Continuing its support of Los Angeles based dance companies, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents BODYTRAFFIC in the Bram Goldsmith Theater Friday, December 6 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, December 7 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm. The program will include the World Premiere of Mayday by Trey McIntyre inspired by the life and music of Buddy Holly, the full production premiere of Juel D. Lane’s Incense Burning On A Saturday Morning: The Maestro inspired by the work of Angeleno visual artist Ernie Barnes, and I Forgot The Start by Matthew Neenan. Tickets are on sale now.
This is the second engagement in the company’s Los Angeles home season, the first being at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion last September. I spoke with Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and Executive Consultant Lucinda Lent to find out more about BODYTRAFFIC’s long-term partnership with The Wallis and the three works on this program. I also spoke briefly with dance artist Trey McIntyre over the telephone.
Tina Finkelman Berkett – Photo by Trey McIntyre.
Berkett explained how The Wallis feels like home for BODYTRAFFIC because of the support that it has provided for the company and also that fans of BODYTRAFFIC can now count on seeing them perform there. This is the 18th season for the company and prior to this partnership at The Wallis, L.A. fans were often asking where they could see the company perform next.
“One of the greatest outcomes of building this relationship at The Wallis is people are often saying to me, I’ll look out for your next dates at The Wallis,” Berkett said. “They know that there will be a constant homecoming, and that people can see the new work and can stay up to date with what’s happening with the company.” Berkett added that The Wallis is very close to where she lives and that she is there often for performances in addition to when BODYTRAFFIC is working there.
“I just want to stress how wonderful it is to have Robert van Leer and The Wallis Annenberg because they genuinely have been supporting dance a long time,” Lent said. “They really put their money where their mouth is and they are making a point to uplift and support dance. I’m really grateful to them for that.”
Once Artistic Director Paul Crewes joined The Wallis it became one of the few larger venues in Los Angeles to consistently present and support LA-based dance companies Diavolo/Architecture in Motion, Versa-Style Dance Company, L.A. Dance Project and Heidi Duckler Dance are a few of the LA companies that have performed there. Berkett is very grateful that the partnership BODYTRAFFIC built with Crewes has been carried on after van Leer became the Executive Director and CEO.
“I think it is really a testament to how outspoken Los Angeles has been about feeling like The Wallis is our home for dance,” Berkett added. “So that’s been incredible to feel the support from the community there.”
One morning Berkett saw a t-shirt that one of the dancers was wearing that read, ‘This Song Reminds Me of You’ and it sparked an idea for a theme for this season of BODYTRAFFIC. That theme involves presenting different evenings that highlight various areas of how nostalgia will immediately take you back to something that was very important.
Trey McIntyre’s work Mayday is a West Coast premiere and Matthew Neenan’s I Forgot The Start is a West Coast premiere. Berkett explained that Juel D. Lane’s piece is actually a World Premiere because she considered its performance at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion “somewhat of a soft launch” because that performance was not the entire work. The Wallis performance of this work will include the full production, including lighting and video projections by Los Angeles artist Yee Eun Nam.
McIntyre’s dance is honoring the music of American singer, songwriter and musician Buddy Holly who was a major pioneer of mid-1950s rock and roll. “It’s physically so challenging.” Berkett said. “Once the dancers do it, they feel incredibly accomplished, but gearing up for it is quite a task. It shows off their technical prowess and how connected this group is to each other.”
Trey McIntyre – Photo courtesy of BODYTRAFFIC.
I spoke with McIntyre over the phone right after he had been in rehearsal with BODYTRAFFIC. During our conversation he told me he recently moved to Los Angeles and accepted a position with the company as Creative Partner.
“Being a resident choreographer is part of it but I’m working as a Creative Partner on all levels,” McIntyre said. “In some ways I can make work that will connect with the bigger picture of the company.” He spoke about working with Berkett in thinking about the artistic life of the company and building on big ideas together. “I’ve been working somewhat with development, education and helping them think in ways that are more creative and inspiring to them, and helping to make sure the entire ship is moving in the same direction.”
He mentioned that he is the person that he wished was there for him when he had his own company.
Regarding his piece Mayday, McIntyre thinks of Mayday as less a tribute to Buddy Holly’s music and more about the dancers inhabiting aspects of his life. “What is it that we live this life and endeavor to create and to love and to inspire and to create futures knowing that we will die,” he said. “Knowing that at some point we will only amount to those moments, and we pretend that it does but we don’t really build so much beyond that. What does, it mean to live a life – in his (Buddy Holly’s) case, what if your life is only a little blip.” It is amazing how much influence Holly had on the Rock and Roll scene because he died at the very young age of 20. “The piece is really about the push and pull of living with that knowledge.”
Trey McIntyre and Tina Finkelman Berkett in rehearsal – Photo courtesy of BODYTRAFFIC.
He explained that the dancers are not so much playing Holly’s life, but the work is more about them exploring that part of his life.
For many, choreographing to music with lyrics can be tricky. One wants to honor them but not always present them as a narrative to the work. McIntyre said that he choreographs primarily to music that contains lyrics, but that when he listens to the music, he rarely hears them. “I hear them as sounds,” he said. “Even if I’m listening to them on the radio, I’m not listening for content. Lyrics to me are more the resonance of what is being sung. That’s more of what I respond to.”
Mayday was created earlier in the year and now that McIntyre has had a chance to see it with fresh eyes, he has fixed some things. “For all of us it is a lifelong process of getting to something that matters,” he said. “For some reason, coming in after the election and understanding the situation we are in as a country and as a planet, there is a part of me that no longer has the capacity in myself or the dancers to not go all the way.” McIntyre said that it makes him more patient with the dancers because he identifies with the blocks and other things that they are going through than he used to be.
Katie Garcia of BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Trey McIntyre.
“We’re all in that struggle to get to that place but as artists it is our responsibility, as part of the big picture, if as artists we aren’t pulling people toward their best selves, then we’re failures,” McIntyre said. He is dedicated to doing his best and to helping the dancers get there.
Six of the eight dancers in BODYTRAFFIC have been working together for almost four years. There were 50 performances during the company’s last season and Berkett believes that McIntyre’s Mayday really highlights just how connected the company is.
BODYTRAFFIC in “I Forgot The Start” by Matthew Neenan – Photo by Christopher Ash.
Matthew Neenan’s piece I Forgot The Start was first performed in February 2024 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and it is the second work of his that has been commissioned by BODYTRAFFIC. It is a dance that Neenan made to honor his husband and to honor the time that they had been together while his husband was battling cancer. Because of the close connection Neenan felt with BODYTRAFFIC, he sensed that this was the right company to create this work for. “We all felt so honored that he was willing to share with us so generously,” Berkett said. “So the work is really an exploration of what it means to be in that role of support when someone is going through something so difficult.”
Berkett added that the opening song of I Forgot The Start – In This Heart by Sinéad O’Connor – was actually Neenan and his husband’s wedding song. It has also been performed in Sun Valley, Idaho and in Napa. “In particular, people who have gone through similar experiences feel so deeply connected to this piece, and that for me is so meaningful.” Berkett said.
Ty Morrison of BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Guzman Rosado.
The last piece on the program at The Wallis is Juel D. Lane’s Incense Burning On A Saturday Morning: The Maestro inspired by the work of the late Black Angeleno visual artist, Ernie Barnes. Barnes attended art school in North Carolina and was the first American professional athlete to become a noted painter. He also played for the Baltimore Colts, the Los Angeles Chargers and was offensive guard for the Denver Broncos. His painting titled “The Sugar Shack” appeared on the opening and closing credits of the television show Good Times (1974-1979).
“It just shows off the versatility of the dancers, their ability to take on such different styles and forms and I think it’s a beautiful tribute to Ernie Barnes,” Berkett said. And his foundation has been involved in helping us.” The piece includes some of Barnes’ paintings projected onto the back wall of The Wallis stage.
Barnes’ paintings are so full of movement and I asked Berkett if she knew whether Lane was inspired by one particular painting or his overall style. “He was inspired in particular by a woman in a yellow dress that appears in a number of the paintings,” Berkett said. “And he was inspired in particular by this muse of Ernie Barnes and what it was that called to him, what he felt connected to about this woman and how she appears throughout a lot of his work.”
Katie García of BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Guzman Rosado.
Running a repertory dance company is difficult because of the many different movement styles that the dancers are dealing with. I asked if the choreographers managed to return to rehearse their works. Berkett said yes, but it can be here or in some other city while BODYTRAFFIC is on tour. McIntyre was part of the company’s summer intensive and is in LA at the moment. Neenan will also be back in LA in time to rehearse with the company before the performance at The Wallis.
“We were texting yesterday because I’ll take videos and send them to him and he will give me notes,” She explained. “It’s a constant conversation. And Juel, very similarly, has been back and forth a number of times and he will be coming in the week before we open at The Wallis as well.”
Berkett feels that this is “a special and deeply welcomed moment for BODYTRAFFIC.” The company recently received a large, multi-year grant from the Perenchio Foundation to help BODYTRAFFIC’s Los Angeles operations, performances, training programs, and community outreach.
“There’s a certain magic happening in the studio and at work,” she said. “And everyone feels the energy. It’s starting to feel like what the next 20 years might look like at BODYTRAFFIC.” It is hard to believe that the company has been in LA for that long, but the company is already making preparations for how to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Berkett related that she feels people are just beginning to know the post pandemic BODYTRAFFIC and that she is excited to share it with the LA audiences. She hopes that they will come out to learn what the company is up to now. Berkett is and has always been dedicated to building up their audience. “So, if you have that friend or that family member who thinks that they don’t like contemporary dance, this is the show to bring them to,” Berkett said. “We want to help you convert them!” She believes that one way to help audiences begin to enjoy contemporary dance and the incredible dancers is through music. She noted that this concert has the right type of energetic, accessible music that can welcome new-to-dance audiences as well as extraordinary dancers performing amazing works.
Lucinda Lent – Photo courtesy of BODYTRAFFIC.
Before joining the BODYTRAFFIC team six weeks ago, Lucinda Lent had only heard of the company. ““The moment you step into the studio, you can’t help but feel the joy radiating from everyone—the dancers and the staff alike,” Lent shared.
“But the minute you even enter the studio, you’re just impacted by the joy that everyone is feeling. The dancers and the staff,” Lent said. “What truly took my breath away is the incredible amount of work this small company does within the community. While many organizations focus on community engagement once a year, BODYTRAFFIC integrates it into everything they do. That made a deep impression on me right from the start,” she added.
LA companies like Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Invertigo Dance Theatre and BrockusRed also have year round community programs.
BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Trey McIntyre.
Lent emphasized the importance of Los Angeles supporting a contemporary dance company, noting that BODYTRAFFIC has been a cornerstone of the dance community for nearly 20 years. She explained that while the company does charge for its dance intensives, no student is ever turned away due to lack of funds. “They provide scholarships to ensure the program can impact those closest to us within the community,” she said. “They also have the Creative Aging Initiative, which is designed for the older generation.” Lent shared that every time she watches a video of those classes, she is moved to tears.
We discussed the possibility of more dancers from LA being asked to join BODYTRAFFIC. Berkett explained how not too long ago she was at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and told students there that they should come and take company class. She said to them “You’re about to be looking for jobs. We are here for you. Come be with us and see what it feels like to be in our company environment.” This past Friday morning she walked into company class and almost the entire junior class was there. “This is what dance is about. It’s about the joy it brings, and in this moment, we need it more than ever.” BODYTRAFFIC also mentors young dancers has mentor and recently gave a free performance at the Boys and Girls Club.
Anaya Gonzalez and Jordyn Santigo of BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Trey McIntyre.
Both women share inspiring ideas for uniting the LA dance community. “Because if we all come together,” Lent said, “I think we could create something truly powerful. Just last week, we were discussing what we call the Dream Cycle. It starts with young students joining our summer or winter intensives. From there, they might go on to LACHSA, COLBURN or USC, and eventually, they could become BODYTRAFFIC company dancers. That’s the cycle we want to foster—finding and nurturing talent right here in Los Angeles. The talent is here; it just needs to be cultivated. It needs the breath and the chance.”
BODYTRAFFIC gives away between 50 and 100 tickets to their performances to young local students even if they cannot find someone to underwrite the cost of those tickets
If you are wanting to see wonderful dancing and beautiful and inventive choreography, I strongly recommend that you go to see BODYTRAFFIC perform at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, December 6 at 7:30 pm and on Saturday, December 7 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit The Wallis website.
To learn more about BODYTRAFFIC, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: BODYTRAFFIC – Photo by Guzmán Rosado.
