Reluctant Light (2012)

A series of vivid images of surrender.  Live music by avant-garde cellist Alison Chesley (aka Helen Money).  Set by designer Zakary Zide features a series of empty rectangular forms of varying sizes—boxes of air embodying both form and emptiness. The dancers inhabit, stack, nest, smash, drag and balance the boxes to create a series of archetypal confrontations with mortality and intimacy. 

Collaborators
Dancers: Cameron Growden, Derek Harris, Katharine Hawthorne, Roche Janken, Justin Morrison, Tegan Schwab
Live Music: Helen Money
Set: Zakary Zide
Lighting Design: David Szlasa
Costumes: Jamielynn Duggan for Eimaj Design  

Funding Credits
Reluctant Light was made possible through the generous support from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and many generous individuals.

Performance History
Premiere:  Z Space, March 22-24, 2012

Additional performances:
The Mouth, Portland, OR, April 1, 2012
Velocity, Seattle, WA, March 29 & 30, 2012
Stanford University presents, March 14, 2012
Counterpulse presents/2nd Sundays, December 11, 2011
ODC presents/Walking Distance Dance Festival, June 30, 2012

Press
"Athletic, daring and playful exploration of line and form continue throughout the beautifully constructed work….Mohr expertly contrasts common pedestrian movement and gestures against precise and formal choreography so that neither form overtakes the other. The dancers communicate with each other and with the audience in ways that look and feel spontaneous, never contrived….her choreography is always detailed and intentional."
-- Catherine Conway Honig, Scene 4 Magazine, April 2012

"….intriguing visual elements and dynamic modern dance vocabulary….thoughtful and formidably performed."
-- Mariko Nagashima, Seattle Dances, April 3, 2012

“fascinating”
-- Heather Desaulnier, heatherdance.com

"Reluctant Light is a highly textured work, a layering of ideas; in both its narrative content and its structural form… Mohr’s choreographic style also speaks to unexpected combinations...."
-- Heather Desaulniers, heatherdance.com, March 24, 2012