Pat Graney and “Girl Gods” dance at REDCAT. / Photo by Jenny May Peterson
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater Director and Curator Mark Murphy knows when he sees a good thing. Having nurtured choreographer/director Pat Graney from her start in Seattle three decades ago, he’s bringing the artist and the Pat Graney Company to his downtown stage this Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 3-5, for shows at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. The ensemble will present “Girl Gods,” a quintet that has already garnered two BESSIE Awards (New York Dance and Performance Awards), for what is described in promotional materials as its exploration of “the ancestry of women and deeply embedded layers of molten rage and repressed passions.”
The award-winning immersive video and sculptural environment created by Holly Batt and the original score by Amy Denio fill the stage, uncovering the emotional underbelly of the female experience. This anger, wry humor and fierce movement vocabulary usually hidden below cocktail dresses and kitten heels is revealed by Graney and her collaborators.
In light of recent political revelations and tabloid sensibilities, “Girl Gods” seems a timely reminder of the Equal Rights Amendment and what may be lurking below the surface. And the Pat Graney Company is just the one to set the picture straight.
Graney has been awarded national and international recognition for her work on stage and in prisons throughout the world. The company was last here in 2011, presenting its American Masterpiece, “Triptych.” Its “Keeping the Faith/The Prison Project” is one of the longest-running prison arts programs in the United States.
—Benn Widdey, Culture Spot LA
REDCAT is located at 631 W. Second St., LA 90012.
Tickets are $10-$25 and can be purchased at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/962847
More info: https://www.redcat.org/event/pat-graney-girl-gods