ABOUT DARA'S INFORMAL SHOWING

Dara Capley, MIDDAY's January Rough Drafts artist, will present an excerpt of her contemporary dance piece, “Eucalyptus,” with a cast of four dancers.

"Eucalyptus" uses the life cycles of the long-leaf pine tree and the eucalyptus plant as a starting point to explore the relationships between grief and growth, the different paths growth can take, and the concept of necessary destruction or violence. Both plants need to be set on fire to achieve the next cycle in their growth; pine can exist in its first, grass-like stage indefinitely unless set ablaze. The first iteration of this work was presented at Somerville ArtBeat in 2023; the work you will see at the Rough Drafts showing is meant to be a direct continuation of that piece, building towards an evening-length work.

A Note from the Choreographer

Some things to keep in mind, knowing that this is not a finished product: there are pieces of the structure missing and that are possibly out of order. This work will eventually feature ten dancers instead of six. Not all of the excerpts you will see will feature more dancers, but notably, the opening section will eventually have eight dancers. I am extremely grateful to be able to present this at an early stage of development, and I am thrilled to engage with an audience on a work that challenges me as an artist in so many ways.

ABOUT MIDDAY + ROUGH DRAFTS

Midday Movement Series ("MIDDAY") is a BIPOC-led grassroots initiative cultivating a new, diverse generation of dance leaders through professional development, mentorship, and advocacy.

MIDDAY's newest program, Rough Drafts, is a process-focused program supporting early (1-4 yr) and mid-career (4-10 yr) contemporary dance-makers to deepen their understanding of their own choreography and how to communicate to collaborators and audiences. From January-June, MIDDAY will host one monthly informal showing with our Rough Drafts artists. Our program will culminate with black box work-in-progress showcases on Saturday, July 13, at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM.