Purple pleated sound shells flank the sides of the large theater, gathering acoustics and pushing them towards us, the audience. Pre-recorded percussion keeps time as we settle in to watch the 2025-2026 Muhlenberg* Baker Artist-in-Residence Michael J. Love’s culminating performance at the The Paul C. Empie Theatre. Fifteen wooden boards join in an island downstage center, a tall tech booth centers upstage of the boards, a shorter booth is stage right with cords laying around it.
Love enters the brightly lit stage with his white shoe laces tied beneath the outer soles of his blue tap shoes (securing them in place). He crosses the proscenium line towards us, and the expected fourth wall falls as he reaches for the mic on the black chair delivering details: a 40 minute creation in no more than 15 hours over the course of 3 days.
At the short booth, Michael manipulates heavy transformer sounds into steady house beats before gliding over to his island. Thirteen people, dressed in white, arrive to party with him. They groove off the board formation in all directions serving self! They shuffle in unison, their movement remains raw. The performers work to remember the structure and sonic foot patterns established in the last three days. They rely on each other, relating to each other with smiles and “do you know what comes next” wide eyes and raised eye brows.
Their use of direction and communal circles, often facing away from the audience, causes me to consider the function of dance and the task inscribed in this performance. My thoughts ride over to the technology of the drum… the soul of the drum… the sole of the shoe: how the person wielding the tool has the responsibility to not only awaken the spirit of the instrument but also their own spirit and to connect the two in dance – solo or in the midst of the people.
The party leaves; Michael returns to the sound platform setting the stage for the cast to tear it up with what I assume are improvisational solos. Robyn Watson is up first. Watson is faculty at Muhlenberg and a sought-after Tap Dance historian. She effortlessly draws our focus towards her mobile ankles and intricate sounds. Jeffery Clark Jr. takes a pass across the boards next, stage left to stage right, followed by Kaleena Miller and Lisa La Touche. They play like the pros they are; intentionally following or resisting the highs and lows of the disco music vibe.
Looking away from the audience, Michael body bounces, softly, building to the beat. His metal-plated shoes whisper in response to the meter. It feels like Larry Heard’s Missing You plays on repeat though I witness him change the song every so often. He pivots forward and back on the diagonal. Claps his hands in celebration then twists his hips to the rhythm, still facing upstage, appearing to amuse himself with this repetitious discovery – hip grooves above his intelligent feet.
In the presence of the audience, Michael methodically mixing: music and dance to ripen the solo. He crawls, quick toe heel, across the diagonal. The predictable flash act is nowhere to be found. His soft taps project as he performs agile wings, digs and turns. I take note of his patience and stamina as the work matures.
Finally, Michael moves his hands to his heart and back out again, a glimpse of gratitude for his long-form investigation – practice, performance, connections, histories, expectation, disco, house, music.
Michael returns to the console, a loud transformer sound resonates, a metronome follows, and the exercise ends.
Exercise 3, Michael J. Love, 2025-2026 Baker Artist-in-Residence, Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, April 11, 2026.
Upcoming Show: Exercise 4, Michael J. Love, Cannonball Miniball, April 18th, 2026
* Writer Noel Price-Bracey serves as Assistant Professor of Dance at Muhlenberg College.
