Recent Work ‘Carnivore’ in ThinkingDance
Meghan Frederick and Kate Seethaler’s Carnivore is the third of three research performances that form a year-long project, which the duo hopes to synthesize into an evening-length work. The confident spatial and temporal choices make this piece strong. Frederick begins the performance with a diagonal walk upstage where she freezes, facing a chair in the corner, her stance wide, arms outstretched above and to the side of her. Almost imperceptibly at first, she moves through a slow and smooth pattern of poses around and eventually onto the chair, where she gazes at the floor as Seethaler enters the space. In contrast to Frederick’s controlled movements, Seethaler spirals and sails around the stage, with movements that feel free. Towards the middle of the work, the pair trade roles; Frederick whirls in and out of the floor, while Seethaler slows and becomes calculated with her movements.
Throughout, the performers only come close to unison a few times, but other elements bind them together. Each has a costume change—putting on or taking off sweatshirts and pants that reveal more orange tape, this time on their chests and torsos. Both grotesquely chew and slurp at the air with their mouths. Their breath accompanies the mostly silent piece, although at one point, cinematic music breaks the silence and encompasses the two dancers. A striking moment came towards the end, when Frederick and Seethaler repeatedly cross the stage from side to side. They twist and turn, navigating the space around one another. As their energy builds, they are pulled through the space, until finally they break free from their repetition.
-Leslie Bush
'SOFT BLUE' in the news-
Soft Blue explores modern day womanhood through both a sensitive and tenacious lens. Frederick, an astute dance maker, creates a work pregnant with vividly stirring imagery... moments of both absurdity and beauty. In a culture where the state of women’s bodies is under constant scrutiny and attack, three women in Queens allow themselves to be vulnerable and free. It’s an empowering sight.
-Trina Mannino, audience review for The Dance Enthusiast
Meghan in the News-
"Meghan Frederick explored the stage crisply, thoughtfully, bringing a subtle and welcome drama to the dance."- Andrew Boynton, The New Yorker
Frederick... "is a dynamo, a powerhouse; the highlight of the whole piece was her solo, capped with a rocketing series of what looked like chaine turns with her arms straight up, blasting across the floor like a human cylinder."- Tom Phillips, Dance View Times