HOUSEHOLD HAZARDS
2024

Picture above by Jason Ruvelson

Staying true to telling the stories of our community through the arts, this work examined a wide range of hazards encountered in the home, some heartfelt, some hilarious. With the Firehouse stage transformed into the bones of a home - dining room table and chairs, living room couch, bathtub, bed, closet - 14 dancers explored ideas including love, fear, memory, and loss. While Pam Kuntz, artistic director of Kuntz and Company, is typically the primary choreographer of all KC works created, unique here was that Household Hazards consisted of 7 pieces created by 11 choreographers.

Seattle artists Naquoia Bautista, Cara Congelli, and Caitlin Schafte explored the lengths spiders will go to join us in our homes… and the lengths homeowners will go to fend off these arachnid invasions. Seamlessly woven through the spider invasion, Alona Christman and Ian Bivins moved through the hazard of talking with their spouse, while Marissa Moeri and Angela Sebastian got lost in nostalgia and pseudo-productivity when "cleaning the closet."

A piece about a quiet evening at home gone wrong brought Jessica Ardis, Samantha Martin, and Susan Newkumet to the Firehouse stage from their home studio on Orcas Island. These three artists explored what may go awry when a storm hits and unexpected visitors arrive. Meanwhile, Cecelia Hanford and Pam Kuntz moved through what it means to have something to lose, and long-time KC artists Vanessa Daines and Kate Stevenson wrestled with a bed sheet in a piece that started with a story, became a poem and is now a tangle – stretched, scrunched, smoothed and embraced. Separately, but nearby in the bathroom, Cecelia Hanford and Gabby Malagreca explored how owning the walls around you creates only a fragile illusion of safety. 

Our houses and homes are a piece of a place, each a constructed reflection of culture, history, and future expectations. With the world rapidly shifting around us in a multitude of ways, our homes become intimate mini-landscapes where we attempt to–or are forced to–maintain our cultural routines, all while questioning if the walls and rooms around us are truly the ones best suited for carrying us into the future. 

Household Hazards enjoyed five performances at The Firehouse Arts and Events Center at 1314 Harris Avenue in Fairhaven, WA - May 16th - 19th, 2024.

Many thanks to these outstanding folks who helped realize this project…Mark Kuntz (lighting design), Andy Rankin (light board), Vanessa Daines (sound board), Ethan Riggs, Dana Crediford, Bill Morrison, Teresa Dalton, Bo Stewart, Steve Lyons and Bree Johnston, Harry Newkumet, and the Orcas Center. 

A 1970's man numbly sitting on a couch with a remote control in his hand, while a woman in a floral dress dives over the arm of the couch to reach for it.