House(hold) Name

Premiere: Dance Theatre, University of Nevada, Reno, NV – May 2024.

Additional Performance: Dog Days of Summer Dance Festival, Pioneer Center, Reno, NV – August 2024

Description: An evening-length dance theater work created in collaboration with an intergenerational cast of 23 dancers (ranging in age from 5-48) that explores the foundational relationship to our given names and the evolution of our names over the course of our lives. Since the twelve featured cast members are all mothers, the work is also an investigation of naming and the process of becoming “mommy.”  The soundscore is a layered blend of pre-recorded and text from interviews with the dancers about their relationships to their names and the process of naming and being named

Link to performance program

Excerpts from the May 2024 premiere of House(hold) Name

Performance Photos by Arianna Pride

Click on an image to hear a short podcast with the dancer about this project (photos by Caitlin Bell)

Cari Cunningham
Loie Cunningham Mosher
Alex Urza
Jennie Pitts Knipe
Mandy Flocchini
Claire Flocchini
Deena Schmidt
Angela Ritchie
Ben Ritchie
Sam Ritchie
Caitlin Bell
Erica Coffelt
Lennox Coffelt
Eve Allen Garza
Maggie Stack
Teryn Burkhardt
Adelyn Dominici
Kimberly Yukes
Kat Eccles

Research

“Mama or Dada? What Do Children Say First and Why”

Dr. Deborah MacNamara

“The developmental trajectory of names in a young child reveals the length of time it takes to grow them as a separate person psychologically” – Dr. Deborah MacNamara

A playlist of songs that provided inspiration, but ultimately didn’t make it into the piece. “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones was one of the original songs that I contemplated using in the piece. This was when the title of the piece was Hallowed Be Thy Name and I was interested in playing with Biblical references. Ultimately, I didn’t keep this title, or use this song, but the notion of a name being sacred is still intriguing to me (though I never intended to conflate our names with that of the Lord).
This podcast opened me up to the myriad of ways to approach a discussion of names and naming. In particular, the episode “A Street Rat Named Desire with Alli Katz” is a must listen.

Other Resources

“A Mother’s Musings”

A blog by Caitlin Bell

“I’m coming to terms with who I am now and I’m still trying to figure it out. Each day feels like a new discovery in what it means to be a mom. I’m also discovering what it means to be Caitlin again.”

We had our dress rehearsal yesterday and it’s so exciting to see everything finally come together. I have the absolute BEST cast and crew (which is good, because I can barely keep track of my own cues!). Can’t wait to share almost a year’s worth of work with you this evening! – Cari

photo by Arianna Pride

  • Alex (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Alex, Kimberly, Angela, & Caitlin (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Deena & Alex (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Erica (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Angela & Maggie (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Claire, Adelyn, & Lennox (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • The Tangle (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Classic Khaki (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Kat & Kimberly (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Eve & Deena (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Angela & Caitlin (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • The Sprawl (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Line-Up (photo by Arianna Pride)
  • Practicing Bows (photo by Arianna Pride)

One response to “House(hold) Name”

  1. nikkijeanman Avatar
    nikkijeanman

    This performance was such a necessary and new take on motherhood and identity. The different visceral props went straight to my gut as I saw all of my complex and divergent feelings of being a mom danced on the stage.
    This performance stuck with me and I will need days and weeks to fully unpack the multiple layers, metaphors, nods, and unveiled raw reality of what it is to be a wife, mother, dancer, lover.

    Sheesh Shucks and THANK YOU.

    -Nicole

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Do you have a story about your name? Did you see the show? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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