A new professional performing arts ensemble has taken up residence in the Theatre and Dance Department and grabbed the attention of Northern California critics.
Sideshow Physical Theatre Company, which opened the department’s 2002-03 Main Season in Mondavi Center with a performance of choreography professor Della Davidson’s The Ten PM Dream, was this month cited by The Sacramento Bee as the best modern dance of the year 2002.
Sideshow and Davidson, wrote The Bee’s critic-at-large, the late William Glackin, "made a wonderfully impressive debut."
Sold-out houses and rave reviews were a fit beginning for an artistic enterprise whose productions aim to show how the human body "bridges the gap between theatre and dance, life and art" while its presence on campus fills a special educational role.
"To me, Sideshow is an extension of the concerns of the department," said choreographer Davidson, associate professor of theatre and dance and artistic director of Sideshow Physical Theatre.
Describing the world through dance
Davidson, a nationally known choreographer, joined the department last year. Known primarily for her work with her own San Francisco-based company, Della Davidson Dance, she has created more than 30 dance and theatre works during the past 15 years for companies in the United States and Great Britain and is the recipient of various prestigious grants and awards.
Originally trained in ballet, she has been committed to modern dance choreography since her undergraduate days at the University of Utah. Sideshow Physical Theatre Company will reflect her central interest in "making work that really tries to describe our experience of the world."
"The company is devoted to the exploration of new performance forms and the creation of interdisciplinary work that merges text, movement, video and film," she said. "The traditional boundaries are artificial."
One of Sideshow’s goals, according to theatre and dance department chair Barbara Sellers-Young, is to "examine and challenge the boundaries between classifications of performance" — such as dance/theatre, theatre/film, theory/praxis, high culture/low culture. The company will combine classical modern dance approaches with contemporary theatre techniques.
The company’s name reflects an interest in "the strange and unusual on the margins of our lives — emotional undercurrents, submerged stories, offbeat characters…things that challenge the heart, mind and senses," Davidson said.
Sideshow at present has nine members — six dancers and three actors — and Davidson does not, for logistical reasons, see it growing much larger than 10.
Like the only other professional performance company resident at UC Davis — the music department’s 17-year-old Empyrean Ensemble — Sideshow Physical Theatre envisions an annual season in Northern California as well as regular tours that represent the excellence of the theatre and dance programs at UC Davis.
Education via top-notch interaction
The company’s educational mission is also of prime importance, Sellers-Young said.
"Sideshow Physical Theatre Company is an exciting addition to the theatre and dance program, as it highlights our professional MFA program in interaction with professional actors, dancers, and designers," said Sellers-Young.
"In terms of performance research, you have to have excellent performers to really explore new forms," Davidson said. "The presence of a resident professional company shows that the campus is serious about the level of work that is done here.
"Students who are around a working professional company see the craft and discipline required to be an excellent dancer or an excellent actor. They can aspire to become members of Sideshow, they can be taught by these professional dancers and actors and raise their own technical levels. Excellent professional work propels students forward and creates an ambiance of focus and discipline," Davidson added, noting that Sideshow supports all the programs of the department by acting as our laboratory.
The company roster includes three graduate student dancers, MFA candidates Melissa Wynn, Eric Kupers and Jane Schnorrenberg. Davidson sees the company as potentially accepting other professional caliber graduate students.
"Students will learn by inspiration and example and will be part of the process of making performance work at the highest standard," Davidson said. "Our best students will perform with Sideshow, and it will stretch them, it will really make them grow."