Food & Drink
Seattle Choreographer on What She Loves (and Hates) About Dance
Nancy Guppy invites Seattle choreographer Peggy Piacenza to dance
By Nancy Guppy October 21, 2014
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
Peggy Piacenza has been dancing for more than 25 years, collaborating with prominent avant-garde choreographers such as Dayna Hanson, Pat Graney and Deborah Hay. Touch Me Here is her first full-length solo piece, a “movement memoir” informed in part by Lotan Baba (the “rolling saint” of India) and the Fellini film Nights of Cabiria. Using a one-two punch of humor and pathos, Piacenza blends dance, film and theater with original music performed live by cellist Scott Bell. 11/20–11/22. 8 p.m. $15–$20. Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave.; 206.316.7613; washingtonhall.org
LOCATION: Uptown Espresso in Magnolia
PEGGY’S DRINK: Iced Americano with cream
Nancy Guppy: Was dance your first love?
Peggy Piacenza: Yes, absolutely. I was dancing with scarves like Isadora Duncan and choreographing dances for the kids in my neighborhood when I was 7 or 8 years old.
NG: What do you love most about dance?
PP: I love to move, the physicality of it. And I love the poetic, abstract language of dance. It’s a way of seeing the world.
NG: What do you hate most about dance?
PP: Sometimes it can be really boring.
NG: How would you describe yourself as a dancer/choreographer?
PP: Inquisitive. There’s always a philosophical edge, a quest. I’m always searching for something.
NG: What are you exploring in Touch Me Here?
PP: The theme of touch is really important—how we’re touched artistically, spiritually, physically, emotionally, sexually, intellectually, all that. How does touch transform us? How does art do so?
NG: I read that the show is a “very personal departure from past work.” How so?
PP: I’m taking inspiration from something deeply personal in my own life and I’ve never done that quite so literally.
NG: As a performer you are esoteric and comedic. Do you try to be funny?
PP: I don’t try to be funny, but I think it’s in my blood. I’m also intrigued with how time works in choreography and I think I might have a slight sense of comedic timing.
NG: What should newcomers to dance know before seeing a performance?
PP: Don’t try to understand it. Don’t try to have to put a literal meaning. People get in trouble when they try to make a linear story.
NG: Success—what does it look like?
PP: To see something through. Whether it’s cleaning your house or putting on a show.
Nancy Guppy showcases Seattle artists on her show, Art Zone (seattlechannel.org/artzone).
Follow Us
Cascadia Art Museum Lands a Game-Changing Gift of Timeless Treasures
More than 75 rare Northwest paintings join the museum’s collection
What did the Aurora Bridge or South Lake Union look like in the 1930s? Probably not the way you picture it. Before tech campuses and traffic jams, Seattle’s waterfront and cityscapes had a different kind of energy — one captured in some of the paintings now headed to Cascadia Art Museum. Thanks to a major…
Fifth Avenue’s Waitress Delivers
The musical is uplifting, even whimsical at times
I loved the movie Waitress when it came out almost two decades ago. I also loved The Fifth Avenue Theatre’s rendition of the musical of the same name. An almost sold-out crowd last week was boisterous and raucous, with many booing the abusive husband (“Earl,” played by Dane Stokinger) and cheering the relationships between the…
Ai Weiwei’s Biggest U.S. Show Opens at SAM
The retrospective covers 40 years of the conceptual artist’s career
This week, the Seattle Art Museum opened the largest-ever U.S. exhibition featuring the work of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Spanning four decades of the artist’s career, Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei (March 12–Sept. 7) includes 130 works — a mix of sculpture, video, painting, wallpaper, furniture, and installation —…
Emerald City Comic Con: The Definition of Geek Chic
Paint. Armor. Glitter. Stilts. Wings. It’s a masquerade ball of super fandom.
A growing crowd of characters creates a palpable hum of geeky energy at Emerald City Comic Con, where “too out there” doesn’t exist. It’s a heightened world combining all things comics, video games, books, TV and movies, as tens of thousands of attendees come together to revel, admire and celebrate all things nerdy. It’s truly…