12 Minutes Max is a year-round monthly performance series featuring short works by local artists in many disciplines. One Sunday a month, we present three original pieces in a varied mix, chosen from music, dance, film, writing, theater, performance art, and the like—each 12 minutes or less. The whole event is short and sweet, taking about an hour.
After each month's performances, coffee and cookies are served — a time for conversation and feedback.
OCTOBER 21 PERFORMANCES
Dance-artist Brooklyn Draper will present an excerpt from her upcoming MFA thesis work that will be performed at the Hayes Christensen Dance Theatre November 15–17. The dancers and collaborators are Micah Burkhardt, Cameron Mertz, Tori Meyer, Georgia Patterson, Emma Sargent, and Victoria Sharam. This piece is an investigation of how logic can be formed utilizing randomness in the choreographic process, and how random movements begin to form meaning once they are placed in relationship to one another. She says "perhaps the outcomes of the things that we see occurring around us are complex, but maybe the laws concealed under them are quite simple." Brooklyn is in her final year at the U's MFA program in Modern Dance.
Local composer Austin Gren will present his piece A Visceral Impulse, a set of seven short variations for wind trio, performed by Mitchell Atencio - flute, Michal Tvrdik - clarinet, and Jessica Wiley - bassoon. The piece is a play on extreme emotional states with a focus on outbursts of violent impulses and the contrasting calm that surrounds them. Austin says "as a consistently calm and non-violent person, I’ve always found that there is something liberating in composing-out the inner savage that lies beneath the surface of all civilized humanity." Austin is currently studying music composition at the University of Utah, and performs regularly as a professional classical guitarist.
Choreographer Molly Heller will present a new work which she directs called Heartland. The piece is part of a larger body of solo research and work, in which Heller is exploring the idioms, sensations, associations, and physical spaces of the heart. Molly choreographed the work with the performers, Liu Chang, Troy Martin, and Bailey Smallwood. Music is by Michael Wall. Molly is an Assistant Professor within the School of Dance at the University of Utah. Her research investigates performance as a healing practice and the relationship between physical expression and emotion. Molly has presented her work nationally and is premiering an iteration of Heartland this November at the Marriott Center for Dance.
This program is modeled after 12 Minutes Max, a performance laboratory originated by On the Boards in Seattle.