Sept.3 marked the first Friday of a new month and with it came an event appropriately named First Friday. The event is a way to showcase the work of local artists in the Grand Valley and this month the artists were Mesa State’s own Matthew Lindstrom ,assistant professor of dance, Laura Bradley ,box office manager and communications coordinator for the theater department, and Carol Christ, instructor of English.
“Even in these hard times it is more important than ever to support the arts. The arts help us grow, they show us who we are and their just so important and comforting in these times,” said Lindstrom. He and Bradley are cofounder’s of Push Don’t Pull Dance Productions, and worked together with Christ to create a contemporary dance show titled “West of the Divide”
“It’s a lot of fun and it’s something that has not been done in Grand Junction,” said Christ. The production combined poetry and dance to create a unique blend of modern dance and literary text. Christ recited a total of six of poems, all written by her, while Lindstrom, Bradley, Jenae Steward, a Mesa State music theater alumni, and the three Mesa State senior dance majors,Tiffany Freeman, Greg Morgan, and Alexis Evans, moved graciously to a combination of Christ’s poetry. The first performance was danced by Lindstrom and Bradley, in which both recited poetry that had been written on one another’s bodies, and was followed by solos, and two group pieces with the entire cast.
The idea to combine movement and poetry was inspired by the Integrated Arts course taught over the summer at Mesa State College. “Carol and I were brought together by Deb Snider, a former professor at Mesa State. She started the integrated arts institute that was music, dance, creative writing, and art and it was a week long course,” explained Lindstrom. “When you combine all of those different artistic elements together lots of ideas come about,” said Lindstrom.
“They [Lindstrom and Bradley] gave me film of two dance solos and I wrote poems as a response to those dances. I also gave them some poems which they choreographed dances to, so there are poems responding to poems and poems responding to dance,” Christ said.
“West of the Divide” is the second Push/Don’t Pull production. The Company formed after Lindstrom and Bradley had performed multiply times together in Denver and Wisconsin. “We started building up enough of a repertory that we wanted to call it something and start being able to do our own shows,” explained Bradley. “We do a lot of solos and duets. All of the choreography is by one or both of us. When we need to we pull dancers from the college,” she said.
“This project is an extension of Mesa State. Mesa state is really the cultural and artistic center of the valley and it’s my hope that we turn this project into a touring group to integrate our students,” said Lindstrom.
“Its always about the students in the end. We’re just hoping to expand on the project and give them opportunities to expand, to perform and to take artistic risks,” Lindstrom said.
The valley is filled with many talented artists. Push/Don’t Pull has another performance on Sept. 18 at the Grand Junction Botanical Gardens and soon Bradley and Lindstrom will performing their duet in The Denver Independent Choreographer’s Project. “I wondered what it would be like to see it on stage,” said Lindstrom. The piece has only been performed outdoors and when Lindstrom saw the opportunity to perform it on stage he submitted the dance. To learn more about Push/Don’t Pull and their future events visit pushdontpulldance.com.