Sparkle Theatricals presents the Twin Cities NACHMO Challenge

Founded in New York eleven years ago, the NACHMO challenge (National Choreography Month) inspires dancers, choreographers, and movement enthusiasts to create by providing a month-long deadline for works to be shared to social media.

Alexandra Bodnarchuk photography by Trin Carl

On February 9th, the Twin Cities' NACHMO showcase ran at the Art Box in Minneapolis, with support from the Off-Leash Area and presented by Sparkle Theatricals.  The team consisted of choreographers Alexandra Bodnarchuk, Mary Willmeng, Rick Ausland, Ella Dierberger, and art director, Alejandra Iannone.

Alejandra Iannone (above)

NACHMO conducted the challenge by posting a new prompt on Instagram each day in January. The prompts are designed to help participants generate material and remove creative blocks. The dancers in turn, create a dance that should take them up to five minutes.  Participants then share their creative work to social media. Dancers can also find other choreographed pieces on Twitter using hashtag #nachomo2020.

Rick Ausland

Rick Ausland had this to say about the NACHMO challenge, "My first year, I didn’t know what to expect and it was overwhelming to think that I was going to be putting out so many pieces of content, and it did make me think a lot more about it and I feel like Alejandra's advice was good, she said just make something, don't try to polish it up or overthink it."

Rick's tap piece began with him carrying out several suitcases. He counted them, opened one while sitting on another. In a bathrobe, he took off his slippers and donned his tap shoes, whistling the entire time. Standing on a suitcase, he shuffled two times, almost as if he was testing the shoes. He jumped off, and kicked the case, sending shivers down my spine as a microphone inside the suitcase amplified his every move. The taps intensified in a rhythmic cadence that was echoed. He made simple toe taps and digs, allowing for moments in between for the echo to catch up. The risk-taking choice of dancing on top of a suitcase had me holding my breath, ‘Don’t fall.’ 

Mary Willmeng created an entirely different lyrical dance. Lights down, she appeared to be in all red, lights up, and she was actually wearing blue.  She gazed hard and fast, pivoting and moving with arabesques, lunges, and jumps.  At one point she leaned back and caught herself by planting her right hand on the ground and lifting the opposite leg.  By the end, she was lying on the floor with her ear to the ground and the next dancer began.

The choreographers allowed for questions and comments at the end.  They explained how challenges were done in the intimate setting of their own homes. Sometimes they’d do at least two minutes of choreography a day, and this helped them get out of the habit of self editing and overthinking. The recorded footage gave them the confidence to understand that they had enough content to work with. Some of the prompts included suggestions like these two: Imagine a roller coaster or find two distant points in your space, create a phrase that travels between them as best you can, highlighting the distance.

According to choreographer Alejandra Iannone, Sparkle Theatricals will repeat this challenge next year. If you love dance and think NACHMO is for you, sign-ups start in October.  It’s free and you can register through the website www.nachmo.org/ . Once you’re registered, keep an eye out for information on how you can participate in your local hub or NACHMO Connect!