OUR NEW SHOW
Not Our First Rodeo
SoMar Dance Works announces their new production, Not Our First Rodeo. The concert is scheduled for Saturday February 22nd at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday February 23rd at 2:00 p.m. at the Walker Recital Hall on the campus of Mercyhurst University, 501 East 38th Street, Erie, PA. Admission is free and open to the public.
As the title, Not Our First Rodeo, implies, this is certainly not the first concert presented by SoMar Dance Works. This dance company has been offering audiences innovative work for twenty-six years. While there may not be any barrel races, roping events, or bull riding, there is plenty of variety and entertainment. The hour-long dance concert is a mixture of world premieres and favorites from the company’s repertory. With tones ranging from silly to surreal, to the sublime.
Featured on the program is the return of Rodeo (on a stick). Originally choreographed in 2020, this dance is inspired by the work of Agnes de Mille and Aaron Copland. One notable difference between the famous ballet and this newer interpretation is the dancers are all riding hobby horses.
“It’s a bit of silliness. And who couldn’t use a bit of silliness from time to time” said co-director Mark Santillano. “It’s light-hearted, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a technically challenging piece of choreography” Santillano continued.
Another dance featured on the program is Not a Pipe. This piece is inspired by the works of surrealist painter René Magritte. The dancers weave in and out of various scenes presenting a tapestry of other-worldly images.
Rounding out the performance is Piercing Darkness, For the Honey and You, Tributary of Life, Tippy Tops, Kalyana Mitra, and a new film version of Old Friends.
Dancing on the program are Mercyhurst Dance majors, faculty, and alums: Emma Berkheiser, Katie Bleu, Kenzie Krommes, Maia Richards, Mia Semieraro, Madeleine Sipos, Moira Sullivan, Colton Swiger, as well as founders Mark and Solveig Santillano
SoMar Dance Works features the dances of Solveig and Mark Santillano. Serving as co-artistic directors, choreographers, and dancers, Solveig and Mark are seasoned performers who have danced all over the world. Their choreography has been influenced by their association with their former companies, Pilobolus Dance Theatre and Momix. Solveig and Mark are also the proud recipients of the inaugural Erie Arts & Culture Artist Fellowship.
SoMar Dance Works made its premier in 1999 at the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. Since that time, SoMar has performed at the Erie Art Museum, Erie Festival of Dance, the American College Dance Festival, Celebrate Erie, The Brick Church for the Performing Arts in Lovell, Maine, Unitarian Universalists in Community concert, Luther Memorial Concert Series, The Fredonia Opera House, Grand Valley State University, overseas in Gothenburg, Sweden, Austria’s Young! Tanzsommer, and numerous Mercyhurst University programs, where the company is in-residence.
Since the concert is free, SoMar is asking for donations through Go-Fund-Me. Contributions can be made by visiting this link: https://gofund.me/19710393