Elby Brosch is a dancer and choreographer. Courtesy of Elby Brosch
Good morning. We hope you made the most of your holiday weekend… [checking notes]… sitting at home.
For today’s message, we turn to someone who’s really good at turns, the dancer and choreographer Elby Brosch. For whatever reason—maybe it’s because of Ken Jennings’s message a couple months back, maybe it’s because we’re all glued to our TVs these days—Elby’s had Jeopardy! on the brain.
As you will be able to tell from watching this…
As Elby said in an artist statement he sent along with this piece:
I believe dance can take us immediately to a feeling place, beyond the limitations of language. Abstract dance has the ability to take ideas and feelings far too complicated to be solely talked about, and present them in a way that the audience can empathetically connect with. Shared empathy builds connections and community through the temporal and ephemeral experience. I use humor, camp, and clear cultural references to draw the audience in, then I push into abstraction, repetition, and stillnesses to drop into deep emotions and exist together with the audience in unspeakable complexity.
Elby moved to Seattle after receiving his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois. He is the creator and co-choreographer of Drama Tops, a queer performance group with Shane Donohue and Jordan MacIntosh-Hougham. Drama Tops independently produced Drama Tops, this is for you at Washington Hall in January 2020.
For Elby, who began dancing at age 10, dance quickly became a safe haven, a way to connect to a body that felt hard to understand. As gender became confusing, movement became clear. He gained control and intimacy with his body, and learned to process emotion and trauma through movement. Now, he choreographs to build connection and understanding. He distills the trans experience down to what makes us human and offers that to his audiences.
He has presented his work at On The Boards, Velocity, Seattle International Dance Festival, Mo-Wave, and elsewhere. You can follow Elby on Instagram and see more of his work on his website.
Elby’s most recent piece was called Drama Tops, this is for you. Courtesy of Elby Brosch
Thank you, Elby, for starting this week off with humor, camp, and complexity.
And thanks for getting the Jeopardy! theme song stuck in our heads.
Good luck facing whatever this week brings, everyone.
* *
Previously in this series:
Mila Skyy’s message to the city on May 22.
Michael Lee’s message to the city on May 21.
SassyBlack’s message to the city on May 20.
Seattle Symphony horn section’s message to the city on May 19.
Lori Goldston’s message to the city on May 18.
Ibidunni Ojikutu’s message to the city on May 15.
RL Heyer’s message to the city on May 14.
Garth Stein’s message to the city on May 13.
Okanomodé’s message to the city on May 12.
Zoe Scofield’s message to the city on May 11.
Aham Oluo’s message to the city on May 8.
Pete Rush’s message to the city on May 7.
Trent Moorman’s message to the city on May 6.
Renée Valencia’s message to the city on May 5.
Justin Huertas’s message to the city on May 4.
Charles Mudede’s message to the city on May 1.
Kathryn Rathke’s message to the city on April 30.
Anthony White’s message to the city on April 30.
Miss Texas 1988’s message to the city.
Matt Bishop’s message on April 27.
Cherdonna’s message to the city on April 26.
Shenandoah Davis’s message to the city on April 25.
Lorena González’s message to the city on April 24.
Clyde Petersen’s message to the city on April 23.
David Ritt’s message to the city on April 22.
Sara Porkalob’s message to the city on April 21.
Julia Sweeney’s message to the city on April 20.
Linda Derschang’s message to the city on April 19.
Molly Sides’s message to the city on April 18.
Nick Garrison’s message to the city on April 17.
Tomo Nakayama’s message to the city on April 16.
Rebecca M. Davis’s message to the city April 15.
Heather McHugh’s message to the city on April 14.
Brandon O’Neill’s message to the city on April 13.
Kate Wallich’s message to the city on April 12.
Rebecca Brown’s message to the city on April 11.
Lucien Postlewaite’s message to the city on April 10.
Betty Wetter’s message to the city on April 9.
Amanda Morgan’s message to the city on April 8.
Nancy Guppy’s message to the city on April 7.
Jonathan Biss’s message to the city on April 6.
Chris Jeffries’s message to the city on April 5.
Lesley Hazleton’s message to the city on April 4.
John Roderick’s message to the city on April 3.
Bill Carty’s message to the city on April 2.
Price Suddarth’s message to the city on April 1.
Kary Wayson’s message to the city on March 31.
Ellen Forney’s message to the city on March 30.
Major Scales’s message to the city on March 29.
E. J. Koh’s message to the city on March 28.
Ken Jennings’s message to the city on March 27.
Demarre McGill’s message to the city on March 26.
Lynn Shelton’s Message to the City on March 25th.
Timothy White Eagle’s message to the city on March 24.
Cookie Couture’s message to the city on March 23.
Sarah Rudinoff’s message to the city on March 22.
John Osebold’s message to the city on March 21.
Ben Gibbard’s message to the city on March 20.
Nathan Chan’s message to the city on March 19.
