Sharp & Fine’s new dance asks a lot of big questions

When contemporary dance company Sharp & Fine premieres its latest creation, “Imaginary Country,” on Friday, May 12, at San Francisco’s Z Space, come prepared to witness how global concerns like climate change and political polarization influence the intricacies of personal relationships.

Waiting to be answered is the question, “What would happen if you could see the future?”

Troupe co-founders and choreographers Megan and Shannon Kurashige have been creating dance works together since 2011. Their pieces are spurred on through storytelling and involve workshopping with both dancers and non-dancers, composers and musicians, and light, sound and costume designers. The resulting work is far greater than the sum of its parts.

As we emerge from the pandemic, the shifts in what we want to do, what is possible, and what will never be the same again are becoming clearer. As with any new project, Shannon and Megan Kurashige don’t necessarily know what they expect the final product to be. They are open to many ways of gathering information, melding many voices into one narrative and soliciting input from different collaborators.

Megan wanted to hear from nondancers and decided to have a workshop with neighbors in the apartment building where she lives and at the Kimochi Senior Center in Japantown. She asked, “What are you afraid of in the future? What do you wish for your grandchildren?”

“Everyone was super negative about what they thought would happen,” she said. “Very, very dark, apocalyptic, ‘Handmaid’s Tale,’ Big Brother,” she added. “When we asked them to imagine the future in relation to someone they care about, then there was always some hope. It’s about how you frame the question. It’s definitely been a challenging project. We bit off a really big subject. Especially being rusty after a break during the last two years.”

The Kurashige sisters work in an organic way. The music is a case in point. Composer and percussionist Jordan Glenn and bassist/cellist Max Judelson, who had both worked with the choreographers before, were commissioned to write the score. They are also playing live during the performance with reeds player Cory Wright and pianist/flutist Erika Oba, who in turn, are also part of the creative process.

“In the past, the music was more heavily improvised,” Megan Kurashige says, “but this time it has more steady support than the rest of our previous work.”

The musicians work differently for each section of action. Sometimes they are asked to follow the lead of the dancers while improvising, and at other times the musicians are asked to provide more specific rhythms or sounds that the dancers can follow.

“The joy of commissioning the music is that we are all growing the piece at the same time,” she adds.

They also asked their long-time lighting/set designer Allen Willner if there was some particular aspect of stagecraft he was particularly interested in. He was very excited to explore backlighting, and yes, there is one section of the performance where one dancer moves a lamp that’s facing the audience, creating the sought after backlighting.

The Japanese American Kurashige sisters also seek out other experts to polish their own meticulous work.

“We worked with an acting coach yesterday,” Shannon Kurashige said. “It’s always fascinating to watch him work because we think we know the words and emotions of the show. At this point, thankfully, the show is pretty set, but Jack will come in and work with the dancers on the dialogue. The arc and shape of the words, and the intention inside of them, is totally shifting. It’s because of choices they are making as they are moving through the coaching.”

The Kurashiges sisters aren’t the only family members involved in this production — their mother Emily Kurashige is their costume designer and maker. The photos of the dancers sporting her creations show that her standards are equally high.