When you think of the SLC dance scene, you probably think only about the big four: Ballet West, Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Odyssey. But there are a few smaller companies made up of many members from the above four companies that are at the forefront of new choreography in Salt Lake. One of such company is My Turkey Sandwich.

Sarah Donahue and Aaron Wood, dancers from Repertory Dance Theatre, formed the company after choreographing many pieces together in grad school. They wanted a name that would be catchy and have personal appeal to most people. And so My Turkey Sandwich was born.

The Numbing Effect excerpt from Between The Bread

This is the third evening that My Turkey Sandwich has produced. Between the Bread and Open Faced with a Side of Mayo were composed of a selection of works that ranged from the humorous “A How to Guide” to the more in depth serious pieces like “The Making Of Me” which illuminates the identity of being a gay man in today's culture. Their fusion of dance with technology and theatre constantly challenges the viewer to not only reexamine their views on dance but also social issues. Their third show is a little different.

The short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman was the inspiration for this show and the evening is a loose adaption of her story. The evening is a combination of dance, theater, video projection and musical arrangement.  Dancers Laura Blakley, Karin Fenn, Corrine Penka, Natosha Washington, along with actor Gabi Gaston represent the woman in the The Yellow Wallpaper, and the evening is a darkly humorous examination of an isolated woman's state of reality and the swift changes she makes between sanity and insanity.

This performance has 12 sections that flow continuously, without an intermission, for about 55 minutes. The acts are called Prologue, Quotidian, Writing, Wallpaper, John, Bed, Rest Cure, Self, Mirror, Fancy Flourish, Creeping and Epilogue. The order of  sections does not correspond with chronological events in the story, and there are even sections that Donohue says they  imagined might have existed but actually did not in Gilman's text.

Founders Sarah Donohue and Aaron Wood (Photography by Christopher Peddecord)

"One piece that stands out is a duet performed by Karin Fenn and Corinne Penka," says Donohue. "The section called 'Self' is an examination of how we define and see our existence in a confined world. While many of the sections are supported by layers of text, video, movement, blocking, and set manipulation, this section is purely dance. The dancing is beautiful, and they portray a hopeful and strong moment for our character--a moment of clarity, when you can see yourself exactly as you are and as how you want to be."

For Donohue and Wood the hardest challenge of choreographing was interweaving the movement with video and live theater. "The many layers of our show make it very rich," Donohue says, "but now we are trying to sit back and see it as the audience might (which is impossible for the choreographer)."

My Turkey Sandwich's The Yellow Wallpaper runs Feb. 3-4 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door. For more information please visit www.myturkeysandwich.org