Ripple Mechanics

Music: Nina Simone (“Ne Me Quitte Pas”), Jacqueline Fuentes (vocals, “Sinuoso Tropico”), and Matthew Segal (percussion)
Choreography: Sonia Dawkins
Costume Design: Darbury Stenderu
Scenic & Lighting Design: Meg Fox
Duration: 14 minutes
Premiere: March 23, 2005; Pacific Northwest Ballet (Choreographers’ Showcase)

The 2007 Pacific Northwest Ballet repertory premiere of Sonia Dawkins’ Ripple Mechanics was generously underwritten in part by Bart Johnson & Jan Harper Johnson, Mr. & Mrs. Travis H. Keeler, Dr. Frank Lindsay & Lyn Lindsay, and Toby & Linda Warson.

Carla Körbes and Batkhurel Bold in
Ripple Mechanics. Photo © Angela Sterling

Sonia Dawkins is the founder and artistic director of Sonia Dawkins/Prism Dance Theatre and artist-in-residence at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has taught at Hudson Repertory, Pennsylvania Ballet, and University City Arts, and she has danced with the National Dance Company of Jamaica. She has been a member of the faculty of Pacific Northwest Ballet School since 1997. Her teaching and choreography are based on Jamaican folk dancing, Graham, Horton, classical ballet, and tap dance and address the artistic, social, religious, and political dimensions of the human experience.

Ripple Mechanics was choreographed for PNB’s Choreographers’ Showcase in 2005 and brought into regular repertory for the 2007 Celebrate Seattle Festival. The work is set for five dancers to an eclectic compilation of vocal and percussion music, whose lyrics tell of the importance of living for the moment and enjoying life’s wonder, but also offer a mournful interpretation of love. Likewise, the dance expresses the force of attraction and aversion within relationships.

Recommended Listening:
Nina Simone Anthology, RCA/BMG Heritage 248985

Notes compiled by Doug Fullington.