Choreographer Robert Moses is a force to be reckoned with. His company, Robert Moses’ KIN (RMK), is celebrating its 30th anniversary this season, which launches with three performances this weekend, March 14–16, at San Francisco’s Z Space, where the company first debuted in 1995 (back when the venue was known as Theatre Artaud).
The program includes the world premiere of Moses’ The Kennings, plus three new pieces by the guest choreographers in RMK’s New Legacies: One Act program. All of these works are slated to be performed by the 11 dancers who represent the troupe’s next generation of artists.
Moses’ manifest skills as a choreographer have led him to work with such companies as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Opera, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Cincinnati Ballet, and the New Conservatory Theatre Center. But he also has a talent for writing and composing, having crafted texts and scores to accompany his own dance pieces.
“I’m a Seinfeld low talker,” he said in a recent interview with SF Classical Voice. It’s an ironic self-description, given that Moses’ work is so overtly political, exploring subjects like war, race, human rights, and individual freedoms.
Collaboration has always been key for Moses. He recalled how in the early days after establishing his troupe, “we used to sneak into studios and gyms to rehearse, so we didn’t have to pay as much for rehearsal space. The relationship with the dancers was a little different. We were more like contemporaries rather than having the choreographer-dancer kind of relationship. It was a different time.”
Of his current work, he said, “I don’t know that it’s changed so much. If I’m interested in something or if an impulse pulls or drives me, I try to make [it myself]. If I go in with a group, I have to figure out what the group dynamic is, begin to see what they have to work with, and then I try to shape and mold [what I’m choreographing] according to their inclination.
“[There’s] this phrase that’s been in my head for a long time: ‘How do I put this on that body in such a way that it will read?’ It’s not just the physical [body] but what’s [in the mind]. You get different movement out of people that way as opposed to in the ballet world, where these are the steps and you [just] do them.”
Instead of dancing a marathon of past works from the RMK repertoire, the company decided to make commissioning other artists part of its 30th anniversary. Three teams of collaborators were selected.
Choreographers Yayoi Kambara and Loni Landon, who met back in grad school, are happy to be working on a project for RMK.
For 13 years, Kambara was a company member of ODC/Dance, where Moses started his choreographic career before founding RMK. “I learned so much from Robert even though we weren’t in the company at the same time,” she said. “I feel the legacy of his choreography and contributions to ODC repertoire in my body.
“I was talking to Loni about this idea of legacy and how different it is for us [as dancers]. It’s not about something that’s an object or something that’s going to get passed down, but it lives in the ephemera. That’s how I experienced Robert’s legacy, his creativity and craft.”
Choreographer Nol Simonse is joining forces with playwright Jim Cave and singer-songwriter Lawrence Tome as the second team of commissioned collaborators.
“The three of us previously worked on a piece together,” Simonse recalled, explaining his process with his colleagues. “We started off with the theme of the environment and the world that we share and gave [the new work] the title Before the Storm. Making a piece is almost like sourdough starter. There are things in the air of the room that come into the piece. The world will always affect the art that you make. [Southern] California was still on fire at that time, so [that] definitely influenced the work.
“[We were] thinking about all the people that had to pack up their homes and leave very quickly. How do we prepare for a storm that’s coming politically? But mainly there’s some real tenderness in the piece. We do support each other in times of crisis.”
And among artists, support ties back to the idea of legacy. “Dance is an oral history that we pass down from teacher to student,” Simonse said, echoing Kambara’s description of Moses’ impact. “Robert not only has a legacy as an artist, but he’s a part of the legacy of dance in the Bay Area.”
Choreographers and sisters Shannon and Megan Kurashige — who, since 2011, have been artistic directors of their own company, Sharp & Fine — are the final collaborative team, and what’s more, they’re calling on a longtime friend — flutist, pianist, and composer Erika Oba — for their piece for RMK.
“We’ve become very spoiled working with a consistent group of folks,” said Megan Kurashige, hinting at how choreographing for a different set dancers has presented certain challenges.
Shannon Kurashige elaborated, “Through these long creative processes, we’ve built up so much trust and camaraderie with our [own] dancers that there’s a lot of daring and choice-making that happens. You just think of it as normal. Coming into a new group [of dancers] whom we didn’t know very well, we wondered, ‘How do we build that kind of environment in such a short amount of time?’
“We always work really closely with composers and musicians, and a lot of dancers don’t necessarily get that opportunity, so we thought it would be fun to have Erika come in and be like the boss or leader. [The dancers] were a little shell-shocked at first, but everyone ended up having fun.”
Shannon Kurashige said that she’s excited to see how her and her sister’s work fits in with the rest of the RMK anniversary program. “We did a show-and-tell session with all of the choreographers [earlier in the year],” she explained. “It was fun, but everyone was only [partly] finished. We shared [our piece] with no music. So I’m curious to see where everyone else’s pieces have ended up.”
“It’s not [a process] you normally get to experience as a dancer,” Megan Kurashige added. “Normally the choreographer comes in and tells you what to do, and then eventually you show it onstage. To incorporate that sharing across the board is kind of cool.”
Certainly, this 30th-birthday party for one of the best dance companies in San Francisco is a must-see.
