Premiered May 30 - June 1, 2013, Danspace Project, New York City

Touring: Bard College (April 2014); National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Canada (February 2016); Velocity Dance Center, Seattle, WA (November 2017); Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (February, 2018)

Running time:  50 minutes
Performers:  Joanna Kotze, Stuart Singer, Netta Yerushalmy
Composer: Dave Ruder                                                                                                                                                      

Costumes : Reid Bartelme
Lighting Design: Kathy Kaufmann

Velocity Dance Center and Wexner Center for the Arts tours performed by Raja Feather Kelly, Joanna Kotze, Netta Yerushalmy

Excerpts of ‘It happened…’ were performed in June 2012 as part of New York Live Arts Studio Series and in December
2012 at Movement Research at the Judson Church

It happened it had happened it is happening it will happen is a trio confronting the seductiveness of classifying, ordering, and structuring, while attempting to hold onto the character of the unnameable, vulnerable, and imaginable. The different approaches to knowledge—empirical vs. intuitive—are explored through varied movement. Through dynamic pacing and propulsive movement this trio uses interconnected rhythms, sounds and combinations of dancers. Fragments of motion are reassembled to produce a persistent drive. The sound of silence alternates with distant music, each acting as a backdrop for stomping, clapping, slapping, and breathing bodies. Comical gestures are juxtaposed against languid passages and sequences of movement. For It happened..., the audience sits on three sides of a large dance space, simultaneously containing the space, the dancers and themselves.

The creation of it happened...was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project 2012-13 Commissioning Initiative with support from the Jerome Foundation and also in part, through a commission from New York Live Arts’ Studio Series program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Jerome Foundation. it happened...was created, in part, through a 2012 Boo-Koo residency at Gibney Dance Center and was also made possible from contributions by individual donors.

Photos by Ian Douglas

Video by Nel Shelby Productions