Sisterhood is Sweet

The choreographers participating in Sugar Salon, the unusual and very proactive project now in its second year, discovered sisterhood and mutual support from one another—as well as several months’ worth of free, prime studio space in which to rehearse. Conceived and jointly administered by the very uptown Barnard College Department of Dance and Brooklyn’s feisty Williamsburg Arts neXus (WAX), it selects three female choreographers who qualify, in varying degrees, as “emerging” and provides them with a more experienced one—Donna Uchizono, this year—as their mentor.

Lucian Achugar, Renée Archibald and Heather McArdle were then set free to develop new work, while consulting with Uchizono and benefiting from her experience in matters both artistic and administrative. In addition to watching each other’s rehearsals, they held meetings and group dinners. It offered them the benefit of not operating in a void and having somewhere to go when questions or issues arose—everything from creative roadblocks to nuts-and-bolts information about incorporating as a non-profit.

“It was therapeutic to know that if I was having a moment, good or bad, I could call Donna and ask, ‘Why am I feeling this way?’” says McArdle. “Having an outlet to express how I’m feeling as a dancemaker was really important for me, being that I’m very new at this.”

Particularly new for her was the experience of making a group work—Ballad of Arrivals and Departures, for eight dancers and two actors—since she has previously worked solo as a self-described performance collage artist. Without the studio space that Sugar Salon provided—Barnard’s well-appointed studios, during the summer months—she would never have been able to take on a project of this scale. Archibald, who has created a trio, Curtain Wall, appreciated not having to watch the clock with a meter ticking in her brain as she usually does in rented studios; thus, she felt freer to experiment. “I was able to investigate a new way of moving for this piece,” she notes.

“Besides being a residency, there was a sense that the goal of the program is to help encourage women choreographers to move forward in their careers, to empower them,” explains Achugar, the most experienced of the three. “Because you tend to get a little scared or you don’t feel as entitled. [Female choreographers] tend to get less funding, or you move ahead in your career a little more slowly. I’ve definitely found that.”

All three are still developing the works that began to take shape last summer at Barnard. “There was no pressure to get what we were working on ready for this show, which was nice,” Archibald says. While she and McArdle opted to show those pieces, Achugar’s has taken shape as a work that requires a studio setting and will be seen at Dance Theater Workshop next October. She’s pleased that this week’s program offers a chance to give her acclaimed Franny and Zooey, first seen last April, additional performances.

As an added bonus, the three are also busy creating works with Barnard students for the spring dance performances. Mary Cochran, Barnard dance department chairperson, who co-founded Sugar Salon with Marisa Beatty, director of WAX (and a Barnard graduate), observes that “Barnard’s mission is to empower young women. We’re creating an opportunity for growth, and also sisterhood—working together, supporting each other.”    Feb. 15 & 16, Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St (at Pitt St.), 212-352-3101; Fri & Sat. 8, $15-$20.