Soft Spot begins by slowing down. Nature soundscapes permeate the room, and a large white screen fills with vibrant, dripping layers of color.
Five different-hued shapes—heart, star, circle, square, triangle—float on the projection, and des amaiya* flits, spritelike across the marley. In a slippery, vertebrae-defying backbend, she’s inviting us in with a warm smile.
This catch-me-if-you-can energy expands to four more dancers—Vyette Tiya, Caitlin Wong, Cierra Woods, and Astha—all loose, breezy, and free. Their gazes stand out: calm and open, easeful and joyous.
They’re in no hurry; they’re free to be.
A work for the “child within us,” Soft Spot looks up. The dancers, all on their backs, gaze languidly at the ceiling. I can imagine it’s a sky generous with clouds, waiting to place meaning and imagination onto each billow.
Rest is regenerative.
The stillness yields a renewed pick-me-up: minutes of feel-good, tight, unapologetic, unison movement, with unhurried pauses and builds.
Next to me, a woman rocks her baby. She sways to the beat, arms embracing her child, and the five dancers hold one another, too.
The secret handshakes from girlhood/They know this movement by heart/This one, and this one, and this one, is stamped onto their soles.
I can’t help but think that choreographer Vyette Tiya is giving us both an offering and a suggestion: what if our society was more like this? Where doing ‘nothing’ is invigorating? Where a matriarchy reigns—supportive and held, powerful and resilient—can a community feel brand new?
When the dancers aren’t touching, they’re still holding one another, by attention, by gaze, by accountability. This feels like an antidote to the pressure/rush/capitalistic produceproduceproduce ethos of the times.
Next to me, the mother covers her baby in a blanket.
Even during the two duets, there’s not an “odd one out;” instead when they watch one another, it’s active. The soft, sustained hugs feel like cups filling up.
Like the beginning, Soft Spot ends easefully. The audience witnesses a long lean-back on the ground; each of the five dancers is supported by the person behind them, eyes closed, safely, fully surrendered.
Near me, the baby sleeps.
Soft Spot, Vyette Tiya, Icebox Performance Space, Cannonball, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, September 13-23, 2026
*des amaiya is a staff writer with thINKingDANCE.
