Elizabeth, the dance

is a unique collaboration between Carlson and the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City.  Elizabeth, the dance is built as an homage. Elizabeth  plays with the aesthetic history of modern dance, the personal history of desire.

Carlson has structured an episodic accumulation of dances that are  poignant, surprising and
restrained, tracing personal and public histories through the lens of embodiment, desire,  delight.  Elizabeth, the dance is a puzzle, a meditation, a love letter.  

“Elizabeth, the dance pays homage to a present moment, to  that which has come before, to teachers, to histories,   to  dancers and the powers of dancing, to the joys, disappointments, and mysteries of desire” said Carlson. 

Elizabeth, the dance marks the first commission by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company of a evening length work by one choreographer.  Carlson attended the University of Utah and studied with Ririe Woodbury founders, Joan Woodbury and Shirley Ririe.  

The premiere of Elizabeth, the dance is April, 14, 15, 16, 2016 at the Rose Theater in Salt Lake City, UT.  Recently, Elizabeth, the dance appeared in Peak Performances at Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey.

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Elizabeth, the dance in rehearsal.  Photo by Daniel Charon