Slumber
This is a story we know, kind of, with princes and magic and good vs evil and epic battles with ugly dragons. But it’s also something we kind of made up. And are still making up. A story we are telling right now. Even if it scares us. A story about waiting. Even if we don't know what comes next. Or if it will be worth it. Even if waiting becomes "the thing" instead of the thing we are waiting for. Suppose we tell it anyway. Suppose we tell it together.
Slumber is a new evening-length work by Hannah Garner's 2nd Best Dance Company that walks the fuzzy line between dance and play to share a well-known story about waiting: Sleeping Beauty. Slumber counters the perception that waiting is a passive state, wonders how we make meaning, and questions what is valued in live performance and, subsequently, what is valued in life itself.
Written, directed, choreographed by Hannah Garner in collaboration with the performers
Dancers: Courtney Barth, Hannah Garner, Hsiao-Jou Tang, Will Noling, Ryan Yamauchi
Costumes: CM Carney
Directorial Assistance: Ann Noling
Lighting: Matt Morris
Music: Sky's the Limit by The Duprees, Petite Fleur by Sidney Bechet, Act II: Una Furtiva Lagrima…Un Solo Instante composed by Gaetano Donizetti, performed by Enrico Caruso, Inspirit - Takuya’s Ryūteki Dragons composed and performed by Julianna Barwick, The Sleeping Beauty, Op 66, TH.13 / Act 3: 21 Variation II - The Silver Fairy composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, performed by Orchestra Victoria, conducted by Nicolette Fraillon, Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel) - For Ryan by The Gas House Gang, Les Chansons des Roses: V. Dirait-on composed by Morten Lauridsen, performed by Chamber Choir of Europe, conducted by Nicol Matt, Dionysus by Jocelyn Pook, sung by Melanie Pappenheim
Premiere: December 9-11, 2021 @ Triskelion Arts
Special thanks to Triskelion Arts, Ann Noling, Ariel Noltimier-Strauss, The Garner Family, and Alexa Carroll.
Slumber made possible by Emilia DeRossi, Motive Brooklyn, the GALLIM Moving Women Residency, Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Croft, and Chen Dance Center.
Photos: Ingrid Holmquist and Alice Chacon
Video: Alexa Carroll and Hannah Garner
