For dance anywhere® 2014 Alex Ketley and his company, The Foundry danced in the snowy peaks of western Colorado. “It was a beautiful afternoon. Cold though!” The Foundry was in residence at Perry Mansfield, a creative oasis in Steamboat Springs. As the clock struck 1PM, snow was falling steadily and the dancers bundled up to perform outside. Said Ketley, “Being in the cold and snow engenders very different responses than being in a designated dance space!”

The movement was choreographed by Ketley and reinterpreted by the dancers to accommodate the snow. Ketley’s creativity was sparked by the surroundings and the creative process. “Being outside and dancing, or creating dance feels like hunting. My senses feel really open and wide and I feel like I am wondering about the world around me, and curious about capturing something elusive and resonant.”

Perry Mansfield

Ketley decided to dance anywhere® because of his passion for choreographing outside. “It came to me really early that dance studios are wonderful, but just a specific type of environment, and usually fairly stark. Changing circumstance and environment changes how we feel, which in turn changes how we generate and create”.

“Dance anywhere® should happen every day, year round!” Ketley perceives that it is private studios and performance halls that separate dance from the public, limiting dance literacy amongst the general population. “Since many dances are built in private studios, and performed in private theaters, these mechanisms lend dance a continuing sense of drifting away from the everyday life of people…If every rehearsal in the US happened in full view of the public, my suspicion is dance literacy and interest would be much deeper and more enthusiastic.”

For more information on Alex Ketley and the Foundry visit his dance anywhere® page or alexketley.com