Life as a Modern Dancer

One Good Quote: "Not About Race Dance" with Gerald Casel Dance (December 2021)

In Fall 2017, Life as a Modern Dancer launched a new concept for post-performance discussion and writing. The goals are multi-fold:

• What are new ways to invite post-performance writing (since so few publications now print dance reviews, and there are fewer and fewer dance critics in the United States)?
• How can choreographers hear and read more from audience members about their impressions and experiences of dance events?
• Can we offer new mechanisms for choreographers to gather language about their work, to further their work and to promote their work? 

The premise is simple. If you experienced "Not About Race Dance" with Gerald Casel Dance at CounterPulse in San Francisco or via streaming, please take a few minutes to leave a comment. Write down images, impressions, appreciations, and questions from the performance. These can be words, phrases, or a few sentences. 

We thank you for your time, support, and thoughtfulness. Here's to more dialogue, more reflection, and more writing on the dance performance experience. As choreographer Mariah Steele noted, we are "democratizing dance criticism."

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On teaching dance: What we wish to hear, what we hope you feel as a student

On teaching dance: What we wish to hear, what we hope you feel as a student

By Jill Randall

My head and heart have been full lately after a series of wonderful dance classes these past few weeks. I love being a teacher, and I love being a lifelong learner in weekly classes. Thank you to the following teaching artists for fabulous experiences during the past month, including:

Bhumi Patel
Mo Miner
Joslynn Mathis Reed
Charles Slender-White
Courtney Hope
Cookie Harrist
Andrew Merrell
Shaunna Vella
Melecio Estrella

This past week, I have been thinking about how I felt during and after these classes, and how these ideas are broader aspirations for teaching in general. I am thinking about my own classes, as I teach an intermediate level teen modern class each Tuesday and Thursday this school year.

What do you seek in a dance class? What do you aspire to offer your students?

 

“That was magical.”

“The class was well-crafted and well-planned.”

“I felt really warmed up.”

“What an amazing energy in the room.”

“I felt free.”

“I loved the challenge of __________.”

“I so look forward to this class.”

“Class energized me.”

“Class helped me decompress and de-stress.”

“I look forward to trying the material again next week.”

“The material in class was beautifully scaffolded.”

“So fun!”

Thank you to colleague Claire Calalo Berry for taking these words and making a printable PDF to post in your office or dance space. Download it here:

On teaching dance PDF

 

 

2021 on the Blog, and Beyond

Lauren Simpson's project Moving Truck, featured on the blog in February 2021. Find out more about it here.
Image Description: Two dancers in bright colored jumpsuits dance in a front yard by tall sunflower plants. Two audience members and a dog sit on the small front porch, watching.

By Jill Randall, Blog Director

Hello readers! Thank you for another year of engagement around modern and contemporary dance in the United States. Today I wanted to re-share some posts and projects from the year.

Proud to say that we published 58 pieces throughout the year, and every writer received a stipend for their writing! To help support 58 more pieces in 2022, please consider joining our Patreon campaign or a simple contribution of any size via Venmo (Jill-Randall-6). Every dollar donated goes directly to the roster of writers. Thank you!

Life as a Modern Dancer's 2021 Intern
One of the highlights of the year was a wonderful intern from Wayne State University, Camryn Eaglin. Camryn worked on numerous projects, including a really powerful series about black dancers in undergraduate programs throughout the United States. Check out the 6 pieces in the series here:

An Interview With Brooke Taylor: Dialogue for Change and Understanding (Black Dancers in Higher Education Series, Interview 1)

An Honest Outlook: Are there two different experiences? (Black Dancers in Higher Education Series, Interview 2)

Pushing through Discomfort and Making Room: An Interview with Asha Yates (Black Dancers in High Education Series, Interview 3)

It’s More Than Dance: An Interview with Kennedy Cannon (Black Dancers in Higher Education Series, Interview 4)

An Interview with Moria Small: A Different Lens, A Different Path (Black Dancers in Higher Education Series, Interview 5)

The Final Words: Black Dancers in Higher Education Call to Action - By Camryn Eaglin

A Call for New Ways of Working and Communicating about Dance Projects
Thank you to Bay Area colleague Emily Hansel, who reached out about publishing on the site about current dance experiences in the studio, and what needs to get improved and considered now. Thank you for Emily's bravery and collective call to action.

Relearning Agency: A Dancer’s Call for Collective Action - Emily Hansel

Cultivating Healthy, Equitable Workplaces for Dancers - Emily Hansel

Robert Moses teaching. Photo by Peter Earl McCollough. Read Robert's artist profile here.
Image description: In a light filled dance studio with wooden floor and mirrors, teacher Robert Moses leads in the front of the room, doing a a twisty lunging move. He wears a black shirt, black pants, and a white button down shirt, which is open. A group of dancers are behind him, learning the movements.

Artist Profiles
This is how the blog started - with artist profiles! These self-interviews share career paths and also wisdom, advice, and offerings. Wonderful to have a power dance couple share their stories in 2021: Robert Moses and Mary Carbonara.

Artist Profile #173: Robert Moses (San Francisco, CA)

Artist Profile #174: Mary Carbonara (San Francisco, CA)

Design by Claire Calalo Berry of Flourish and Frost. Image description: A graphic design with the words "somatic writing" in white calligraphy. The background is the two Pantone colors of the year, grey and yellow.

Somatic Writing Series
I worked with 8 colleagues to offer these short musings on somatics, 100 hundreds words or less on themes such as softening, allowing, activating, and slowing down to feel.

Somatic Writing Series: Cynthia Oliver, Nina Haft, and Jill Randall

Somatic Writing Series: Bhumi B. Patel, Andrea Olsen, and Elizebeth Randall Rains

Somatic Writing Series: Sima Belmar, Leah Cox, and Molly Rose-Williams

Reading Lists
Speaking of somatics - check out this reading list if you teach a somatics course at the undergraduate or graduate level. Also, I published in early 2021 a reading list for site-specific courses or projects on site-based work in higher ed.

Resource/Reading List: For a Somatics Course

Resources on Site-Specific Dance for College Courses

Moving Truck with Lauren Simpson Dance
Lauren is an artist I have been following for years and spotlighting on the blog. Check out this interview to find out about a delightful project she launched in the age of COVID. (Photo image at top of post.)

Moving Truck: 5 Questions for Lauren Simpson

In addition, I interviewed Lauren and collaborator Galen Rogers in April 2021 about their springtime project, Celestial Real Estate, in Omaha, Nebraska:

Light + Process + Unison + Deep Listening: An Interview with Dancers Lauren Simpson and Galen Rogers about Celestial Real Estate

Quaranzines
Sarah Chien shared about numerous publications (zines) created during the pandemic as a creative outlet and option for movers.

Quaranzines: Self-Producing Meets Self-Publishing - Sarah Chien

A Running List of Dance Publications
Curious to look at a comprehensive list of glossy and online-only publications? Intern Camryn Eaglin did the research back in the springtime.

Discover Dance Writing - Camryn Eaglin

Decentering the Teacher, Culturally Relevant Teaching, and Critical Dance Pedagogy
With our ongoing equity work in the classroom, I offered this list of questions and key ideas to consider in our teaching practices each week. I have come back to this list numerous times myself this year.

Springtime Musings on Teaching and Learning: Or, Where My Mind and Heart Are with Teaching Modern Dance These Days - Jill Randall

Image description: Front cover of the technique journal, including a dancer's two arms outstretched horizontally. The colors are the Pantone colors of the year, grey and yellow.

A New Journal for Technique Classes in Higher Ed
In August I published a 4th journal to use in undergrad and graduate dance classes of any style. You can print out the journal or type into the PDF. This journal takes a co-learning approach, asking that professors and students alike take time each week to journal and reflect.

A New Journal for Your College-Level Technique Course This Semester (Free to Download)

Cameras in the Studio
After Camryn Eaglin finished her internship, she joined us on the official roster of writers for the site. Check out this thoughtful and timely piece about videoing dance classes and posting on social media. How often, by whom, and with whose permission?

How do cameras in the classroom revolutionize how we view and participate in dance? - Camryn Eaglin

"Split," one of FACT/SF's performances in 2021. Read more about it here. Photo of LizAnne Roman Roberts. by Robbie Sweeny.

Image description: Dancer stands downstage in a performance space lit bubblegum pink. Dancer wears a sleeveless button up shirt, dark shorts to her knees, and white socks. The dancer is slightly arching and looking up to the ceiling.

Bay Area Dance
In December, I recapped the 12 dance projects we highlighted on the blog with previews and reviews. Dance took many forms - on stage, outdoors, pre-recorded, and streamed live.

Looking Back and Celebrating: Dance Performances in and from the SF Bay Area in 2021

Salt Lake City Artist Molly Heller
In addition to Life as a Modern Dancer, I also publish a few times a year through medium.com.

I worked with artist Molly Heller on two interviews as we waded through the pandemic's ups and downs:

What is in this moment? What is showing up today? Musings on Hope, Dance, and Teaching with Molly Heller

Prioritizing Embodiment: A Conversation with Dance Teaching Artist Molly Heller

New Books in 2021
And lastly, a favorite activity of mine...trying to list out the new dance books that came out this year:

New Dance Books in 2021

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Robert Moses teaching. Photo by Peter Earl McCollough. Read Robert's artist profile here.
Image description: In a light filled dance studio with wooden floor and mirrors, teacher Robert Moses leads in the front of the room, doing a a twisty lunging move. He wears a black shirt, black pants, and a white button down shirt, which is open. A group of dancers are behind him, learning the movements.

Image description: Front cover of the technique journal, including a dancer's two arms outstretched horizontally. The colors are the Pantone colors of the year, grey and yellow.

A New Journal for Technique Classes in Higher Ed
In August I published a 4th journal to use in undergrad and graduate dance classes of any style. You can print out the journal or type into the PDF. This journal takes a co-learning approach, asking that professors and students alike take time each week to journal and reflect.

A New Journal for Your College-Level Technique Course This Semester (Free to Download)

Cameras in the Studio
After Camryn Eaglin finished her internship, she joined us on the official roster of writers for the site. Check out this thoughtful and timely piece about videoing dance classes and posting on social media. How often, by whom, and with whose permission?

How do cameras in the classroom revolutionize how we view and participate in dance? - Camryn Eaglin

"Split," one of FACT/SF's performances in 2021. Read more about it here. Photo of LizAnne Roman Roberts. by Robbie Sweeny.

Image description: Dancer stands downstage in a performance space lit bubblegum pink. Dancer wears a sleeveless button up shirt, dark shorts to her knees, and white socks. The dancer is slightly arching and looking up to the ceiling.

Bay Area Dance
In December, I recapped the 12 dance projects we highlighted on the blog with previews and reviews. Dance took many forms - on stage, outdoors, pre-recorded, and streamed live.

Looking Back and Celebrating: Dance Performances in and from the SF Bay Area in 2021

Salt Lake City Artist Molly Heller
In addition to Life as a Modern Dancer, I also publish a few times a year through medium.com.

I worked with artist Molly Heller on two interviews as we waded through the pandemic's ups and downs:

What is in this moment? What is showing up today? Musings on Hope, Dance, and Teaching with Molly Heller

Prioritizing Embodiment: A Conversation with Dance Teaching Artist Molly Heller

New Books in 2021
And lastly, a favorite activity of mine...trying to list out the new dance books that came out this year:

New Dance Books in 2021

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Image description: Front cover of the technique journal, including a dancer's two arms outstretched horizontally. The colors are the Pantone colors of the year, grey and yellow.

A New Journal for Technique Classes in Higher Ed
In August I published a 4th journal to use in undergrad and graduate dance classes of any style. You can print out the journal or type into the PDF. This journal takes a co-learning approach, asking that professors and students alike take time each week to journal and reflect.

A New Journal for Your College-Level Technique Course This Semester (Free to Download)

Cameras in the Studio
After Camryn Eaglin finished her internship, she joined us on the official roster of writers for the site. Check out this thoughtful and timely piece about videoing dance classes and posting on social media. How often, by whom, and with whose permission?

How do cameras in the classroom revolutionize how we view and participate in dance? - Camryn Eaglin

"Split," one of FACT/SF's performances in 2021. Read more about it here. Photo of LizAnne Roman Roberts. by Robbie Sweeny.

Image description: Dancer stands downstage in a performance space lit bubblegum pink. Dancer wears a sleeveless button up shirt, dark shorts to her knees, and white socks. The dancer is slightly arching and looking up to the ceiling.

Bay Area Dance
In December, I recapped the 12 dance projects we highlighted on the blog with previews and reviews. Dance took many forms - on stage, outdoors, pre-recorded, and streamed live.

Looking Back and Celebrating: Dance Performances in and from the SF Bay Area in 2021

Salt Lake City Artist Molly Heller
In addition to Life as a Modern Dancer, I also publish a few times a year through medium.com.

I worked with artist Molly Heller on two interviews as we waded through the pandemic's ups and downs:

What is in this moment? What is showing up today? Musings on Hope, Dance, and Teaching with Molly Heller

Prioritizing Embodiment: A Conversation with Dance Teaching Artist Molly Heller

New Books in 2021
And lastly, a favorite activity of mine...trying to list out the new dance books that came out this year:

New Dance Books in 2021

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New Dance Books in 2021

Image description: A stack of 6 paperback dance books in front of a white background. The spines are bright yellow, black, navy, and mauve in color.

Each year, this is one of my favorite lists to pull together for Life as a Modern Dancer readers. In addition, I am grateful to write book roundups for Dance Teacher throughout the year. I am an avid reader myself, and also want to get the word out there about these new books, each one a work of art itself.

With each link below, I made a good faith effort to list an independent bookstore or the publisher's website. Thanks for supporting local bookstores and your library whenever you can!

This list primarily highlights modern and contemporary dance, with a few other titles sprinkled in related to hip hop, ballet, and somatics. Please list other new titles in the Comments section below as well. Let's build a comprehensive list together.

Baring Unbearable Sensualities: Hip Hop Dance, Bodies, Race, and Power - by Rosemarie A. Roberts

Dance Education: A Redefinition - by Susan R. Koff

Dancing Is the Best Medicine: The Science of How Moving To a Beat Is Good for Body, Brain, and Soul - by Julia F. Christensen and Dong-Seon Chang

Dance Theatre of Harlem: A History, A Movement, A Celebration - by Judy Tyrus and Paul Novosel

Funding Bodies: Five Decades of Dance Making at the National Endowment for the Arts - by Sarah Wilbur

Handbook in Motion: An Account of an Ongoing Personal Discourse and Its Manifestations in Dance - by Simone Forti

Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration - by SanSan Kwan

Onstage with Martha Graham - by Stuart Hodes

Physical Listening: A dancer’s interspecies journey - by JoAnna Mendl Shaw

Shifting Cultural Power: Case Studies and Questions in Performance - by Hope Mohr

Swan Dive: The Making of a Rogue Ballerina - by Georgina Pazcoguin

I also want to spotlight Felicia Rose Chavez's book I read this year. While not directly about technique and composition per se, The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom is a highly relevant book for any dance educator in K-12 and higher ed settings who is doing equity work and reshaping their teaching practices towards anti-racist dance education, culturally relevant teaching, and critical dance pedagogy.

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Some from 2020 I missed for the original list:
Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design 2nd Edition - by Gayle Kassing and Danielle Jay-Kirschenbaum

Tandem Dances: Choreographing Immersive Performance - by Julia M. Ritter

Articles I wrote in 2021 about books include:
Stock Up Your Shelf With These 6 New Books on Dance Education (Dance Teacher, February 22, 2021)

Summer Reading List: 6 New Titles for Dance Educators (Dance Teacher, July 28, 2021)a

Related posts:
New Dance Books in 2020

New Dance Books in 2019

New Dance Books in 2018

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Looking Back and Celebrating: Dance Performances in and from the SF Bay Area in 2021

 

FACT/SF in "Diffusion." Erin Yen and Emily Hansel (background), Samuel Melecio-Zambrano and Katherine Neumann (foreground). Photo by Robbie Sweeny. Image description: Four dancers perform in a park. In this image two are in the foreground moving in unison, arms wide to their sides. Two are in the far background running away. The costume is a red t-shirt with a black long sleeve underneath, black cap and shorts, and high red sports socks.

Looking Back and Celebrating: Dance Performances in and from the SF Bay Area in 2021

By Jill Randall, Blog Director

It is December 18th; I scroll back through the blog to remember and revisit the dances we covered over the past 12 months. Some writing was a preview, and many were reviews and reflections post-experience. Performances took place: live and online, streamed on your laptop at a time of your choosing, outdoors, and indoors. My heart feels fuller today remembering that good art did make many appearances in 2021, and that format and scale were wonderfully re-imagined by many.

Today I reshare the 12 projects highlighted on Life as a Modern Dancer throughout 2021. Thank you for revisiting them with me and allowing them to linger and be savored a bit more. Thank you artists for these gifts!

This is just a modest slice of Bay Area modern and contemporary work. Thinking of many other performances in 2021 as well that we did not get to cover on the blog, including: Flyaway Productions, AXIS Dance Company, Joe Goode Performance Group, Margaret Jenkins, and Molly Rose-Williams + Randee Paufve, to name a few.

Shout outs to the wonderful writers who covered these projects throughout 2021, including: Sarah JG Chenoweth, Garth Grimball, and Molly Rose-Williams.

January: RAWdance

“Still Dancing”: The Dancers of RAWdance on Working on “The Healer” in the Age of Quarantine

One Good Quote: "The Healer" with RAWdance

Virtual Healing with RAWdance - by Garth Grimball

April/May: Jennifer Perfilio Movement Works

A Practice of Unknowing, Breaking Away from Structures and Habits: An Interview with San Francisco Dance Artist Jennifer Perfilio

One Good Quote: "As Is" with Jennifer Perfilio Movement Works (April 2021)

May: FACT/SF

An Afternoon Walk and Dance Through Glen Canyon Park: FACT/SF’s "Diffusion" - by Molly Rose-Williams

September: RAWdance

RAWdance’s Portal into (Un)familiar Space - by Garth Grimball

October: Hope Mohr Dance

In Bacchae Before the Reveal is in the Subtext - by Garth Grimball

October: Queering Dance Festival

Gestures and Dreams at Queer Date Night - by Garth Grimball

October: FACT/SF

Wholeness in Split - by Sarah JG Chenoweth

October: Funsch Dance Experience

Modern Dance Fan Club: Funsch Dance Experience in "EPOCH" - by Jill Randall

November: Kristin Damrow & Company

Dreams of Friday: Kristin Damrow & Company Premiers "Medium" on November 5th in San Francisco - by Jill Randall

November: Paufve Dance

Paufve Dance Remembers and Looks Forward - by Garth Grimball

December: Megan Lowe Dances

The Weight of Shadows with Megan Lowe Dances - by Garth Grimball

One Good Quote: "Tangram" with Megan Lowe Dances

December: Gerald Casel Dances

Reflections on Gerald Casel’s "Not About Race Dance" - by Molly Rose-Williams

One Good Quote: "Not About Race Dance" with Gerald Casel Dance

Gerald Casel’s Not About Race Dance Residency at MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). Photo by Chris Cameron. Image description: Cauveri Suresh and Gerald Casel dance together. Gerald, sideways to the camera, folds his arms over his chest and looks down over his shoulder. Cauveri stands close behind him with their right arm extended upwards, palm-out.

 

FACT/SF in "Diffusion." Erin Yen and Emily Hansel (background), Samuel Melecio-Zambrano and Katherine Neumann (foreground). Photo by Robbie Sweeny. Image description: Four dancers perform in a park. In this image two are in the foreground moving in unison, arms wide to their sides. Two are in the far background running away. The costume is a red t-shirt with a black long sleeve underneath, black cap and shorts, and high red sports socks.

Gerald Casel’s Not About Race Dance Residency at MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). Photo by Chris Cameron. Image description: Cauveri Suresh and Gerald Casel dance together. Gerald, sideways to the camera, folds his arms over his chest and looks down over his shoulder. Cauveri stands close behind him with their right arm extended upwards, palm-out.

 

Gerald Casel’s Not About Race Dance Residency at MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). Photo by Chris Cameron. Image description: Cauveri Suresh and Gerald Casel dance together. Gerald, sideways to the camera, folds his arms over his chest and looks down over his shoulder. Cauveri stands close behind him with their right arm extended upwards, palm-out.

 

Reflections on Gerald Casel’s "Not About Race Dance"

Gerald Casel’s Not About Race Dance Residency at MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). Photo by Chris Cameron. Image description: Cauveri Suresh and Gerald Casel dance together. Gerald, sideways to the camera, folds his arms over his chest and looks down over his shoulder. Cauveri stands close behind him with their right arm extended upwards, palm-out.

 

Reflections on Gerald Casel’s "Not About Race Dance"

By Molly Rose-Williams

Friday December 3rd, 2021. CounterPulse Theater, San Francisco.

“This is an accumulated sequence.” The words spring to life on the back wall of the stage while Gerald Casel moves through a simple movement phrase. Reaching, slight hip swing, retract, repeat. He considers the audience with a direct, deadpan gaze.

The stage is a white box—white floor, white walls. TLC’s “Waterfalls” pours from a speaker on the ground with a lo-fi, boombox feel.

“I am a brown body in a white cube.” The words again appear on the back wall.

Casel continues to dance, and the projected words change to describe the dance lineage of the piece like subtitles. The white cube and accumulated sequence mirror choices from Trisha Brown’s 1971, “Accumulation,” a pillar in post-modern dance. The title, “Not About Race Dance,” is a reference to the 1974 “Not About AIDS Dance.”

 “”Not About AIDS Dance” made HIV more visible to audiences,” the projected words tell us. What is being made more visible to me? 

Casel, with his brown body in this white cube, continues to dance an accumulated phrase inspired by a white body in a white-dominated form. Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls, pleads the song, as if warning of the dangers of grasping at something that can never really be achieved. 

But despite the layers of history behind this dance, it feels undeniably Casel’s own. What other movement lineages am I seeing? I wonder as I watch him dance. What matrix of un-subtitled influences live in this moving body? 

The song ends. Casel exits, and then re-enters with Audrey Johnson and Cauveri Suresh. Johnson takes a seat downstage left and begins a soulful a capella rendition of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.” Primed to recognize the lineage of the movement language, I immediately ID Casel and Suresh’s opening moves as post-modern inspired. As the dance goes on, I get less and less sure. There are rhythmic sections, movements big and small, stomping and spinal contractions. Within minutes, Casel and Suresh’s dancing pours from their bodies in such a dynamic and blended mix of “recognizable” and novel-to-me forms, it seems the only possible source of the dancing can be their bodies themselves—their movement histories, influences, preferences and patterns.

Johnson’s singing soars over it all, at once tender, intimate, and vast. She introduces the role of internal witness to the work. Whereas Casel’s deadpan gaze in the opening scene made me acutely aware of my role as external witness, I am now also aware of the artists as witnesses to their own performance. Johnson, with her back to us, seems to sing primarily for Casel and Suresh. The timbre of her voice—tuned with pleasure—suggests that she is also singing for herself. As the audience, we are the lucky vicarious recipients of this song. 

Who are Suresh and Casel dancing for? I wonder. The audience? Johnson? One another? Themselves?

Gerald Casel’s Not About Race Dance Residency at MANCC (Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography). Photo by Chris Cameron. Image description: A group of people onstage gather to review a poster-sized sheet of paper, set on the floor. Three of them hold microphones. One person, standing, has their mouth open as though they are reading or singing what’s written on the paper. The others laugh.

This question becomes a driving curiosity for me as the work goes on—who is this for? I feel invited into a rich and layered secret space, as if each scene is just an iceberg of a profoundly deep process. The dancing at many points strikes me as the work of world-breaking and building—I see decomposition, devolution, disintegration, looping, primordial soup, breaking down, convergence, rupture, and rebuilding. 

The object of this labor is never spoken out loud, but feels implied by the title: “Not About Race Dance.” In the conjurations of this all-BIPOC cast, I see the unraveling and reimagining of a world replete with systems designed to oppress all manner of intersections and identities; I see the interrogation of the artists’ personal experiences; pathways into their intimate internal worlds; and an exploration of being witnessed in the midst of this research. I also see a group of humans, just humans, dancing fully, generously, and, it seems, with joy. 

In the layers and contradictions of how “not about race” and “all about race” the dancing seems, I am also invited to wonder: to what extent does my witnessing transform this work from “not about race” to “all about race?” This question is fueled greatly by the play between internal and external witnessing in the work. About halfway through, the artists huddle upstage to murmur in private communion. Under low light, they smile at one another, and after apparently agreeing on something (everyone nods), they slide back downstage for public viewing again. 

This moment feels radical. As the artists prioritize their connections with one another, I am also invited to observe my role as witness. I sit with how it feels to be a white-bodied observer to the movement of this all-POC cast. Their choices at times place me as a voyeur, and actively signal that this work was not made with just my experience in mind. I also read it as a refusal to fall into the trope of the objectified Black or brown body. Though this performance has not been overly curated for me, I am left with no doubt that everything I am witnessing is willingly and authentically shared.

The use of projection and a mobile camera, often handled by the artists themselves, adds another layer to this witnessing. Over the course of the work, projected on the back wall we see a looping cityscape, a grainy photo of a wraparound porch (Home, I think), and various iterations of the dancing onstage through a distorted camera lens.

Mostly, the camera portrays an abstracted and delayed version of the action onstage. However, close to the end of the work, the camera’s eye clarifies for an unfiltered close-up of the dancers on stage. Styles Alexander has just completed a rabid rendition of an original punk song ending with, “I’m gay and it’s sick!”. Now they lie on the floor, back to the audience, speaking a poem into a mic. 

Johnson and Suresh dance on the other side of the stage, and in between the dancers and Alexander, Casel holds the camera. First he gives us a close-up of Johnson and Suresh’s duet, and then he pans to a low angle of Alexander’s face, body stretched body fully along the floor. “If I continue to spiral, I am weaving through the alignment of being,” Alexander murmurs, their head halo-ed by a shin light beyond. 

I am struck by the gentleness of the witnessing in this moment. A far cry from the detached or brutalist surveillance that camera technology often evokes, the projected image serves only to amplify the humanity of the artists in its eye. The image appears with a slight lag on the back wall, adding to the softness and creating a sense of time like a rubber band. 

The piece ends with a tired and tender duet by Audrey Johson and Karla Quintero. As they turn around one another, I see a yielding and responsiveness. They eventually descend on opposite sides of the stage to crawl on their hands and knees towards the back screen. When they reach their destination, they turn to look at one another, and then the audience. As the lights fade, I wonder what they see in our sea of faces.

In the days since, I’ve continued to be struck by the complexity of my role as witness in this work. How did my own positionality influence my experience of the piece? What did others’ eyes see as they watched the same performance? What “unwritten subtitles” might I have missed, misread, or created of my own accord? And how does that map to how I write about the work? How would the subtitles for this review read?

I have also continued to mull on the question proposed by the opening image of the work: what was made more visible by this piece? At the top of the program, Gerald has included a note in which he thanks the cast for contributing so much of themselves throughout the process: “this was not always easy since we have worked to exhume and are constantly working to move past difficult histories as racialized bodies in predominantly white spaces.”

For me, perhaps the most powerful impression I had upon leaving this work was of race, not as an abstract concept, but a human one. One that lives inside of, on top of and between our bodies; one that shows up everywhere, but matters only because we matter. So in the end, what was made more visible to me was not so much “racism” or the “whiteness” of many dance spaces. It was the dancers themselves and the labor they contributed to staying present, visible, and connected to themselves and one another even as they performed for an audience. Every choice in the evening succeeded in amplifying their bodies, presence, and offerings. They were brown bodies dancing in a white cube, and they were also five incredibly generous artists sharing a small, incredibly substantial piece of themselves with us.

Thank you to Gerald Casel and his collaborators. I’m already eagerly awaiting the next offering.

 

Molly Rose-Williams is a dance artist, writer, educator and community arts organizer from the San Francisco Bay Area. You can read more of her writing and learn about her work at www.mollyrosewilliams.com.

 

 

One Good Quote: "Tangram" with Megan Lowe Dances (December 2021)

Dancer Brenton Cheng jumps into the air, his hand connected via finger traps to the hand of another dancer, Megan Lowe, who props herself up off the ground horizontally. Photo by RJ Muna.

In Fall 2017, Life as a Modern Dancer launched a new concept for post-performance discussion and writing. The goals are multi-fold:

• What are new ways to invite post-performance writing (since so few publications now print dance reviews, and there are fewer and fewer dance critics in the United States)?
• How can choreographers hear and read more from audience members about their impressions and experiences of dance events?
• Can we offer new mechanisms for choreographers to gather language about their work, to further their work and to promote their work? 

The premise is simple. If you experienced "Tangram" with Megan Lowe Dances at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco December 9-12, 2021, please take a few minutes to leave a comment. Write down images, impressions, appreciations, and questions from the performance. These can be words, phrases, or a few sentences. 

We thank you for your time, support, and thoughtfulness. Here's to more dialogue, more reflection, and more writing on the dance performance experience. As choreographer Mariah Steele noted, we are "democratizing dance criticism."

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The Weight of Shadows with Megan Lowe Dances

Megan Lowe (left) and Brenton Cheng (right). Photo by RJ Muna. Image description: A male and female dancer jump into the air. Their hands are connected together by finger traps, limbs overlapping like a puzzle.

The Weight of Shadows with Megan Lowe Dances

By Garth Grimball

Tangram is a dissection puzzle. Seven polygons, or tans, form shapes and silhouettes like a cat or a house or a human in motion. Unlike the snug fit of a jigsaw puzzle, tans are always free to dissect and reform.

“Tangram,” a premiere from Megan Lowe Dances, features Lowe and collaborator Brenton Cheng dissecting space with weight and light. The dance “uses physical puzzles to explore relationship, geometry, and their shared Chinese heritage.” Lowe and Cheng met while attending contact improvisation jams. In 2019, they created “Finger Trap,” followed by “Maw Jaw,” a dance film that shares the bill of MLD’s performances at Joe Goode Annex, December 9-12.

On Thursday, December 2, I attended a rehearsal of “Tangram” and spoke with Lowe and Cheng. The duo shared the first half of the work. It opens with Cheng center stage moving through a series of gestures. Upstage left Lowe responds in kind before the two join in an ever-evolving weight share of tumbles, tricks, and triumphs. Eye contact is rare. They connect through the visceral awareness of the other’s center. “I want to avoid reading as romantic,” said Lowe, “the strength of the two of us” is the text.

I’ve seen many performances at Joe Goode Annex. Lowe and Cheng surprised me in their creative use of the space - no spoilers. They think of choreographing as puzzle making. Every movement is an opportunity to test a limit or find a new task. It is this sense of building that distinguishes their flow of weight from the Rube Goldberg device style of partnering. Their lifts and drops don’t assemble like a chain of inevitability. Every moment of contact has the weight of a choice.

The physicality of relationships and geometry is evident. How does sharing weight connect with sharing heritage? “I’m not just carrying Megan,” said Cheng, “I’m carrying Megan and her heritage. We are carrying heritage.” Like Tangrams, “we are shapes but have history.”

Buy Tickets for Megan Lowe Dances “Tangram” at Joe Goode Annex, December 9-12 here.

 

Garth Grimball is a dance writer and artist based in Oakland, CA. He hosts the Reference Desk podcast and is the co-director of Wax Poet(s) performance collective.

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Related post:

Still Lingering: Reflections on "Action Potential," Six Months Later

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Paufve Dance Remembers and Looks Forward

Olivia Caldeira Holston in "OLIVIA!" filmed by Julia Sweeney. Image description: Close up of a young woman' s face and upper body, dancing outdoors, facing the camera. Background of trees against blue sky. Sky-blue linen blouse, right arm extended with fisted hand in a “power pose."

Paufve Dance Remembers and Looks Forward

By Garth Grimball

Randee Paufve gets to the point. Twenty-one months into pandemic living, twenty-one months into dance artists adjusting to digital work, Paufve Dance continues to create work that delivers on its thesis and ends. A welcome addition to a form that too often overstays its welcome.

On Sunday, November 21, Paufve Dance held a virtual screening of three new dance films directed by Julia Sweeney. “8x8x8 Time Warp Reverie” and “Uptown End Times” are tributes. “OLIVIA!” is a forward-looking dance. For 16 years Randee Paufve curated and hosted 8x8x8 in the San Francisco Bay Area, an annual dance event that invited 8 artists to share work in a space of 8x8 feet. The event is beloved for its intimacy and community.

Aviva Rose-Williams and Molly Rose-Williams in 8x8x8. Photo by Hans Holtan. Image description: A crowded nightclub, audience sitting on floor ringing the performance space. Two women - twins - face the camera, holding hands. One, in red pants, is standing on her right leg, right palm toward the ceiling; the other, in purple pants, is standing on her left leg, left palm toward ceiling.

“8x8x8 Time Warp Reverie” is a dance down memory lane. Sweeney interrupts the clips montage of performances past with an elegant framing device. She films the physical act of revisiting material. A tight shot shows her hand pulling tapes from the archive and putting them into a handheld camera. It is a gift to the community to see so many dances documented with care. Documentation is a facsimile, a reminder of the care we showed each other in-person at 8x8x8. I had the pleasure of participating in the 2019 production and remember it as an evening of joy and togetherness.

Randee Paufve and Chris Evans at The Uptown. Image description: An empty nightclub. Close up on cellist facing away from camera, wearing black top and black hat. Dancer facing cellist, red pants, black jacket, right arm extended, right thumb up like a hitchhiker. 

The Uptown venue in Oakland was home to 8x8x8 for ten years. It is one of many Bay Area spaces lost to the pandemic. “Uptown End Times” is a loving memorial and companion piece to “Time Warp Reverie.” Randee Paufve performs with composer and cellist Chris Evans bathed in purple light in The Uptown during its final days before closing. Paufve’s dancing shifts between formalized movement and improvised responses to Evans’s playing. The framing creates the visual sense that Paufve is not dancing with the space like a duet, but the performer and the space are two solos, parallel and independent.

“OLIVIA!” is a showcase for dancer Olivia Caldeira Holston. It’s the longest film of the evening and it earns every minute. Holston is a joy to watch. She projects serenity on screen and dances with equal parts articulation and surrender. “OLIVIA!” travels from sidewalk to beach to hill top often with jump cuts. Holston interprets Paufve’s choreography of loose-limbed dexterity with a lived-in quality. The filming and editing evokes home movies, experimental films, and the collaborations between Charles Atlas and Michael Clark. For a brief moment Holston disappears and the screen fades to Norma Bengell’s “Eternamente Pagú.”

The genre and set switching isn’t messy because Holston is at the center. In post-post-post modern, new-contemporary dance making, process-as-product is fetishized to the point of caricaturing itself. “OLIVIA!” is never fetishistic in letting the process make its way into the frame. It’s marginalia. The clip of Bengell, moments of Holston talking or waiting for the cue to start are rendered like the notes written in the margins of a book. The text is complete and in print. Next to the words is the space to respond, remind, and explore new ideas.

Garth Grimball is a dance writer and artist based in Oakland, CA. He hosts the Reference Desk podcast and is the co-director of Wax Poet(s) performance collective.

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Related articles:

Audience Notes: An Afternoon Outside with Paufve Dance

CriticalMasses: 8x8x8 (January 24, 2019)

Studio Time with Randee Paufve

 

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Dreams of Friday: Kristin Damrow & Company Premiers "Medium" on November 5th in San Francisco

Video description for trailer: Anna Greenberg Gold is laying down with the color of the room changing around them. Macio Payomo is moving through a white room. Shareen DeRyan is moving through a forest as well as dancing with a sculptural costume design.

Dreams of Friday: Kristin Damrow & Company Premiers "Medium" on November 5th in San Francisco

By Jill Randall

This week, I got to catch up with choreographer Kristin Damrow and two of the collaborators for Medium, Allegra Bautista and Shareen DeRyan. Read on to gain a window into the work. There is a sense of excitement and hope as we imagine gathering, sharing, and experiencing live performances more and more this November and December.

Check out Medium in person in San Francisco on Friday, November 5th at 7:30pm and 9pm. Tickets are available here.

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Please describe the creation process and timeline of Medium for us. What was most exciting? Challenging?

Kristin: The creation process for Medium has been extremely condensed. We usually have over a year to make a show, and  we packed it into a short 3 months. As hectic as it all feels, it's also super thrilling to see it all come together so quickly. It really asks artistically, and from a production side, to make choices and trust my first impulse. Also coming together as a company again to create work has been so fulfilling. Over the pandemic we have focused on solo projects and creating dance films. To feel the vibe of a whole group moving together, creating together, and supporting one another is powerful. 

Allegra: I was so excited to enter the studio and see familiar and new faces during the process of Medium. Working with Kristin and all the other dancers has enlivened a spark of joy and a sense of gratitude. Dancing and working with this group of dancers has been so special.

How many times have you personally performed for a live audience since March 2020?

Allegra: Since March 2020, I have been fortunate to have performed multiple times for a live audience. My first live performance was in May 2021 for KDC in Palo Alto. Since then, I have performed outdoors at Yerba Buena Gardens, de Young Museum, Presidio Theatre, and in Healdsburg and indoors for the SFIAF (San Francisco International Arts Festival).

Shareen: In April and May I was a part of Jennifer Perfilo’s interdisciplinary work. 6 weeks 6 shows at Golden Gate Park. Each show was a different collaboration between 3 dancers and either a scriber, videographer, photographer, or sketch artist.  I also performed in October with Christy Funsch’s 12 hour dance experience show, EPOCH, which was live and virtual. 

There was an exhibit at the Berkeley Art Museum years ago titled "The Dream of the Audience." That phrase has stuck with me for many years. What is your "dream of the audience" for November 5th?

Allegra: Whatever a person is going through that day or week, they are invited to be present, connect, allow for the imagination to soak in what we are offering.

Shareen: I implore the audience to feel inquisitive about art making…What is your artistry? How do you continue to support your art and other art makers around you?   

Share a bit about the Firehouse at Fort Mason. What drew you into this particular space/place?

Kristin: Finding a venue for Medium, there are a lot of factors at play. We needed a space that was flexible to have a film premiere as well as space to have a live piece performed. We also had to really take into consideration safety during Covid and to make sure the facilities were equipped with ventilation and allow small audiences to still feel like they were seeing a show. Firehouse also offers a wonderful layout, where we can split the audience into groups to allow the two elements of the show (film premieres and live performance) to happen simultaneously and then rotate and reset in an efficient way. Not to mention the location is beautiful, being right on the Bay.

Why live art, now?

Kristin: Navigating what it means to have a performance during Covid is new territory for all artists. It feels like we're coming out of hibernation and also asking audiences to do the same. The audience always plays a role in a performance. How they hold the space. How they hold the energy in the room. It's also the variable in the creation process that we can never anticipate how it will feel until it's in the moment. 

Shareen: COVID put its stamp on the world, and the means of expression, creativity and exploration feel crucial for maintaining one's sanity. 

Allegra: One of the most common comments I have been receiving after a live performance is how much the audience has missed watching live dance. I am so grateful to be able to connect, listen, share and make the audience remember why live dance and art is so important. There is a deeper meaning when able to connect in person. 

Image description: Behind the scenes of the filming of "Silo." Dancer Shareen DeRyan stands within an abandoned concrete structure. In front of her is a camera capturing the moment and the cinematographer, Nate Gold.

Allegra Bautista (she/her) is a San Francisco native and graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California. She is honored to have performed in the works of Garrett+ Moulton Productions, Amy Seiwert, RAWdance, Tanya Bello's Project b, Natasha Adorlee's Concept o4, and ka·nei·see | collective. Allegra currently dances with Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. She is a certified yoga instructor.

Kristin Damrow (she/her) is a San Francisco-based contemporary choreographer and dance educator. She received her B.A. in Dance from Columbia College Chicago then founded Kristin Damrow & Company (KDC) in 2010 after moving to the Bay Area. KDC’s work has been nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award and has been commissioned by FOG Design + Art, Airbnb Design, Oakland Museum of California, Plat du Jour Project, Lindenwood University, and Iowa State University. KDC has been featured in Dance Magazine, Fast Company, Backstage Magazine, KQED Arts, and SF/Arts Monthly. Damrow is a faculty member at ODC Dance Commons in San Francisco  and she has taught master classes at NYU Tisch School of the Arts (NY), Columbia College (Chicago), Gibney Dance (NYC), and Mark Morris Dance Center (NYC).

Shareen DeRyan (she/her) is a San Francisco Bay Area based dancer and trained at Lines Ballet. She has performed in works by Christian Burns, Robert Moses, Christy Funsch, Alivia Schaffer, Karla Quintero, Mark Foehringer, Kinetech Arts, RAWdance, Mud Water Theatre, Bellwether Dance Project, Fullstop Dance and more. Currently Shareen is in her third year of dancing for Kristin Damrow & Company and Jennifer Perfilio Movement Works. 

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Modern Dance Fan Club: Funsch Dance Experience in "EPOCH"

Victor Talledos in "EPOCH." Photo by John Hill.

Image description: A solo, masked dancer on a stage with black marley and a dark background. Dancer has his arms stretched straight upwards, on both sides of his head. His eyes are closed and he wears a COVID-era cloth mask. The dancer has his left leg out to side, knee bent, and on the ball of his foot. His right leg is bent.

Modern Dance Fan Club: Funsch Dance Experience in "EPOCH"

By Jill Randall

Preface:

I have come to believe that all modern dance choreographers need a fan club. Regulars. T-shirts. Stickers on laptops. Longtime supporters. Folks who show up in a variety of ways for the artist and for the art.

I have been a member of the Christy Funsch fan club probably for 8 or so years now. I know her work as a fellow Bay Area artist. I have been moved by her in-person performances over the years. (Remember the bricks section in her evening length duet with Nol Simonse?) I also have loved her writing contributions on this site over the years. Check out Christy’s artist profile and also her shelter-in-place dance dictionary.

October 2, 2021, the Funsch Dance Experience offered a 12-hour durational experience at the ODC Theater in San Francisco. Due to my schedule for the day, I opted to get a streaming ticket and to pop in and out of the event 6 times. In total, I watched about 70 minutes of the 12 hours.

In conjunction with Christy’s experimental performance format, today I offer an experimental dance reflection, primarily in poetic form. Far from a “dance review,” this piece humbly aims to document and share back my audience member and fan experience. Please join me in re-envisioning and reshaping dance writing in response to performance. (Read more here in the February 2020 article, Creating a New Model and Landscape for Dance Criticism and Dance Reflection: Honoring Artists' Voices and Offering Multiple Viewpoints.) 

My basic notes are in black ink, and my poems/responses are in purple.

A PDF of this writing piece can be downloaded here: Modern Dance Fan Club Funsch Dance Experience in EPOCH

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10am, first livestream viewing

Start of the event

I tune in at the very beginning, with curtain speeches and land acknowledgements. I have not showered yet; I settle into the leather chair by the front window in the living room. My 16 year old son is still sound asleep in the other room.

I am drawn to write in phrases and to form poetry. Sitting here alone, no fellow audience members are bothered by my writing while the show happens. 

Here is my response to the opening duet with zoe huey and Erik Lee.

2 dancers
Top of head
Co-existing?
Today’s improv?
Set material?

zoe looks at Erik - 
Morning contact

Pensive
Stretched time

zoe’s turn first
Erik waiting, watching

Sound score like sand blowing on a long stretch
Low - going - flowing

zoe so clear -
Clarity
Invoking, stating
Erik witnesses, is asked to wait

A transfer of energy

Erik sparked to join

Thinking about agency versus reactivity

Calm
Clarity

Choreographic question:
Why 2 dancers at once?
Feels like separate solos

Commitment to slow, continuous movement

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At 10:18am, 3 dancers come on stage in unison.

zoe windmilling, churning
Repetition in upstage left

Contrasts, composition
5 on stage

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10:20am, 2 audience members in the theater enter and cross the space to find seats. The formality is broken. I feel a bit more at ease. 

10:23am - a unison duet

Oh, seeking unison 
in this post-pandemic
emergence

Togetherness
You, in my periphery

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10:25am I add into the Chat on the screen.

Lots of joy watching first thing today.

How would I describe the movement?
-Primarily stationary
-Slower, continuous
-Broad circles
-Crouching
-Heartbeating/pulsing gestures
-Lunges
-2 arms dancing

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At home, I turn off the screen. My son is still asleep. I step into the open space in the dining room. I stand up and repeat in my own body 5 movements I just saw. I am compelled to feel + embody them myself, to join in. I give myself permission to join in.

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P.S. From viewing #1

Thank you Christy, dancers, and musicians. Those 30 minutes took me to another place, and shifted me out of this morning’s anxiety. 

My heart feels open again. My chest is broad, wide.

Transitioning back into this morning and today’s list of tasks + needs.

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12pm (viewing #2 of the livestream)

5 dancers

Sitting, lying
Witnessing

Durational
AND with masks - 
I am impressed.
Patience AND endurance.

Curly haired dancer - 
I want to learn your name.
Slow, continuous, measured
The tension of 
Agency + being acted upon 
at once?

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I looked away for a moment and now you are upright.

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Patience 
Witnessing others
Allowing yourself 
To move
In this tempo
In this path

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I see zoe’s visible
Exhale

The weight
The heavy lift

What do we carry?

Bird sounds + song
In the soundscore
Thank you
(I associate this sound with calm)

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4 dancers are now
On backs and side

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Rest, recuperation, resignation?

A few jumps, prances
Arms swinging
Hug yourself
Legs lifting to side - bent knee

Existing in a sparse landscape

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Tempo picks up
More urgency
More wind

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I get up on my feet again and embody a few of the moves myself. Giving myself permission to experience the work in a new way and respond in a new way. 

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2:17pm (viewing #3)

Chinchin Hsu dancing

I want to join into 
This twisting
    Slapping
    Lifting phrase

Repeated

The energy of today

Then - 
A quiet balance!
Hope

Shift the energy

Chinchin’s solo embodies my day
Thank you for this gift 

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Circling
Hair released, down
Stirring this shit around

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Then -
    Arms up
    Eyes up
    Heart looking up -

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5:34pm viewing #4 of livestream

Unmasked

5 dancers -
    Different cast than this morning

Solo endeavor
Versus group

A diagonal line of dancers
Some stillness, some movement
A solo amongst the group

When are we “together?”
When are we alone,
    Separate,
    Apart?

Facing back
Hiding?
Turned away?
Separating ourselves?

Lights fade

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Viewing #5

I take one more quick peek in between personal and professional events this evening. I didn’t note the time, but I estimate it was around 6pm?

Still - in my work outfit - I stand up and try on a few more moves…

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9:12pm viewing #6 of livestream

Endurance!

Jumping, bouncing
Still going

Yet also catching a 
First glimpse of some of the dancers

Paddle turns
Long arms
Bouncing
Slow churn

Co-existence.

9:14pm

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Jill Randall is the Artistic Director of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA and founder/editor of Life as a Modern Dancer.

Left to right: dancers Shareen DeRyan, Nina Wu, and Emily Hansel. Photo by John Hill.

Image description: Three dancers onstage. The marley flooring in black and the background is dark. Two dancers move very upstage in the background. One dancer is featured in the photo, downstage. She is crouched on the ground, with both hands gesturing near her head.