An informal showing of two repertory works and four premieres
with discussion led by Beth Soll

Sunday, February 18th , 2024 at 3 pm
At the Martha Graham Studio Theater
In Westbeth at 55 Bethune Street, NYC

Suggested Donation $10
Presented by Dance Projects, Inc.
Phone: 212-927-0476

Beth Soll NY Choreographer and Artistic Director of Beth Soll & Company will
present “Four Dancers, One Choreographer, and One Musician” in a showing of two repertory works and four new dances.

Soll, whose work is often described as enigmatic and uncategorizable, will give the audience some insight into her creative process with a discussion of the sources for the works listed below. Questions from the audience will be
welcome.

DANCERS: Janet Aisawa, Abigail Dias, Lindsey Miller, and Beth Soll.
MUSICIAN/COMPOSER: Kathryn Woodard.

Information about Beth Soll & Company:bethsollandcompany.org
https://www.facebook.com/BethSollandCompany.

THE FULL PROGRAM:

Folk Dance: A Restless Fugue. (2022) Duet for Abby Dias & Lindsey Miller. This work was
inspired by traditional folk dances and embroidery patterns from Eastern Europe. The dancers move
from upstage to downstage with detailed, ‘embroidery paths.’ Much of the dance is performed as a
fugue, but as it develops, the dancers abandon the fugal structure and dance together or in
opposition, which both enriches and undermines the conventions of folk dance and evokes a sense
of the passionate emotions and suggestions of conflict that are often implicit in traditional dances.
Improvised music for this work will be performed by noted musician/composer Kathryn Woodard.

Ardent Things (2023). Solo for Beth Soll. Now in her eighties, Soll has observed that the challenge
and richness of experience do not fade with age, but, in fact, as time passes, they achieve a kind of
glowing intensity that has both positive and negative implications. The dance is also inspired by the
many poems that contain the word ‘ardent’ and the phrases ‘ardent things’ that reflect the
receptivity of the artistic sensibility to the vibrancy of life. Music by Eka Chabashvili.

Four Conversations (premiere) Duets for Janet Aisawa and Abby Dias. Several months ago, Soll
watched videos of many of the dances she had created almost 50 years ago. With no clear goal and
working intuitively, she found herself creating four very different conversations from the
vocabulary and moods of these old works:

-Quiet Negotiation is based on Soll’s observation of her Russian grandfather, who lost a leg to
tuberculosis of the bone, working in his garden and negotiating the awkwardness of his heavy
wooden leg. The resultant, purely formal dance reveals a tranquil interaction between the dancers.

-Jittery Chit-Chat was inspired by the energetic, restless, free-form interchanges carried on by
kids and teenagers.

– Secrets is shaped by Soll’s 1979 work: Conversations in a Foreign Language, in which she
created a sense of the sublime intimacy of quiet personal conversations that happen in a foreign
context where meanings are often suffused with a sense of the mysterious and magical.

-Runaway Interplay. A fast, furious, athletic dance that reveals an absurd, sometimes awkward
connection between the dancers. Music by Eka Chabashvili.

Beth Soll. Since the beginning of her career, Soll has been recognized as a choreographer of
enigmatic and powerfully expressive dances.

Early on, she studied in Ithaca, NY with Romanian modern dancers Iris Barbura and Vergiu Cornea and later attended the Kurt Jooss School and the Harald Kreutzberg School in Europe. Since graduating in Dance from the University of Wisconsin, she has choreographed more than 150 dances and has also established an impressive reputation as a
soloist. She has held faculty positions at Boston University, MIT, where she directed the Dance
Program for 20 years, the Harvard Summer Dance Center, and UC Santa Barbara; she has also taught
as an adjunct at numerous Boston and New York colleges, including Hofstra University, the New
School, and Manhattanville College. Before forming Beth Soll & Company in 1977, she performed
professionally in Madison, Wisconsin, and in Boston with the Ina Hahn Dance Company, Dance
Collective, and the Harvard Summer Dance Company. In addition to major Boston and New York
seasons, her company has participated in numerous residencies and performance engagements at
American universities and performance venues, including a 3-week residency at Jacob’s Pillow. As a
soloist, she has performed and taught in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Romania,

and Russia. Her work has been generously supported by grants and prizes from corporations and
federal and state agencies. Her book, Will Modern Dance Survive? Lessons to be Learned from the
Pioneers and Unsung Visionaries of Modern Dance, was published in 2002.
Review quotes:
“. . . there is an understated virtuosity in the movement, and it was this that held my attention
throughout this short but extraordinarily rich concert.” David
Vaughan, Dance Magazine.
“Soll works like a collector – showing us in varying lights the odd and/or beautiful discoveries, the
everyday objects treasured for their private significance.” Deborah Jowitt, The Village
Voice.
“[Soll] stood still and just saw, her focus channeling distances so apocalyptic or visionary that we
trembled as they appeared within the lens of this beautiful dance.”
Fiona Dolenga, Culture Vulture.

“Soll is something of an alchemist: she takes the dross of everyday life and
turns it into the equivalent of spun gold.”
                                                       Thea Singer, The Boston Phoenix.