GREAT BARRINGTON â On a recent afternoon, choreographer Olga Dunn and dancer Ava Girard are in their rehearsal space at the back of Saint James Place, putting together the pieces for an upcoming one-woman dance performance. As the late-day sun slanted in from the tall windows, they work on a slightly unusual piece â one set not to music, but to the poem âSmall Kindnessesâ by Danusha Lameris.
Dunn has an idea about the pieceâs final motion, a flourishing point of the finger to an unseen stranger, with the cheerful, almost throwaway line âI like your hat.â Dunn steps from along the wall into the space, and suggests that maybe there should be another gesture there. Maybe a smile of greeting and a wave before that finger point. Girard gives it a try.