jenkins, Leddy and shilling \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

The title work On the Verge closes the program on a high note, with effective humor, pathos and a little lite transgression. This dance theater trio created and performed by Leddy, Jenkins and schilling scrambles topics like giving birth and the similarities between perimenopause and fascism. At one point, schilling and Jenkins wrap Leddy in blue fabric until she looks vaguely like the Statue of Liberty, while giving themselves a semi-silly, whispered pep-talk. All three artists shine in this collaboration, which gives the finale a very \u201cThe-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts\u201d kind of vibe. A few times during On the Verge I felt I\u2019d recently seen the same creative concept elsewhere \u2013 like when the trio performs an improvised score while talking about the score-making in real time. Or when they don sparkly jackets and dance to a song from Flashdance, which contrasts post-modern dance vocabulary and compositional structures. But each time I thought I knew what I was looking at or felt inclined to categorize an idea as trope-y, the material morphed into something unexpectedly hilarious\u00a0or tender.\u00a0(Music: Pole, Terekke, Irene Cara, Shigeru Umebayashi.)<\/p>\n

DANCE BAND has the flavor of worn-in friendship, history and a shared creative sensibility.\u00a0 These three artists come across as playful and skilled compatriots who want to get together and jam, just like (you guessed it) musicians in a band. On a more serious note, it is refreshing to witness art that centers the experiences of mid-life, in a youth obsessed culture, and an even more youth obsessed industry.<\/p>\n

The Lighting Designer for DANCE BAND: On the Verge was Pablo Santiago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Written by Annie Kahane for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Dance Band: On the Verge \u2013 (L-R) Sarah Leddy, alexx shilling, Laurel Jenkins in On the Verge , Choreography by Jenkins, Leddy and shilling \u2013 Photo by Daniel Stamm.<\/p>\n

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