Molly Heller's "Heartland: Woodland Creatures + DANCE PARTY"
The heart of the matter.
Heart break.
Heart attack.
Affair of the heart.
Heart of gold.
Flexible heart.
Follow your heart.
Heavy heart.
Open heart.
In the heart of the woods.
The next iteration of Molly Heller’s HEARTLAND takes place Monday, June 3rd at Urban Lounge. Heller continues to investigate the sensations, idioms, and spaces of the heart with dance collaborators Marissa Mooney, Melissa Younker, Brian Gerke, Nick Blaylock, Stephen Koester, and a surprise special guest. In addition to returning collaborator Michael Wall, musicians Nick Foster, Oliver Lewis, and Austin Booth will join Wall as collaborators in playing live synths, drum sets, and Abelton live. Read about the first HEARTLAND + dance party here.
Woodland Creatures is the theme for this HEARTLAND, and all attendees are invited (but not obligated) to arrive in fantastical costumes that express and inspire. Tickets are only $8 and the event is at Urban Lounge. Yes, the bar will be open (21+ event), and yes, it’s a Monday night. Personally, I’m planning on wearing a white jumpsuit with glitter on my arms, and I’ve heard that other attendees are making masks/bunny ears, wearing Keith Haring miniskirts, or curating other flora/fauna inspired outfits. Heller and Mooney are working closely to curate the space with an immersive set design. The overall textures and sensations of this HEARTLAND world are ethereal, expansive, shimmery, and definitely of the woods. We all made it through a long winter, and this dance party reflects the lightness and possibilities that come with spring energy.
Although the evening will follow the same model as in February, many of the moving parts of this evening have changed. Heller is working with double the collaborators, a new theme, and intentionally blurring the performance space more than before. HEARTLAND begins with a short performance followed by an invitation to a dance party (it was nice and sweaty last time), and are bookended by another performance at the close. No one is required to dance, but all are invited. Just as if you were attending a music show at Urban Lounge, attendees are free to come an go at any time. Without revealing too much, I’ll say that there is more live music integrated with recorded music, and everyone performing is trying something they have never tried before.
Feel free to wear things that inspire you!
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1192795300894644/
Doors open at 7pm with a live ambient set by Wall, Foster, Lewis, and Booth
Performance + DANCE PARTY from 8-10pm
Tickets are $8
Link to tickets: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1848899
More info: mollyheller.com
Molly Heller talks about HEARTLAND:
“The goal of these HEARTLAND performance + DANCE PARTY is to do things we’ve never done before...to try things within the company of others that feels BIG.”
“I want this to feel like an exchange if someone chooses for it to be, you don’t have to dance, it’s not mandatory to experience something...the performances, sonic environment, and set design exist on their own and experiencing these elements is also an exchange."
“We are thinking about the crafting of the space as this fantasy world that has bloom and growth...the diverse textures in the woods (the way your body feels in the heart of the woods) and we are mimicking these sensations in the space scenically. This environment is growing on itself and growing within us, it has root systems - it's an eco-system."
“I'm asking- what are the freedoms, and what are the limitations inside of this space?”
“I want there to be songs that we know and songs that are unfamiliar.”
“It evolves on it’s own.”
“I’m looking at this openness of our bodies and of the space, how we widen, reach and listen.”
“It’s a shift in the weight of the heart, we are practicing ballooning, puffing, and billowing.”
“It [HEARTLAND] is embracing that we are now in June, looking at this time of the year that is growing and evolving into greenery...a time of transition."
“WOODLAND CREATURES is both fantasy and it exists in real time…”
Written by Hannah Fischer
University of Utah
School of Dance
Modern Dance MFA Candidate