Dance troupe to debut show with Swiss percussion band

The Mojalet Dance Collective is preparing for a series of concerts that have been nearly three years in the making.
The dance troupe is hosting RhythmTalk, a percussion-based ensemble from Olten, Switzerland, that has been collaborating and performing with the local dancers since 2006.

The groups will come together to debut “Stick Together 2010,” a show that features choreography by Faith Jensen-Ismay, Mojalet’s artistic director, and original music played live by the Swiss band.

The showcase concert will happen Friday, Sept. 24 at the Canyon Crest Academy, 5951 E. Village Center Loop Road in San Diego. Tickets to the 7 p.m. show are $20 for general admission and $12 for students and can be purchased at www.mojalet.com.

The groups will also collaborate on several master classes, as well as three concerts on Oct. 1-3, which will feature mostly RhythmTalk’s music, at The Vine, the performance venue operated by Mojalet at the Bernardo Winery.

Two shows will also be staged at 4 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 6 at the California Center for the Performing Arts in Escondido, and a free performance for students will take place at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 7.

It’s an unusual — if fruitful — connection between the two groups, and not only because of the language barrier (It’s not until recently that RhythmTalk’s composer, Noby Lehman, has started to learn English, Jensen-Ismay said).

The groups have been crafting the show through a virtual cooperation, one that has depended on CDs, DVDs and other notes on the performance mailed overseas.

In some cases, the music guided the choreography. For other songs, the choreography existed before the music. The music itself is included in an album, “Stick Together,” that RhythmTalk released in late 2008.

In fact, the first time that both groups will come together to play the complete piece will be soon after the musicians arrive in the United States on Sept. 19.

“Let’s hope that they’re playing the music exactly the way it’s on the CDs we have been using (for the choreography),” Jensen-Ismay said.

She added that despite the non-traditional system of collaboration, both groups have learned to work with each other, and a mutual trust has developed between the artists.

“It’s probably one of the most amazing collaborations I’ve ever had,” Jensen-Ismay said. “For being so far away and being from two different cultures, we really trust each other. When we’re together, I feel like we’re almost one company.”

The collaboration began in 2006, though the seeds for it were planted years before. Jensen-Ismay has been traveling annually to Switzerland to perform for years. During one of those visits, she was given a CD of the band, which she brought back. Here in the states, she set a dance to one of their songs, and decided to show it to members of the group when she went back to the city of Olten in 2006.

Jensen-Ismay said the members of the band were so impressed that they invited them back to perform as part of a dance festival later that year.

The next year, in 2007, RhythmTalk came to the United States to perform with Mojalet during a three-week tour, and it was then that some of the songs featured in the upcoming shows — and the idea of scheduling a repeat performance in 2010 — was born.

The groups have also performed together in Switzerland and Germany.

Ultimately, Jensen-Ismay said, she feels the collaboration benefits both groups.

“It’s good for them because it inspires them to write new music, and it’s given us some great opportunities to dance to the music of these amazing musicians,” she said.

For more information about the shows, go to www.mojalet.com.