SAXYN Dance Works Premieres NEW WORK at RADFest!

CLICK TO WATCH A PREVIEW OF SEOLH

Thank you for supporting SAXYN Dance Works and our newest creation, “Seolh”! We are excited to premiere the full work in March 2023 at RADFest, the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival, in Kalamazoo, MI. SAXYN Dance Works will be the featured dance company at RADFest with the support of The Croft residency (MI), where choreographer and director Thryn Saxon was the 2022/23 RADicle artist in residence this past summer.

It has been a long and fulfilling journey creating “Seolh” with the enormous talents of dancers Maggie Costales, Jamie Kleinschnitz, and musician and composer Bre Short. As a company, we are thrilled to headline the festival but need some help to make it happen. Traveling to perform is so rewarding, and the connections we make are invaluable. Still, we can't do it alone, so we’re reaching out to you, our community of friends, family, colleagues and mentors, to ask for your support.

Below you will see how your donation, no matter the size, will help us reach our goal. Thank you for your generosity and time, and to all those who have encouraged us along the way!

Watch a preview of "Seolh."

Here's what your donation will support:

$5 - $99 helps us pay for rehearsal space in preparation for our performance. You’ll receive:

$100 helps cover our food expenses while we are in Michigan. You’ll receive:

$250 helps pay for our rehearsals before our premiere at RADFest in Michigan. You’ll receive:

$500 pays for Maggie and Jamie’s roundtrip flights to Michigan. You’ll receive:

$1,000 covers an artist's fees, from flights and food to rehearsals and performances. You’ll receive:

These dollar amounts are merely suggestions––we welcome donations of all sizes, large and small! ANY donation amount helps us build toward our goal and allows SAXYN Dance Works to offer competitive rates to our collaborating artists.

We are so grateful for anything you are able to contribute!

About the piece:

“Seolh” is based on the myth of the "selkies,” mythic sea creatures––half woman, half seal––who embody the human quest for freedom. As the story goes, the selkie emerges from the ocean and removes her seal skin to bask in the sun. Her skin is then stolen by a man and, in that theft, she is bound to him until she finds it again. The inevitable happens and the selkie returns to her wild nature, trading the life she created on land for her first home, the water.

Throughout history, women have been told their individual parts are too powerful to exist simultaneously without the risk of societal confusion. They have been forced to reduce their complexities or be cast out for living too honestly in their truths, canonized into cautionary tales as fantastical creatures: seductive but dangerous. This reductive, fear-based stigma applies to all humans when examined through the lens of Plato’s Symposium: “We were once all twice the people we are now, but … our threat to the gods prompted Zeus to cut us in half.”

Selkies are beckoning us to rediscover the power of our multidimensional selves. Although these shapeshifters were predominantly portrayed as women, I believe the significance of their genesis delicately intertwines the stories of men, women, and non-binary individuals, across generations. Further inspired by the seductive power of the songs associated with folklore creatures, the piece will include live music, composed and sung by Bre Short.

*The research of this piece has been supported by The Dragon’s Egg , Homeport Art House, Arts on Site , Windhover Performing Arts Center , and The Croft .

Danced by Maggie Costales, Jamie Kleinschnitz and Thryn Saxon

Original score composed, recorded and performed by Bre Short

Choreographed and directed by Thryn Saxon in collaboration with the artists.