On Dec. 10, 2011 at 7 p.m., Miami Open Stage, a combined effort of Dance NOW! Miami and the Little Haiti Cultural Center (LHCC), will feature new work and works in progress by South Florida choreographers Christine Beggs, Constance McIntyre, Sandra Portal-Andreu, Pioneer Winterand Dance NOW! One of the main goals of the evening is to foster the development of local choreographers and build audiences for them. To that end, Bill Doolin, Florida Dance Association director, will moderate the event and lead a process discussion between the audience and the choreographers.

Winter, one of Miami Open Stage’s participating choreographers, will present “Mother-Son(days),” a work in progress that excavates the parallel lives of mother and son. Through a series of movements developed around her original diary entries, Winter, along with dancer Ana Bolt and spoken word artist Marie Whitman, has created a work that is intensely personal, introspective and sometimes humorous.

Between a performance for Art Basel and rehearsals for “Mother-Son(days),” I had the opportunity to conduct a brief interview with Winter before Miami Open Stage.

Neil de la Flor: Where did the idea of “Mother-Son(days)” emerge?

Pioneer Winter: My mom passed about 14 years ago. Recently, I found a composition notebook belonging to my mom in the back of the closet. She only kept it for a short while — just two months in 1977. My own entries came from a journal my dad made me keep shortly after she passed away.

ND: How did you capture the energy of these entries in the choreography?

PW: While my mom’s entries are pensive and observational, even philosophical, mine are situational and blunt. In choreographing our parts, I made sure Ana had a more developed and consistent pattern style, more sophisticated. My parts exhibit the frantic energy of a young boy who has been thrown into a world without his mom but is expected to carry on.

ND: What was your decision-making process when it came to finding the right dance collaborator?

PW: Originally I had in mind to use a younger dancer who had experienced loss in very much the same way as me, but I chose to use Ana Bolt. She’s a single mother of three and really embodies both the spirit of motherhood and loss. I’ve never had the opportunity to choreograph on such a seasoned dancer. She asks me all the right questions and brings up memories and movement that is sometimes difficult to access.

ND: How did you compensate for the age difference between the boy who wrote the entries and the man on stage?

PW: The dancers (Bolt and Winter) represent the voices of their younger equivalents. However, since our current ages do not correspond to our characters’ ages, I hope to portray that “what-if” quality. What if, for just a few minutes, we (my mother and I) both existed — alive — on the same plane?

ND: Will Marie Whitman, spoken word artist, portray both roles?

PW: Marie Whitman, who really brings the diary entries to life, switches between the voice of a teenager in 1977 and a young boy in 1997. Marie’s noticed interesting similarities between my mother and me. For instance, the title of the piece comes from the repetition of “Sundays” throughout both journals.

Winter is just one of several talented South Florida-based choreographers performing this Saturday night at “Miami Open Stage”. For just $10, I wouldn’t miss this one-night-only performance.

Dec. 10, 2011, 7 p.m., Little Haiti Cultural Center, 212 N.E. 59th Terrace, Miami, Fla. 33137. Tickets: $10 available at the door (cash or check only). Reserve seats at 305‐975‐8489. or e-mail [email protected].