The Female Leads of BareFace | Company Artist Kayla Kowach

Julianna Rubio Slager’s newest full-length ballet, BareFace, places female athlete artists in leading roles, retelling the myth of Cupid and Psyche from a distinctly female perspective.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are interviewing the female leads of BareFace to get to know their characters before they take the stage this spring!

Company Artist Kayla Kowach by Kristie Kahns.

Q: What role/character will you be dancing in BareFace?

Kowach: I am dancing the role of the Priest of Aphrodite. The Priest is deeply religious and holds a lot of authority in the kingdom of Glome.

Q: How did you research/prepare for your role? What is something that stood out to you in your research?

Kowach: I researched by reading "Till We have Faces" by C.S. Lewis, which was also inspired by the myth of Cupid and Psyche, as well as listening to podcasts about retellings of this classic Greek myth. It was helpful to discuss different takes on the story with the other artists and our director, Julianna Rubio Slager. It stood out to me that we can not fully determine what each character truly feels because the story is told from the very unreliable perspective of Orual, so there is a lot of room for interpretation in who your character really is, versus how they are perceived by the main character. 

Q: Describe the movement/style of the choreography. Is it different/the same as what you've done before? What is the most challenging aspect of the ballet?

Kowach: The movement style for this show is incredibly multi-faceted. The nobility and palace slaves have a more demure style of movement, while the miners have a low-grade, grounded, "grungy" style of dance. As The Priest, I have been able to explore modern and contemporary based movement to portray the thickness of his religiosity; it has been many years since I explored this movement, so it has been exciting to revisit this stylization. I worked closely with Julianna Rubio Slager to refine and develop The Priest’s character and movement language, which leads me into what has been the most challenging aspect of learning BareFace so far. Telling the story in its proper movement language, while portraying the many nuances of the characters and relationships in BareFace, has been a challenge, but a very rewarding one!

Q: Why should audiences see BareFace?

Kowach: Audiences can not miss out on BareFace! We are flipping the narrative of what storytelling in dance can look like. You will want to see the world of Glome and its many movement languages and stunning costume and set designs. It is truly a ballet for the 21st century.