(Loco)motion

Motion and celebration are often two terms that go hand-in-hand. There is a level of excitement in celebration that can only be manifested through the physical movement of one’s body. We celebrate by fist-pumping the air, by high five-ing our friends, by hugging our family. One of the most beautiful and real places in our society is in a hospital; you have the celebration of birth, the challenges and adversities of health struggles, and the grief and slow acceptance of death, all wrapped up into one several thousand square foot building. In the same day, there will be those who welcome the newest, most important member of their family into life, almost simultaneously as we say goodbye to those of the same level of importance.

Kevin Day’s (Loco)motion is a celebration of the happiest moments in our lives, as well as representative of the ways in which we accept, challenge, and ultimately triumph over other lesser welcomed moments. What feels very akin to John Luther Adams’s Chairman Dances, the piece starts with an introduction of anticipation, encouraging the listener to lean in closer, and become more intimate with the syncopated rhythms and melodies that develop. As the piece progresses, we are taken for a ride through the highs and lows, but ultimately unrelenting capabilities of what music can accomplish.

As a performer, it is my goal to fully encompass that which is trying to be said. With this piece, I wanted to help further enhance the feeling and efficacy of the music by incorporating dance into the performance. I reached out to my friend, Kaleb Prescott, to choreograph dance and movement that will help to express the celebratory nature of (loco)motion as well as to better exemplify the dual meaning of the title. While the term locomotion means “movement, or the ability to move from one place to another,” having loco- (the spanish term for crazy) in parentheses allows the piece to be perceived as chaotic, random, and unassuming. What ultimately comes from this amalgamation of terms is an experience for audience and performers alike that is synonymous with the chaotic and celebratory nature of the realest of life’s experiences. Oftentimes, the line between chaos and celebration is blurred, and that is both an amazing and horrifying notion to understand.