Dance/USA conference

We 'performed' at the opening reception of Dance/USA as background to a cocktail party performing short dance structures aimed to fit in and around the space. We put ourselves in a place where people were not meant to watch (catering staff doesn't count) but were there to talk with one another. Still trying to figure out what to say about it. We didn't push to get ourselves seen. We didn't try to dance right within the people as they were waiting at the bar or waiting at the food tables. (instead we danced outside the building looking in) It's the tree in a forest question - if nobody heard the tree fall, did it happen? If nobody saw the dance was it a performance?

(photo left: event at Holmes Run Greenway in Alexandria. We expected passersby to stop and watch, or pedestrians to pass through the event, as the bikers did above, but we weren't expecting actual audience attendance.)
Discussions with dance administrators at SmartBar provided some things to think about "a company of all women comes off as avocational," "exposure comes with attention grabbing situation," "free performance is an investment in audience-building," and most of all, I just sometimes didn't know what question to ask. "this copy is well-written and thoughtful, but you really need to work on your 'elevator' speech. I didn't really understand what your group was about until I talked with you for ten minutes."

Incidence

We are working with an aluminum piece that Howard Connelly created for "Incidence." The whole idea is about chance and change, how we move things along, and how we don't know even when there is familiarity with components. We are developing segments of choreography that will be performed dependent on the visual appearance of the sculpture. The cues for our changes will come when Gina Biver changes the music. The piece will never be performed in the same order. The linear order is what often makes sense, beginning, middle and end, as you couldn't tell a story quite as well without it, though some films do very well with that idea by taking you forward and backward in time, "Pulp Fiction," "Memento." and many others.
Incidence
Dec 4 pay-what-you can preview

Dec 5, 6, 12, 13 at 8 pm

Dec 7 and 14 at 3pm

Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

916 G Street NW

Washington DC

Tix: $15

At the door or online at

Breaking Ground

Breaking Ground is a dance/ skate board/ video project that encompasses open skating sessions with youth, informal performances in non traditional spaces, and the development of the artistic work over time. I have always been attracted to dance in a real world context. This project, which we started in April, has brought us from outdoor sessions, to rehearsals where we retranslate what can happen on the incline of a round wall to what must happen when the wall is not there.
The project, originally planned to follow the construction of a new skate park at the corner of Wells & Otis Streets in Mt. Rainier MD, was moved to the completed Langdon Park. (The Mt. Rainier construction has not yet begun and Green Skate Lab has found many obstacles that are blocking their all volunteer effort.) Nevertheless, we were able to interact with the same youth population, as Langdon Park is located in a neighborhood adjacent to Wells and Otis. Additionally we had the help of visual artist Margaret Boozer who has a studio at Wells & Otis. Margaret was instrumental in structuring participation for the youth engagement sessions. The skateboarders are not organized as a set group or club and members are independently coming and going. One might think chaos would arise, but the skate boarders respect one another, take turns sharing the space with each other no matter the variety of age or skill level, and welcomed our participation by easily joining in even though we were doing a different activity.
This generous spirit also arose with Ben Ashworth and his companions at East Coast Round Wall Foundation who introduced us to the fabulous indoor skatepark they are constructing in a vacated building near the Convention Center at 1250 9th St NE. They are restoring a building that might have been abandoned otherwise, and giving it new life as a valuable community resource right in the heart of the city. We have been thrilled to hold rehearsal, donor engagement, and informal performances in this venue.
We have an outdoor performance coming up in Arlington on Sept 20, we'll be showing some new more detailed excerpts at Woolly Mammoth on Sept 27 & 28, and then we'll be at indoor park mentioned above on Oct 4. I hope you can come out and see us. Jane