When I started putting this piece together, a number of images came to mind. As a young bride to be, I remembered how special I felt, and how in love I was. Not only was I in love with my fiancé, I was also in love with the process of being engaged and planning a wedding. I was in love with love!
I have been married for over 20 years now. I have a caring, supportive husband who is my best friend. But, sometimes, as I look back over the years, I realize that I have made sacrifices for the relationship and the marriage. And I believe that many women make those sacrifices, some more than others. And so I asked myself - How much do we fight for our needs, for ourselves and who we are, and what WE want out of life, and how much do we just let go of for the sake of the relationship, the marriage, and later, for our children.
My artist friend, Mary, had made a wedding dress out of dollar bills, and one out of green combat material, for an art exhibit. They were both beautiful and intriguing – the combat material wedding gown even had a bouquet of bullets that Mary made as an accessory. I loved it! I knew that I wanted to use it in a dance piece, and Mary was agreeable to it.
I started to think about these ideas, and the dress, and wondered if it was possible to combine them into a dance piece. I found the music I wanted to use, and realized I wanted to add some humor due to the seriousness of the subject matter, which is how the 4 brides dancing to Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E came to be. I decided to use real wedding gowns and veils as costumes, to assure it would be as authentic as possible.
Finally, I decided to call it “Underneath”, because of the many layers of emotion and thought that make us who we are as women, and as human beings. We are complicated.
- Christine
Premiere Date: 7 April 2013