a river // we carry
a river // we carry is a dance piece created in collaboration with Sophia Katsibas and Sonali Rughani, with an original score by Dawson Atkin.
The piece explores our relationship to water, how it nourishes us, and our obligation to protect it in the way it protects us. It featured the work of New York University Graduate Set Designer Lindsey Reshef, Costume Designer Regina Li, and Lighting Designer Landon Elder. The dancers in the premiere performance were Charlotte Cogan, Caia Cupolo, and Emily Yap.
The score is for piano, clarinet, upright bass, percussion, and fixed media. Beginning with the processed sound of the composer's own breath, the piece draws on ambient and post-minimalist aesthetics, using pseudo-aleatoric techniques to create a swirling, textural soundscape.
JJ Razzano and Leo Gonzalez perform "Frozen with You" at New York City Center
(photo by Lia Chang)
a river // we carry
Frozen with You
Co-written and composed with Nina Osso, "Frozen with You" was written in collaboration with New York City Center's Education and Community Engagement division. Dawson and Nina visited one of City Center's community partners, SAGE, a center for LGBTQ+ elders. There, they interviewed two older men about their experiences as gay men in the past and the present.
Dawson and Nina used the interview as a jumping-off point to write "Frozen with You," an original song that imagines a gay man cleaning out his partner's belongings after he has passed. The song is an intimate, poetic portrayal of grief and queer love.
"Frozen with You" was premiered by JJ Razzano and Leo Gonzalez, accompanied by Dawson, at New York City Center's community night. It was featured on Backstage Pass with Lia Chang and in the concert In Fullness at the African Grove Theatre.
Crafter's Project
Crafter's Project (2020) is a collection of new songs and scenes by Hartt theatre composers Dawson Atkin, Omar Sandakly, Sam Vana, and JT Cambria. The work featured solos, duets, musical scenes, and mini-musicals.
As part of this work, Dawson Atkin debuted their children's mini-musical Stone Soup, a retelling of the folk tale of the same name with music inspired by bluegrass and American folk. The musical featured Natalie Livingston as Henry, a traveling singer who brings together a community by teaching them how to make Stone Soup.
Other songs by Dawson included in the work were Forest Song and Melon-choly, the latter of which was co-written with JT Cambria.
Dawson performing in Salt Wild
Natalie Livingston in "Stone Soup"
(a segment of Crafter's Project)
Salt Wild
Dawson was a composer, writer, and deviser for Salt Wild (2020), an immersive, site-specific play with music created on a rural property in Shelburne Falls, MA.
"At a house at the edge of the forest, the present day holds the past choices of the children who lived here. Decades ago, they harnessed powerful ancestral protection magic—which went awry, breaking down the barriers between the dream world and the waking world."
--Salt Wild Press Release
Salt Wild explores the audience's relationship to dreams, casting them as an active participant in the experience with a tie-breaking vote to make: whether we'd prefer to live in the dream, or to wake up.