WORKS

Rock, Paper, Scissors

“The performers were marvelous, individually and together. I believed because they believed.”

“Honestly, I thought about the show for a week.”

“The star dance was tender and so special, and I cried from laughing at the 40 stitches bit.”

Alexandra Bodnarchuk presents Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS), an evening length contemporary dance duet. RPS explores the generational passing down of rules and customs of our bodies. What traditions do we choose to pass down? Which rules will we break?

Situated on a set comprised of a floor and two opposing walls, Alexandra uses text, play, and contemporary phrase work to draw inspiration from her heritage and create a surreal playground of problem solving.

This work features dancers Nieya Amezquita and Sarah McCullough, sound design by Brandon Anderson Musser, with directoral and dramaturgical support by Marcela Michelle.

This work has been supported in part by the Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow under the direction of Dianne McIntyre and Risa Steinberg, and mentorship of Andrea Miller and Abby Zbikowski.

Artists L - R: Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Brandon Musser, Marcela Michelle, Nieya Amezquita, Sarah McCullough, Nyarayi Mushati, Kaitlyn Hawkins

капустянка : CABBAGE EATER

In Pittsburgh, PA, there are nods at Slavic culture everywhere. From the pirohy race at the baseball game, to church festivals, to slang such as “where you at?”. Growing up dancing in Slavjane, a Carpatho-Rusyn children’s folk ensemble, I absorbed the cultural tidbits tossed my way in between 8 counts that echoed across a cold gym, the smell of cabbage wafting in from the kitchen. As a kid I didn’t have the lived experience or cultural wherewithal to fully comprehend what I was learning. These were stories of the past, until February 24, 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine in a full scaled military operation. On that day, they became stories repeating in the present. This Russian aggression is nothing new, it is a a cycle of violence familiar to Eastern Europeans, and to Carpatho-Rusyns in particular. This work explores this aggression, and the breadth of resistance. It also gives space for tenderness and indulgence.

Read independent journalism from Ukraine: https://kyivindependent.com/
Support the evacuation of women and children from Ukraine: Operation White Stork

Slava Ukraini

This work was commissioned by Alternative Motion Project for their show Viewpoints ‘22, which premiered at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis, MN in 2022.

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Heritage Sites, a dance film

“A power-packed short film on embodiment and the human experience.”

“It was stunning and raw and some real authenticity the world needs right now.”

Heritage Sites is about the places that hold body memory for us, a bathroom, an aisle of a grocery store, a park bench. The places where we have wrestled, examined, perfected, cleansed, rinsed, and pruned ourselves into another form. Or can we?

Set in an enigmatic space containing a bathtub, we initially see an interplay between the water and each dancer as they tentatively touch, experience, and immerse themselves in it. Filmed on location in a warehouse in St. Paul, the dancers eventually transcend the confines of the tub to the floor of the space. Moving deftly between the pillars they jump, run, and sway.

Artistic Associate Brandon Anderson Musser’s soundtrack layers in live sound over a supportive musical landscape that amplifies the vulnerability of the dancers’ performances. Cinematographer Arlo Myren’s camera work captures a glistening tongue, the slap of a thigh, and underwear riding up, creating a world that is unfettered with glamorizing dance.

This work was made possible by our generous donors, and the Center for Performing Arts (see below).

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Heritage Sites, Works In Process Showing

Heritage Sites is about our daily routine. It exists in a bathroom of sorts. The place in which we see ourselves everyday. The place in which we can wrestle, examine, perfect, cleanse, rinse, prune ourselves into another form. Or can we? Are we really so different? Can we actually look ourselves in the mirror and be comfortable with what we see?

This work was created at the Center for Performing Arts (MN), where Alexandra Bodnarchuk was a Works In Process resident artist in Spring 2019.

pressure cooked meat

Pressure Cooked Meat ponders and examines our notions of Boxes of Conformity. How has this shaped our lived experience? How has our relationship to a Box of Conformity shifted over the years?

This work was created through the Generating Room : Open Proposal Initiative through The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Fall 2018.

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Where I Live

Where I Live is a series of works developed from the same seed idea. Over time the work has shifted and morphed into a reflection and examination of the experiences of the performer’s who bring it to life. The works include Descent (2016), Choice (2016), Shell Game (2017), and Why We Have Mountains (2018).

This work was presented as part of the Happy Hour performances at the Candy Box Festival at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis, MN in May 2018.

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Why We Have Mountains

Why We Have Mountains built upon the research Alexandra conducted while making Shell Game. Through discussion about the word and concept of Acceptance, the artists discovered how their personal stories and experiences informed this relationship. Through conversation and movement exploration they discovered a common thread between their experiences that was used to shape the movement and inform the work.

This work was commissioned by Threads Dance Project for Tapestries 3.0 which premiered at The TEKBOX in Minneapolis, MN in March 2018.

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Something Pretty

[Something Pretty] made me feel more understood and less alone ... truly meaningful and beautiful and I'll remember it for the rest of my life"  - audience member

Eating disorders are the deadliest mental illness in the United States. They affect 20 million women and 10 million men a year, not including the scores of individuals who suffer body dissatisfaction and sub-clinical disordered attitudes and behaviors. Many of these cases are seen in females ages fifteen to twenty-four years, and many of them participate in dance. 

Something Pretty physicalizes the mental and emotional struggle that individuals with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other eating disorders are faced with on a daily basis. Through research and discussion and an excavation of our own experiences, we discovered three themes that became the driving forces of the work: Idealization, Obsession, and Acceptance. These themes enabled us to embody a journey that speaks to the trajectory of many of these individuals. This journey resolves itself by choosing a healthier, brighter and hopeful future.

Our goal is that this work inspires a discussion about eating and related disorders that informs and opens a door to those who are unaware of the nuances of these struggles. Following each performance Alexandra and Guest Dancer Alicia Hann, shared their stories about their struggles with eating disorders. Collectively the artists engaged in an open dialogue with the audience and fielded their questions and curiosities about these disorders.  

Something Pretty premiered at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, PA in August 2016.

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Read and listen to the featured articles about Something Pretty by WESA/NPR and the Tribune Review. 

For this work Alexandra collaborated with photographer Hannah Altman to develop a series of images to accompany this project. These photos were used for the programs which were designed like a fashion magazine. In Alexandra's own experience, fashion magazines played a pivotal role in her struggle with an eating disorder. Something Pretty offered her an opportunity to create such images on her own terms. Below are some of those images. To enlarge, click the image. 

Dance! From the Inside Out

"a unique performing experience that … lifted the energy of the Festival"  Pittsburgh Dance Examiner

Dance! From the Inside Out was a collaborative dance video project comprised of Pittsburgh based artists.

Over a three month period dancers from Texture Contemporary Ballet, The Get Down Gang and freelance modern dancers came together to create a site-specific dance piece. They aimed to choreograph a fun and exciting cross-genre performance that highlighted each style: ballet, hip hop and modern. Additionally, the dancers worked in collaboration with videographer David Cherry to develop a cutting edge way to capture dance on film via the use of Go Pros. 

The goal: to enable the audience to see dance from the INSIDE, out.

During each rehearsal the dancers would teach and learn each other's styles. Then the dancers were paired with another dancer from another style to create a duet. Throughout the rehearsal process David would come in and the dancers would rehearse wearing the Go Pros. The videos that were made from this process enabled the viewer to get a close up look at what it felt like to be inside the dance, rather than watching it from afar. 

Dance! From the Inside Out premiered at the 2015 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. 

Click here to view images of the work. To watch the video from the participants, click HERE.

... and counting

…and counting explores the value of the numerical facts by which we define ourselves. Bodnarchuk uses the metronome of Time as a constant, a means of accessing the past, present and future. As she grapples with the weight and gravity of these two concepts she begins to unravel, allowing the audience to see what’s hidden beneath the seams of her existence.

... and counting premiered at the NewMoves Contemporary Dance Festival at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, PA in May 2015.

CONNOTATIONS: unknown

"you didn’t have to know the history to discern the humanity of her piece ... ranging from tentative touching to violence ... Very powerful." Pittsburgh CrossCurrents

Runner-up mention in the 2014 Best of Dance article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette!

CONNOTATIONS: unknown began as an idea that hatched during my run as an actor in Bricolage's STRATA.  It wasn't until after the show came to an end that I was able to write down the jumble of thoughts and ideas swirling in my head about what had happened in STRATA. Over the 5-week run of the show I was there as hundreds of people experienced my room.  I performed the same movements for each participant regardless of sex, age, or appearance; each one reacting differently than the last. Their reactions changed my intention, or the way I performed each movement. As I began to sift through these thoughts about 'how?' and 'why?' this happened, I became even more intrigued in using movement to continue to research human emotion and subsequent interactions. To me this work is a physical and artistic expression of my STRATA experience, and the result of the research we'd done in the studio. By investigating the superficial and emotional nature of these relationships, we created a work that transcended the confines of a traditional ‘dance piece’ and became an experience the audience and performers collectively shared.

CONNOTATIONS: unknown premiered at PearlArts Studios in Pittsburgh, PA in May 2014. 

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