Meet Braden Young, the musician for Dot, the Lawrence Art Center’s dance performance for very young children!
Braden Young is a composer and musician with an eclectic body of work ranging from musical theatre to modern rock to experimental weirdness. When he’s not busy raising two children he enjoys writing, recording, and playing in several local bands. His lifelong dream is to one day eat a bunch of junk food later this week.
So what is Dot?
In January and February of 2018, the Lawrence Arts Center introduced a brand new Play Lab Series for 2-5 year olds. In these research sessions, we worked with child/caregiver pairs using improvised dance and painting. These sessions were recorded and served as research for our upcoming dance performance for children ages 2-5, Dot. Children were our artistic partners in our process. All of the choreography for Dot will be performed by adults and based on our interactions in the Play Lab Series. We ask the question: what if we danced the way that children draw? Join us and experience dancing, painting on stage, live music, and moments of interaction with audiences.
What is Braden making?
Braden composed all of the original music for Dot. The dancers built sections of choreography ranging from one to six minutes in length and Braden improvised and developed music with them as they created. You’ll see him playing a guitar, tambourine, and drum pad in order to make soundscapes, rhythms, noises, and other surprises.