Megan Williams dance projects in 'Visible'

Danspace Project, New York, NY.
June 5, 2025.

Megan Williams Dance Projects (MWDP) presented a long -lasting job, VisibleIn early June, in the Danspace project in the Saint Mark Bowery church in New York. Intergenerational work explores the identities seen and invisible within each of us, and uses dancers between 20 and 60, an atypical choice but one that supports the mission of work. MWDP began in 2016 and addresses a variety of human experiences through dance. The music of Tristan Kastten-Krause and Alexander Scriabin was played live (Isabelle O'Connell, Tristan Kastten-Krause, Brendon Randall-Myers and Zosha Warpeha).

The Church of Saint Mark is a defender of the arts and dance specifically. The legends of modern dance like Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham dance there, and Danspace Project has been working since 1974, providing space and helping smaller dance artists. It is appropriate for Williams to have made here: a space that is more than one thing and a space that has resisted the time of time is a perfect framework for this work, since it is directed through the ideas about the roles we perform in our lives that remain hidden, as well as honor the value of dance artists of what we often see acting on stage.

From the outside, one sees a church supplied, of a great nature, built of strong stone and announcing its purpose to the world. However, beyond its formidable exterior, there are two worlds together: worship and episcopal dance (Danspace Project and New York Theater Ballet, the last of which uses the study space). As Williams says in the program, “Dancing always gives us a place to be seen and a place to take refuge.” At its best, religion offers the same. The parallel nature of these ideas that converge under the same roof reflects the abstract stories in which Williams counts Visible.

The action took place in a large room, previously used for services and currently adapted for dance performance. There are no wings and, on the other hand, they have permanent structures similar to the bleaching on three sides of space: it places the dancers resting and observed the performance when they did not dance themselves, an aspect of work in itself, reminding us that dance contains additional power when other humans are observed.

It is vital to keep in mind that when Williams chose to dance in the piece itself and include other dancers in their 50 and 60 years, he demanded that we see those parts that were hidden, either for ourselves or in the world around us. The inevitable bitter pill of a dance race is that it is finite: something we all know when entering, but it is also something that could have a more agile limit if we choose to see it, and allow it to expand. As a member of the audience, there was a particular serenity to see older dancers on stage. They moved from a place of depth and with a comforting kindness.

Costumes in blue tones, both vibrant and subjects, provided the visual reminder that things become clearer about who or what are when they contrast with other things. The intrepid choice of Williams to include a variety of ages and the generosity of all dancers to hug him raised this production. The world of dance would be well served to see more older dancers on stage. Together with the younger dancers, both shone brilliantly: the light of youth and the light of the experience bouncing each other to illuminate those hidden corners of each.

By Emily Sarkissian de Dance informs.