When you have been working as a choreographer for more than 20 years, finding a throughline that cuts across the dozens of works you’ve created can be a challenge. But Starr Foster thinks she’s captured something with her latest collection of pieces, called “Curious Intentions.”
“Each work is based on human intentions and how we often handle things in peculiar ways,” says Foster. “The pieces are very different from one another but they all capture aspects of human behavior. I think that’s at the root of all of my work.”
“Curious Intentions” will feature four works, two premieres and two returning favorites. She last performed the piece “Last Call” back in 2016 and calls it one of her most-loved.
“It’s different from the work I’ve been sharing over the last eight years in that it is very whimsical,” Foster explains. “It’s based on the concept of what happens after last call and so has components that are very gestural, very sassy.”
With three sections – a solo, a trio and final duet – “Last Call” required six dancers, but Foster’s company only had five members. That opened the door for a former dancer, Angela Palmisano, to rejoin the troupe.
“Angela had this same role in ‘Last Call’ last time we performed it and she’s just moved back to Virginia in the last year or so,” Foster continues. “Not only do audiences love this piece but dancers love performing it because it’s fun and there’s a bit of drama in it.”
“So when I reached out to Angela to ask if she wanted to be in it again, she said, ‘Oh yes!’”
A sense of expansion seems to be another theme associated with this show. Not only did Foster expand her company with Palmisano rejoining, she’s pulled in seven additional dancers including the company’s intern and mentee.
The largest work is a premiere called “Adjusting to the Dark” and it prompted Foster to put out a call for guest performers.
“I love bringing in guests because it gives me the opportunity to make larger works but also provides an opportunity for dancers in the community,” she says. “The piece is closing the show and it’s very epic. It’s dark and it’s fast and it is going to be a blast for them to perform.”
“Adjusting to the Dark” continues the theme of dramatizing the different ways humans behave, specifically how we deal with change. “The dance captures how individuals deal with the same change,” Foster explains. “How each of us handle the same situation.”
“It is also gestural: there’s flicking of dresses and there’s silent screaming. Then, after a beginning section, it just explodes.”
The other two works are a premiere, “Familiar Stranger,” that will open the show and “Sisterhood,” a piece that was a favorite from the 2022 “Page to Stage II” show. “Page to Stage” uses stories, poetry, flash fiction and flash nonfiction as inspirations for dance pieces.
Foster is bringing “Sisterhood” back in part to alert people that she’s looking for submissions for “Page to Stage III,” planned for December. She also finds it exciting as a choreographer. “It’s so much fun to revisit a work and look at it with fresh eyes,” she says.
The concept of refreshing someone’s perspective circles back to the show’s title, Foster says. “I think there is some power of suggestion in including the word ‘curious,’” she says. “The hope is that people will go into the event curious about seeing modern dance differently.”
Starr Foster Dance’s “Curious Intentions” will run April 11-14 at the Firehouse Theatre, 1609 West Broad St. Tickets and information available at https://www.starrfosterdance.org/performances.
