DEAR BODY, LOVE ME ran September 12 and 13, 2025 at east Los Angeles’ Stomping Ground L.A. and included eleven dance works by six choreographers performed to numerous love songs. While the dancing was truly good, only three or four of the works actually had ideas and thoughts that could be seen via the choreography. Often it was the lyrics that told the story and the question that kept recurring to me was whether or not the movement would stand on its own without the lyrics. That said, I applaud all these young dance artists for their hard work.
Ariel Scott and Isabella Halek in “This Too Shall Pass, Is Passing, Just Passed” choreographed by Renée Donovan – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Act One opened with “This Too Shall Pass, Is Passing, Just Passed” choreographed by Renée Donovan and performed by four very talented women, Margaux Gex, Isabella Halek, Caitlin Javech, and Ariel Scott. The music was “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” a soul music ballad written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler, released as a single in April 1965. The work drew me in right away with the use of intricate arm movements that were occasionally in unison, but often not, before movement was then expanded into full body dance phrases. Here, Donovan expressed the meaning of the song without mimicking the lyrics. The dance stood on its own both choreographically and structurally allowing it to be felt as well as seen.
Renée Donovan in “Honeymooning” choreography by Donovan – Photo by Joe Duarte.
In Donovan’s “Honeymooning”, however, she fell into the trap of an overused concept utilizing very familiar movement phrases and lifts. We have seen this duet before – many times. Donovan and her partner Omri Mishael performed extremely well, but I was never certain about the relationship between them. Were they friends or were they newlyweds like the title suggested. There was not much new or unique to make this dance exciting. The music was “Spring 1 – 2012” by Max Richter.
Sarah Chan, Abby Chuah, Elsie Neilson, and Mizuki Sako in “(un)Chained” to me choreography by Elsie Neilson – Photo by Joe Duarte.
“(un)Chained to me” by Elsie Neilson was built in two sections with the second being the stronger. Dressed in stylized street clothes, in section one the four women vied for who was going to be matched with whom. The work came across as two very complicated same sex couples with unresolved issues due to the fact that they were all also good friends. Section two cleared these issues up for love to triumphed. What was fascinating to me was how Neilson took a relatively small amount of movement phrases and put them together in a manner where they always appeared fresh. The four performers who beautifully brought Neilson’s vision to light were Sarah Chan, Abby Chua, Elsie Neilson, and Mizuki Sako. The music was “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers and an original score by Ester Na titled “Mending Souls”. Also, Kyle Ryan’s lighting deserves special mention for this piece. The shifts between scenes and moods were seamless.
Leslie Marfil, Lydia McDonald and Sasha Serdyukov in “trois en un” choreography by McDonald – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Listening to the iconic singer, songwriter, musician and poet Nina Simone is always a special treat and choreographing to her songs can be risky. In “trois en un” Lydia McDonald started with very quirky isolated movements that reached outside Simone’s music and stood on their own merits. Somewhere along the way, however, McDonald lost focus in both meaning and style. The dance was interesting to watch from beginning to end but the constant tumbling and crashing to the floor distracted from what her movement said during the first two minutes of the work. I very much enjoyed the three dancers, Leslie, Marfil, Lydia McDonald and Sasha Serdyukov and it was their performances that saved the piece. The song by Nina Simone was “Ne Me Quitte Pas”.
Renée Donovan and Helen Nasillsk in “I Am My Own Ride or Die” choreography by Donovan – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Donovan’s duet “I Am My Own Ride or Die”, set to “II MOST WANTED” by Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus left me wondering why this wasn’t a solo done in front of a mirror. For the majority of the time the two performers, Donovan and Helen Nasilski, did the identical movement like two identical book ends. The vision for this work remained locked inside Donovan’s mind.
Rian Alcid and Ariel Scott in “catch me” choreography by Scott – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Act Two opened with “catch me” by Ariel Scott choreographed to “Siciliene, Op. 78” composed by Gabriel Fauré, performed by Kamilla Isanbaeva. Here was an overused idea about the love between two people choreographed with a fresh pair of eyes. We saw the electricity between this man and woman without the use of overly stated romantic lifts. The movement ideas were uniquely Isanbaeva’s and Rian Alcid and the incredible performer Ariel Scott brought the characters to life. This is a work to keep around.
Renée Donovan in her solo “When I Don’t Love Myself” – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Everything came together for Donovan in her solo titled “When I Don’t Love Myself”. Both her choreography and her performance were strong. Her strong ballet background shone through especially via the use of her expressive and lyrical arms. In this work, Donovan showed us that she can move swiftly and angularly as well as slowly and lyrically.
Ashley Shukman and Denise Leitner in “you’re gonna miss me” – choreography by Stephanie Mizrah – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Stephanie Mizrahi’s “You’re gonna miss me” opened with a strong solo beautifully performed by Ashley Shukman, set to Connie Francis’s song with the same title. Although not the strongest work on the program, her choreography moved in and out of the melody and rhythm instead of always visualizing the music, like the joys and surprises while taking a road trip without always following the directions of a map.
With the entrance of a mother figure, performed with great clarity by Denise Leitner, the second half of “You’re gonna miss me” related directly to the piece’s title. The strong connection between mother and daughter came across and ended with the two walking upstage together into the future, perhaps without regrets. The music for the section was “Nearly Curtains” by Keaton Henson.
Omri Mishael and Renée Donovan in “After The Honeymoon” choreography by Donovan – Photo by Joe Duarte.
Another strong work by Donovan was the duet for herself and Omri Mishael titled “After The Honeymoon”. Here their relationship was very clear and Donovan’s use of American Sign Language (ASL) gave the piece the needed edge and Mishael’s performance was stunning. The ending to this work is something to be experienced so I will not give it away here. Music for “After The Honeymoon” was “If You Call” by Angie McMahon. ASL translation was by Taj Umrani.
Natallie Caroll in A Life Well Loved – Choreography by Renée Donovan – Photo by Joe Duarte.
It is always a joy to see choreographers use a cast of different generations. In Donovon’s “A Life Well Loved” she brought in the lovely Natalie Carroll, an elderly woman who had obviously danced during her previous years. The movement was simple and elegant and Carroll’s performance made me smile while she danced elegantly to Billie Holiday singing “I’ll Be Seeing You”.
Programming a long evening of dance is not a simple task and unfortunately Donovan missed the mark by closing with Isabella Halek’s rambling, low key “Take Me” choreographed to Leon Bridges’ “River”. An audience that has sat for two hours – even with an intermission – on metal folding chairs with thin cushions, deserves something to boost them up, sending them out with more energy than what they came in with. Halek’s vision was never made clear and the energy level remained primarily low.
I applaud everyone involved with DEAR BODY, LOVE ME. Putting one’s work out there for all to see takes courage and hard work. Thanks to everyone involved for that.
Read the promotional article written by Nancy Dobbs Owen titled “Renée Donovan’s DEAR BODY, LOVE ME.”
For more information about Stomping Ground L.A., please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Leslie Marfil, Lydia McDonald and Sasha Serdyukov in trois en un choreography by McDonald – Photo by Joe Duarte.
