The ecosystem of three couples catapults out of balance when one person goes missing in “A Detective Story,” Sharp & Fine’s new full-length dance-theater show premiering Oct. 18 at Z Space in San Francisco.
Sisters Megan and Shannon Kurashige, co-founders and directors of the San Francisco-based contemporary troupe, are known for working closely and collaboratively with their dancers, calling them “uniquely charismatic.”
Sharp & Fine, which launched in 2011, draws from classical ballet and modern dance, often pushing beyond those forms. Its productions also feature dramatic storytelling, in text or spoken word, and arresting, dynamic movement. Dancers sometimes interact with onstage musicians.
The creative team for “A Detective Story”— including performers Charmaine Butcher, Julie Crothers, Caitlin Hicks, Molly Levy and Hadassah Perry —focused on mercurial, mysterious characters. Megan says consultant Sonja Dale, who has a voracious appetite for classic detective stories, first suggested exploring a character who by profession intrudes on people’s lives.
Megan continues, “A detective can ask questions, stare, interrupt, examine and get into intimate details of people’s lives in ways normal, polite people in general society can’t. That allowed us to get into really big things, like why do people love each other? Why do they leave each other? Why is this shiny detective really good at their job but miserably bad at their life and relationships? It’s more than just who got murdered and who did it.”
Megan describes developing separate arcs for each character as essential and time consuming, supporting the effort to expand the piece beyond a typical detective story structure: “Instead of one main character and all the others supporting that one, we set the challenge to have each dancer to be fully realized. Reaching that was different for each dancer.”
The piece is rooted in the characters’ complex, shifting relationships, about which Shannon says, “If one thing goes out of whack, even a small change, it can flatten or ruin the whole thing. When something shifts, there has to be a total readjustment to reach level again,” she says.
“A Detective Story” is structured in expected ways—duets, solos, ensemble sections—but with moments of improvisation that the Kurashiges say are vital to their creative process.
“The dancers have been improvising on a transition we’ve been shaping for about a year,” Shannon says. “We’re enamored with the invitations, agreements, rejections and wonderful interpersonal interactions that show up in dancing bodies when they improvise together.”
Even the stage space is an integral player: “We’re using the full depth, about 60 feet, which is unusual. Megan and I are fascinated with how you can layer abstract dance with storytelling scenes. With that depth, you can have two worlds coexisting on the stage at the same time,” Shannon adds.
Having “leaned heavily on the luxury” of having more than a year to work on the production, Shannon says, “There’s time for the collaborators to grow trust and camaraderie. In a room supported by friendship and trust, people open up and we find out what’s juicy, what’s important in their lives, what they want to explore.”
Original music for “A Detective Story” is by composer-percussionist Jordan Glenn, whom Shannon calls “an amazing collaborator.” She says, “Beyond the song-like wonderfulness of his music, he’s game to try anything. If we say, ‘Hey, will you move around and be chased by an opera singer?’ He says, ‘Yeah, sounds good.’”
Shannon adds, “We have a performer and band leader who influences staging and movement choices” whose ideas sometimes shift the piece’s gears.
In “A Detective Story,” their fourth collaboration, Megan describes how Glenn convinced them to include acoustic and electric guitar music they first thought was too upbeat. She says, “Hearing it in context with the other instrumentation, we felt, it totally works. He brings sensitivity and a different point of view we welcome.”
The same principle is integral to all their creative partnerships. The band also features Ben Davis on cello, Cory Wright on reeds and Matt Wrobel on guitar and the production team includes lighting designer Allen Willner, costume designer Emily Kurashige and stage manager Christina Larson.
Speaking to what Sharp & Fine dancers ultimately bring to the process and show, Shannon says, “They can charm the pants off you or be deeply meticulous. Some have comic instincts or depth of exquisite softness. One thing they all have in common: sensitive feet. It doesn’t matter if those feet are flexible. It’s important that the movement ideas don’t stop at the ankle and flow through every part of the body. Maybe that’s the requirement for Sharp & Fine dancers: The shape doesn’t matter, it’s their sensitivity.”
Sharp & Fine presents “A Detective Story” Oct. 18-20 at Z Space, 450 Florida St., San Francisco. Tickets are $20-$80. Visit sharpandfine.org.
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