Picture this:
You’re 22. You’ve been in a relationship with a partner for a while. You laugh, you love, you adventure . . . And then something changes.
You can’t connect. It’s as if you are looking at each other through a 1 way mirror. You are both looking but can’t see each other. Something’s wrong. . .
Then you realize, it’s only YOU that’s trying to see.
Your partner is numb, walking around with their man made barrier to the world. They are choosing not to see you. They are choosing the disconnection.
KNOWbody was inspired by this guttural loneliness. How lonely would it be to exist in a world where everyone chooses to numb themselves? And yet, this happens every day to addicts.
KNOWbody is one of the simplest pieces that I have ever created. It took the SIDEWAYS Dancers less than 1 hour to learn but the delivery of this piece is actually complicated. The dancers have to “zone out” so that they really aren’t seeing that other dancers on stage – it’s almost like intentionally blurring your vision. They can’t make eye contact or feel each other’s energy (which is something that is pretty 2nd nature to dancers). They have to isolate themselves.
We premiered this piece in 2007 in an adjudicated performance at the first PULSE Convention in Atlanta. It was TREMENDOUSLY different from anything else on stage. Everyone else was showing off their turns & leaps & well . . . we were sitting, staring, & not seeing.
Mia Michaels & other SYTYCD choreographers loved it! Mia Michaels praised the simplicity of it & said that she was inspired to create a new piece from it. That was an extraordinary day for SIDEWAYS!
FUN FACT: I even have Mia’s personal cell phone written on a slip of paper (by her) for future events and full disclosure . . . It’s framed
KNOWbody toured to NYC later that year & it’s been a fan favorite ever since.
P.S. It also has some of the best lighting ever!
Take a peek below: