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About Summer Labs
National Sawdust fights constantly to be on the cutting edge of artistic innovation. So we created Summer Labs: our way of giving to both our patrons and the artistic community. We selected ten incredible artists—both solo acts and groups—from a pool of over 100 applicants to create, workshop, and showcase a masterpiece they couldn’t make happen anywhere else. National Sawdust supplies our stage as workshop space in addition to financial and marketing support, all culminating in a final performance. This is the second of four showcases.
About the Show
Donovan Dorrance & Gregory Richardson
“Music for Dorrance Dance”
After composing a 16 minute piece for tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and her company, Dorrance Dance, in 2015, Greg and Donovan have been asked to expand that initial composition into a full evening-length work of choreography and improvisation which will premiere this Fall in New York City followed by a tour. “Music for Dorrance Dance” is a collection of compositions created with the intention of inspiring the choreographer, driving the dancers, and showcasing an emotional narrative. The process of creating music for tap dance is a constant exchange – tap dance is percussive music in itself – so the choreography by nature changes and augments the composition. Add to this the fact that through Michelle’s choreographical process, she will make many edits, requests, and structural changes to the compositions. These pieces stand firmly alone, but they are quite different from what they will become by the time the show premieres, making the National Sawdust showcase a unique, singular moment in the compositional process.
Joanna Wallfisch
“The Great Song Cycle Song Cycle” is a multimedia song cycle memoir based a true and personal journey — one woman’s solo concert tour via bicycle 1,154 miles from Portland, OR, to Los Angeles, CA.
Pushing through challenge and triumph while traversing the coast with only her body and two thin wheels propelling her forward, what transpired was a tour full of music made richer by the beautiful struggle Joanna intentionally created. Combining contemporary art song with post-folk and singer-songwriter inflections, woven together with spoken word, hypnotic projected images, vocal looping and other electronic techniques, “The Great Song Cycle Song Cycle” is a piece which astounds and inspires with true stories imbued with humor, beauty and honesty. Through this musical and physical embodiment of a once in a life-time experience, Joanna will share her story, transporting the audiences to a world of human endeavor, meditative solitude, and a true sense of adventure.
About the Artists
Donovan Dorrance & Gregory Richardson
Gregory Richardson is a multi-instrumentalist originally from Tucson, AZ who studied Bass at Bard College and settled in New York City. Gregory tours around the world with the band Darwin Deez. Currently he is also co-creating a live band/tap dance show called “Music from The Sole” that draws heavily from Jazz, Soul, Hip-Hop, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban.
Donovan Dorrance is the Music Director at Dorrance Dance, his sister’s tap dance company, and originally hails from Chapel Hill, NC where he studied music before attending The University of North Carolina for a B.A. in Philosophy. Donovan moved to Brooklyn in 2014 to assist his sister’s company and pursue his passion for composition.
Together, Gregory and Donovan have composed and performed with Dorrance Dance full-time over the past three years touring regularly in several shows including Delta to Dusk, SOUNDspace, ETM: The Initial Approach, ETM: Double Down, and Works & Process Rotunda Project at the Guggenheim Museum.
Joanna Wallfisch
London born, NYC based vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Joanna Wallfisch has emerged as a unique voice in the conteporary songwriter world. The New York Times described her music as “sensitive and deep”, while Downbeat called her “an exsquisite singer-songwriter”. A master in the art of live vocal looping Joanna creates beguiling vocal soundscapes to accompany her songs.
In 2016 Joanna released her third record, “Gardens In My Mind” (Sunnyside), and decided to celebrate with an epic adventure: “The Great Song Cycle”. Now, a year on, she has taken her experiences and created a 40minute solo piece, “The Great Song Cycle Song Cycle“.
