IndanceSPRING 2021 DISCOURSE + DIALOGUE TO UNIFY, STRENGTHEN + AMPLIFY - P.06 Fresh Meat Productions - Dancers' Group
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indance
SPRING 2021
DISCOURSE + DIALOGUE TO UNIFY, STRENGTHEN + AMPLIFY
P.06 Fresh Meat Productions P.32 Sharing with Strength P.44 Ad Infinitum Identities
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WELCOME CONTENTS
new member, consider joining at I'VE BEEN READING, READING, READING.
our free Community level.
It’s a lovely part of my job. I get to read grant pro-
Visit dancersgroup.org for more
information and resources.
posals, budgets (numbers tell a story, too), research
studies, emails and numerous articles featured in
In Dance —finding comfort and inspiration as I read
JOIN in my spare time.
dancersgroup.org My post-work reading is eclectic and is made up
of consuming features in various online publica-
tions. Also I love fiction books —like Bryan Washing-
SUBMIT ton’s beautiful novel called Memorial. And I’ve been
reading lots of NY Times features on artists. Through
Performances to the these pieces I’m being introduced to live-treasures.
Community Calendar They’ve become my weekly, sometimes daily, inspire-pleasure.
Dancers’ Group promotes performance
listings in our online performance
Here’s a highlight of those I’ve been learning about. I’ve fallen for the artist
calendar, and emailed to over Lorraine O’Grady whose newspaper poems from 1977 are stunning visual dances.
1,700 members. The artist Roni Horn has led me to appreciate the word “acclimatize”—I want to
figure out how to use it in a sentence. And Horn states: “Since I know what I want,
Resources and Opportunities
Dancers’ Group sends its members a variety
but not what it looks like, it takes time to focus it and arrive at some form of clarity.”
of emails that include recent community I needed to hear that “it takes time to focus.” And then there’s the brilliant
notices, artistic opportunities, grant Kyohei Sakaguchi. “I do what I do in order to keep living.” The matter of factness of
deadlines, local news, and more
Sakaguchi’s statement slays. That they do what they do to live, resonates so deeply 6 / IN PRACTICE: Sean Dorsey, 40/ slow, sticky, sustainable Dancers’ Group gratefully acknowledges
the support of Bernard Osher Foundation,
during a pandemic. I feel such a kinship within their words. Connecting with artists Fresh Meat Productions The continuous, ongoing, neverending California Arts Council, Fleishhacker
and Trans Joy work of liberation Foundation, Grants for the Arts, JB
—even abstractly through interviews—comforts and is simply wondrous.
by Sima Belmar by Bhumi Patel Berland Foundation, Kenneth Rainin
Wondrous words from dance artists is a way to ensure their voices and ideas are Foundation, Koret Foundation, National
DANCERS’ GROUP documented and visible. Highlighting how they maneuver complex relationships 14/ Burn Scars 44/Ad Infinitum Identities Endowment for the Arts, Phyllis C.
with their community, with their collaborators and especially how they connect Examining scarred lands, callused The work of Pseuda & Kim Ip Wattis Foundation, San Francisco Arts
Artist Administrator feet and racialized climates Commission, Wallace Alexander Gerbode
with artists that motivate their own work and thinking. By Justin Ebrahemi
Wayne Hazzard Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund,
by Gerald Casel
Are you ready? Within these pages are the most amazing writings Dancers’ Group 50/In Community William & Flora Hewlett Foundation,
Artist Resource Manager
Andréa Spearman has put out. I think this each time we publish, it really is true now and it will be true 18/ It's Hard to Say Highlights and resources, activities
Zellerbach Family Foundation and
generous individuals.
next time too—wink, wink. The featured writers in the Spring issue address how we Validating care partners and their and celebrations for our community—
Administrative Assistant loved ones living with dementia. find more on dancersgroup.org
Shellie Jew acclimatize over time. They boldly speak to long known injustices like colonialism,
by Rowena Richie with Joyce Calvert
Bookkeeper
white supremacy, racism and patriarchy. 56/Ăn gì chua?
Michele Simon They speak to adapting and prompt us towards new combinations of insights, 22/ Anchor Us The nourishing love of a mother
through intuition, by taking time to be. We present writing by Yayoi Kambara, Gerald Finding ways to connect through By Hien Huynh
Design
Casel, Marvin K. White, Bhumi Patel, Usha Srivinisan and Priya Das, Aura Fischbeck the distance
Sharon Anderson
by Aura Fischbeck and Christy Funsch
58/ From Containment to Expansion:
and Christy Funsch, Hien Hyunh, Rowena Richie, Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, Sima A Tenderloin Meditation
Belmar and Justin Ebrahemi. The themes are deep and personal. 28/ Mosaic America Radical community-centered
Cover: NAKA Dance Theater, Acto de Memoria
Photo by Scott Tsuchitani As you savor each word I hope you share these Spring articles and join me in Creating belonging for all who live, art making
asking questions like: How am I feeling? How can I evolve? work, play, and pray in community by Minister Marvin K. White
by Priya Das and Usha Srinvivasan
62/ Finding a Flow
Be well, 32/ Soft Power Through Heartistry
—Wayne Hazzard, Artist Administrator Addressing the discomfort of Conversations with artists with heart
confronting equity issues by Farah Yasmeen Shaikh
by Yayoi Kambara
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dancersgroup.org PHOTO BY PAK HAN
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SPRING 2021 indance 5
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INPRACTICE
SEAN DORSEY, FRESH MEAT PRODUCTIONS, AND TRANS JOY by SIMA BELMAR
ribbons attached to it, so I’m pretty
sure it wasn’t classical ballet.
SB: I too remember having a tambou-
rine with ribbons attached to it among
other things with ribbons attached to
them. I remember being around four
and dancing with these wire things
with flowers attached to them to the
song “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”
SD: I had no other formal dance
training until right after I graduated
from high school when I did a sum-
mer session largely based on the cho-
reography of Janet Jackson—it was
amazing. And then I started taking
classes, mostly modern dance, some
jazz, in college [University of Brit-
ish Columbia], but community level,
drop-in stuff. I remember loving it
so, so much, but my career and my
heart’s trajectory was on the commu-
nity organizing, social justice path. I
felt clear that my calling was to be of
service and do justice-seeking work.
KnowShade Vogue SB: So that’s why you’re able to
make work and organize so many
A
events and programs! What was
s he looks back on 20 increased visibility in popular cul- season of “Stay Fresh At Home,” of four commissioned visual artists, Belmar: Have you always been your major?
years of making and pro- ture, continue to struggle to find their a free online series of videos dedi- and The Dictionary of Joy and Plea- a dancer? SD: I did a double major in Political
ducing performance by voices amplified, uplifted, and repre- cated to creative wellness; the 20th sure, a free, interactive online A-to-Z Sean Dorsey: Yes! But I always say Science and Women’s Studies. After
trans, gender-nonconform- sented in theatrical contexts. Anniversary Fresh Meat Festival with contributions by ten commis- that I did not grow up at the ballet that, I started a graduate program
ing (GNC), two-spirit, To mark the milestone, FMP has (June 17-19, online), showcasing an sioned artists. There’s even a “Futur- barre. I loved dance with every cell in community economic develop-
and queer artists in the Bay Area and launched The Lost Art of Dream- incredible lineup including the work ist Pledge” that folks can download, in my body. I spent all my time in my ment, and also started taking classes
across the country, Sean Dorsey, Artis- ing Project, a constellation of online of commissioned artists, Antoine print, and sign. leotard, dancing around to records. I in the dance department. When I was
tic Director of Sean Dorsey Dance events spread out over the course of Hunter/Purple Fire Crow, J Mase The Lost Art of Dreaming is a proj- was always making up dances. I did 25, I started thinking about getting
(SDD) and founder of Fresh Meat Pro- 2021, a Spring 2022 premiere, and III, Jahaira & Angelica, Lady Dane ect with a singular yet expansive mis- have a lot of early training and per- more training. I couldn’t dance often
ductions (FMP), is positively glowing. a 10+-city tour through 2024. This Figueroa Edidi, Mark Travis Rivera, sion: “to explore and create expansive forming in theater and music, mostly enough! I was taking ballet with this
Founded in 2001, Fresh Meat Pro- year, The Lost Art of Dreaming will and Randy Ford, supported by futures” for trans, GNC, two-spirit, piano, choral stuff, youth theater. But one teacher who one day asked me to
PHOTOS BY KEGAN MARLING
ductions is a trans-led-and-serving, feature SDD’s AT-HOME Season FMP’s FRESH WORKS! program; and queer communities. Dorsey and I most of my dancing was in my liv- stay after class. When she asked me if
history-making organization commit- (April 16-18) that includes a series and a monthly release of free activ- had two lengthy conversations about ing room. I took a “ballet” class series I’d ever thought about being a pro-
ted to shining a light on and reflect- of gorgeous site-specific dance films ities, including Postcards from the what it looks like to center joy and when I was 5 and remember having fessional dancer, my mind exploded.
ing the light of artists who, despite and messages from Dorsey; a second Future, which highlights the work pleasure in artistic and social practice. an awesome tambourine with long It was a landscape-altering moment.
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Up until that moment I had literally and text. The local dance community and told me sternly that my piece
never imagined I could become a pro- came out to these student recitals, and “made people feel very uncomfort-
fessional dancer: how could I, when was very supportive of young students able” —which was not even a little
I had never seen another person like and their burgeoning craft. I don’t bit true. I had experienced the exact
me in dance? So I took a year off of remember feeling nervous at all about opposite. I don’t know how I had
grad school, entered a two-year stu- my work being queer. People were the wherewithal to feel sure of that
dio-based Dance program, and never awesome: I was blown away by the truth at the time, but I did. She actu-
looked back. incredibly positive response and feed- ally withheld my graduation certifi-
The very first piece of choreog- back from professional dancers to cate at the end of my program. In that
raphy I made at dance school was my baby-choreography. They were moment, the years of all the awful
a duet and it was definitely queer. “interested in my voice” and “were experiences in gendered bathrooms,
At that point I hadn’t seen a lot of excited to see what I did next.” The gendered costumes, everything came
dance-theater or “talking dance,” but day after the show, in morning tech- crashing down on me. But at the same Toby MacNutt Javier Stell-Fresquez and Ivy Monteiro
from the beginning I’ve always felt nique class, the school director pulled time, I realized that this was how I
called to bring in elements of story me out, sat me down in her office, could forge change in the world, this
was my calling, and this was how like, gosh, I wish someday I could do works for the stage that portray trans SB: So, if I have my math right, you’re
I could be of service. Her words made this. There was literally no brain path- characters as pathological, disturbed dating your 20th anniversary from
me realize the power of dance-the- way for that dream because I literally characters; and even more institu- 2001, right? What happened then?
ater work that’s based in the body, in didn’t exist in the world. tions and companies bringing exactly SD: In June 2001, I performed my
story, and in language. Trans people of my generation and zero trans bodies, dancers or lead- first work in the Bay Area for the
older—and maybe just a little bit ership to the stage. And not having final Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival
SB: What do you love about dancing? younger—we had to work so hard to dance educators who are trans, non- at Dance Mission. I had seen Dance
SD: Feeling into my love of danc- find any proof of our existence other binary, or GNC. The Bay Area, like Brigade perform in Vancouver a few
ing, there is both the love of velocity than our own selves in the world. For the rest of the country, still has to do years before. It was one of the first
and the momentum of movement, example, my partner, Shawna Virago, a lot better. times I’d seen dance theater that was
the embodiment of energy and emo- a trans woman musician, filmmaker, fiery and political, imbued with text
tion, but also a real love of the rela- and director of the San Francisco SB: How did you make your way to and story; they were just gloriously
tionship and response to music. But Transgender Film Festival, talks about the Bay Area? ripping into colonialism and misog-
I have also always loved storytelling. going to the public library just to find
Those were not separate things. You anything, and there being like one
know a lot about me if you know weird medical book on transsexuality. YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT ME IF YOU KNOW THAT MY
that my favorite childhood movies There was no internet, no blogs, no FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MOVIES WERE FAME AND THE
were Fame and The Rocky Horror Gay Straight Alliances in high school, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
Picture Show. Rocky Horror was so there was nothing, unless you saw
huge for me. Here’s this amazing, maybe a transsexual on the Donahue
sexy, gender-expansive, fierce, totally show. If I had been lucky enough to SD: I had been dancing in some small yny. I kept presenting work
embodied character in Frankenfurter. know or been connected to ballroom companies in British Columbia, and under my name, and then I date my
culture and voguing, I would have on a visit to San Francisco in 2000, I company, Sean Dorsey Dance, from
SB: Fame came out in 1980, when I been like here’s this amazing trans/ took classes at ODC with Lizz Roman when we had our first full-evening
was 9 and you were 7. It was not a GNC leadership, lineage, and ances- and Ellie Klopp. With Lizz’s class, I home season, which was 2005.
thing to watch at that age! try. Here’s this long lineage of Black was like, “What is this magic?!” It was
SD: When I go back and watch and Latinx trans women, queers and my real introduction to upside down, SB: How did you come up with the
it now, I’m like, This is the most GNC folks with this amazing dance release technique. There was very little name Fresh Meat Productions?
depressing movie about trauma and and performance form and huge cho- of that in Vancouver. It was this room SD: In 2002, I brought together a
abuse ever! But at the time all that sen-family/community network. full of all these glorious people, and group of artists and activists to put
mattered was Leroy, roller skates, Flash forward to today, and so much Lizz was singing and Daniel Berkman on what we thought would be a one-
and the romantic notion of bottle has changed while so much has still was accompanying; it was this mag- time festival of trans and queer per-
caps on the bottom of your shoes. not changed: in pop culture we still ical, mystical experience. And then formance. We wanted to center trans
That was my dream high school, but have cisgender people being cast as Lizz asked me to join her company! artists, center BIPOC queer/trans art-
PHOTOS BY KEGAN MARLING
I never imagined my own adult life trans. Totally unacceptable when there I danced with her for six amazing istry, and do it gorgeously. At an early
being about dance and performance. are so many talented trans and nonbi- amazing years, hanging from rafters, planning meeting at a Mission café,
I never saw anybody like me in those nary actors. But in dance also, we’ve climbing up walls, and dancing on we were like, “What do we call this
KnowShade Vogue fields doing those things. So it wasn’t seen many institutions investing in furniture. thing?” Jesse Bie said, “Let’s call it
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or all-gender bathrooms. I call upon
Bay Area dance venues and spaces to
use the shutdown period of the pan-
demic to fix this—AND PUT NEW
SIGNS ON YOUR BATHROOMS,
DARNIT! I will mail you the sharpies
if you don’t have any.
SB: And not everybody sees them-
selves in the new equity, “everybody
is welcome” statements.
SD: Right. When white cisgender
non-disabled people say something
generic like “everybody is welcome,”
it often means “you’re welcome in
theory but our facility, staff, and prac-
tices might still be harmful or exclud-
ing.” Welcoming needs to be a verb,
not a passive value. We white people
in leadership don’t get to claim to be
“anti-racist” or say we care about
white supremacy unless we can back
LeahAnn Mitchell it up with daily, concrete, meaningful
and accountable action.
At FMP, when we have any kind of
fresh meat,” and there was this col- BIPOC, trans, queer, and GNC artists proud that from the beginning, all public event we always list a bunch
lective gasp of excitement. So saucy including disabled artists. It was about our artists and crew were paid well. of information right on our web-
at the time! reclaiming ourselves, our bodies, and We’re so proud of really changing site, ticketing page, and social media
our creative expression as powerful, that landscape, of breaking down so that we hope is helpful for people to
SB: Jesse is the sauciest! sexy, and worthy of taking up the space many barriers for trans and GNC feel that they are thought of ahead of
SD: Absolutely! He had already that had hitherto been denied to our performing artists. I have so much time and welcomed into that space.
long been bringing BIPOC queer communities. love, gratitude, and awe for our For example, we will share that the
dance-theater to theaters and to the Elizabeth Gorelik did our first photo tiny but mighty core staff, Shawna entrance, bathrooms, and seating are
streets across the Bay with his com- shoot at ODC: there were lots of Virago, Eric Garcia, and StormMi- wheelchair accessible, the front row
guel Florez, the “Fresh Meat Fam- seats are all armless for fat or super-
IT'S PAINFUL TO WITNESS THE CONTINUED REFUSAL OF ily”–and it really is a family. fat folks, we only ever use venues with
MOST BAY AREA DANCE LEADERSHIP AND SPACES TO all gender bathrooms, we provide a
SB: Reflecting on the last twenty monitored scent-free seating area, we
TAKE ANY ACTUAL ACTION AROUND TRANS EQUITY. years, what has changed about the never require “legal ID” to purchase
Bay Area performance landscape in or pick up tickets. This is to say, I’m
pany STEAMROLLER Dance. chaps and leather harnesses and tighty terms of both trans representation specifically thinking of you, I want
This was when we founded Fresh whities and wigs. So good! Andrew and influence? you to feel like you are welcome, and
Meat Productions. At that time (2002), Wood rented us the theater for super SD: It’s painful to witness the contin- here are the loving accommodations
there was an amazing groundswell cheap on Tuesday and Wednesday ued refusal of most Bay Area dance we’re providing. I’d like to see those
of trans performance and artists, but night, and we were sold out, standing leadership and spaces to take any statements on a venue’s ticketing page.
nobody was programming, presenting, room only, packed like sardines. actual action around trans equity. Z Space is our artistic home for a
or curating trans and gender-noncon- And there was an immediate tor- There are a lot of trans supportive reason—they’ve always been awe-
forming artists. Nobody would touch rent of love, an extraordinary “values” but almost no action or pol- some. Part of their leadership staff team
us. There were queer events, but most response from the community, that icies and procedures put in place. It’s includes a trans person. After years
PHOTOS BY KEGAN MARLING
were majority white cis non-disabled YES there was a clear hunger for this absolutely unacceptable that most of temporarily allowing us to make
artists. So we came together—dance in the Bay. It became clear shortly of our dance spaces don’t have any their bathrooms all-gender during our
peers, trans artist activists, friends—to after that first festival that this trans/non-binary faculty, trans pro- events, they permanently and lovingly
Randy Ford
put on a festival that centered majority needed to be an organization. I’m gramming, all-gender changing rooms made all their bathrooms all gender.
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resiliency of trans and gender-non- SO MANY PEOPLE IN SO MANY COMMUNITIES LIVE AIDS epidemic, and then 500 hours
conforming people and artists. I AMIDST HARM, DAILY OPPRESSION, VIOLENCE, BUT editing it down to a sound score, all
love trans people and I love trans before the movement creation. My
WHAT GETS FORGED OUT OF THAT IS JOY, RESILIENCE,
artists. When I’m in our workshop current process—I don’t know where
spaces, our audiences, our community
AWESOMENESS, SASS, BEAUTY. it will end up. I look forward to get-
forums, I’m so blissed out. There’s so ting back into the studio because
much creativity and depth and shim- So what feels very important at the toward the sky], connecting what’s grand-scale costumes had also been
mery, sparkly creativity. That’s what 20th anniversary mark, is to remem- out there, the Future, and what’s in driving our movement creation. Now
drives us—our beauty and our gifts. ber how 20 years ago almost no one the body. Some of that movement they’re in storage at Dance Mission,
So many people in so many commu- was doing this, and now, every week, I you saw was about that swirling cos- these huge gowns with 6-foot trains.
nities live amidst harm, daily oppres- have young nonbinary or trans aspir- mos, that Future energy, and how
sion, violence, but what gets forged ing dancers reaching out to me from we might connect it to our body. Me SB: Thinking about Tim Curry’s deli-
out of that is joy, resilience, awesome- all across the country. I came of age and my dancers (Nol Simonse, Will cious embodiment in Rocky Horror,
ness, sass, beauty. Part of the agoniz- having no peers in the dance world Woodward, Raul Torres-Bonilla) how do we get people to understand
ing frustration, anger, and sadness I and it’s so exciting to witness so many have been doing this “cosmic connec- the material sensations and plea-
feel is so much because all of these gender expansive folks. It’s also frus- tive tissue” movement research in our sures of embodiment as processes and
cisgender dance leaders and funders trating that so little has changed, how Zoom rehearsals 3 days a week since practices that exist on a nonthreaten-
are totally missing out on all of this few trans dance educators we see, we the beginning of the pandemic. ing continuum of embodiments? Are
community’s incredible work, innova- don’t see trans artists being presented, we getting closer to that? How can
tion, and beauty. trans folks given residencies, on staff,SB: When you demonstrate and talk dance artists help audiences develop
on boards of directors, in leadership about these core-distal relationships, an awareness that their embodiments
SB: I called you a trans ambassa- and decision-making power at foun- I can start to think about why one are these rich amazing things that are
dor, a moniker you accepted and that dations or funding agencies. The val- might choreograph exaggerated finger being limited by social norms?
also frustrated you to some extent ues and friendliness are there, but extensions and reaches toward the SD: As an artist and activist I’ve
because of the way it erased your the action is not. Like all the white furthest point away from the body. learned that the crucible, the trans-
identity and work as an artist. folks in leadership claiming to have Dance is a tremendously powerful and formation happens through personal,
SD: I’m so proud to be trans and anti-white-supremacist values, with successful communicator of force and shared, felt experience. It’s a butts in
love being an ambassador, but there little to no action. energy and emotion, but it’s a shitty seats thing, getting people in the the-
is a profound level of exhaustion I’ve SB: Let’s talk about your craft. Your communicator of ideas. Because I ater, or into the conversation, or into
worked myself into. So much travel- theater, music, and writing background don’t think that’s what it was born to the workshop, or into the online expe-
ing and speaking and advocacy, and clarifies for me how dance appears do. And it’s a very Western idea that rience. Whether we’re watching a dance
teaching and touring, prior to the in your work, as one communicative viewers of dance should know what it film online, or watching dancers on
pandemic, I’d totally worked myself piece of a puzzle. In the AT-HOME means, should understand it, “get it,” stage, that experience, that witnessing
into the ground. I will keep advo- season videos, which are beautifully and if they don’t know, they’re going gives us an embodied visceral experi-
Tinky Younger cating and fighting for intersectional made, I noticed a repetition of gesture to get anxious and pissed and dismiss ence. It involves our breath, our heart,
trans equity, but I also have to stop that had a lot to do with two fingers it. I think it’s important for me to hear our muscles contracting in empathic
and find a balance for Sean the artist. pulling away from and towards the from an artist about the movement reaction. There’s something magical
It’s also awesome that CounterPulse behind a swath of permanently-altered When I think back to 20 years body. Tell me about those choices. choices they make. Now I can revisit about when the lights go down and
intentionally planned for and built all-gender restrooms in theaters across ago and how I brought some folks the films and think about the relation- your guard is dropped, your heart and
their new facility with only all-gender the country, from The Joyce in NYC to together to put on this “one-time” SD: I’m calling this new series of ship between my material reality and mind are open in a different way. The
bathrooms, and regularly presents/ The Young Auditorium in highly con- Fresh Meat Festival, it was about the dance films “video postcards.” In them, my interiority and how far I can reach magic and change happen there.
supports trans/Two-Spirit/NB artists, servative Whitewater WI. fact that at that time almost nobody we’re exploring movement research as I continue to be stuck in these pan-
unlike most other Bay Area dance was putting trans artists on stages for our new project The Lost Art Of demic bubbles. Visit freshmeatproductions.org/
venues. Shawl Anderson as a home SB: I love all of your trans love t-shirts, with high production values, and Dreaming. The idea is that we can be programs for information about the
for dance has been supportive of and your current project emphasizes nobody was paying us for our art. doing movement investigation or play SD: In most of the video postcards, 20th anniversary offerings and about
trans/NB artists, including trans fac- trans joy, pushing back on the sort of Probably for the next 8-10 years, if I and create tendrils that may end up in there’s no relationship to language FMP’s collaborators on The Lost Art
ulty, producing their Queering Dance spectacle of suffering cis folks may had press interviews as Sean Dorsey the staged work down the road. or text. This project is really differ- of Dreaming.
Festival—that’s so huge and amazing. expect from trans artists. and Sean Dorsey Dance, writers The Lost Art Of Dreaming is rooted ent for me so far because I generally
This is something that I’m also proud SD: The reason I create work and would hyper-focus on my trans iden- in imagining and creating expansive work with text and writing. The Miss- SIMA BELMAR, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in the Depart-
PHOTOS BY KEGAN MARLING
of: because Sean Dorsey Dance’s Tech founded FMP is because of the exqui- tity and ask me Trans 101 questions. Futures, so the idea of starting here ing Generation (2018) started with a ment of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies at
the University of California, Berkeley. She is ODC
Rider requires theaters to convert all site joy, wisdom, ebullience, radi- Nobody was like, “Tell me about [Sean moves his hands towards and lot of research, a year and a half and Writer in Residence and host of the new podcast
lobby and backstage bathrooms to be ance, depth of spirit, innovation of your craft.” It was years before I got away from his forehead and chest], 75 hours of oral history interviews I Dance Cast. To keep up with Sima’s writing please
all-gender during our tours, I have left craft, and positively extraordinary to talk about that in interviews. and getting to here [Sean gestures recorded with survivors of the early subscribe to tinyletter.com/simabelmar.
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SPRING 2021 indance 13
44 Gough Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, CA 94103
YOU CAN STILL SEE THE BURN SCARS that dot the hills near
the campus where I live, which is on the unceded territory of the Awas-
was-speaking Uypi tribe and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Last year's CZU
Lightning Complex fires burned over 86,000 acres in Santa Cruz County and
brought ash from counties far away. When the rains came in February, sev-
eral areas were evacuated from potential debris flow as a result of the fires'
devastation. We've lost power, too, here and there, because the electrical
grid has been damaged. Remarkably, you can see much more wildlife than
usual – either because they have been displaced due to their natural habi-
tats having been destroyed or because of rewilding, a process where animals
return to spaces where they hadn't been allowed to roam freely before. As
a result of humans stepping back, ecological restoration is underway, and
although the air is cleaner now, the weather remains unpredictable.
BURN
We're coming up on one year since COVID-19 restrictions have been in place. Since I
14 indance SPRING 2021 14
PHOTO BY KATHERINE HELEN FISHER
SCARS by GERALD CASEL
SPRING 2021 indance 15
W
e're coming up on one and improvisation; it is the atmo- funds refrain from doing so, so
BIPOC counterparts endure. This As we navigate through the unpre-
RACIALIZED CLIMATES year since COVID-19 spheric condition of time and place; that artists of color can receive
atmosphere of inequity is true here dictable climate of racial inequity
CAN BE SEEN AND restrictions have been it produces new ecologies." We can the funds directly? What if we got
in San Francisco, where most of the and as we imagine a future that values
FELT BY ARTISTS OF in place. Since I hav- apply this metaphor to challenge the rid of the 'middle man,' or the
major dance companies, performance the cultural wealth of BIPOC com-
en't been able to dance structures of whiteness that create part that feels the most in need
spaces, and organizations are owned munities, we must weather storms of
COLOR BUT THANKS regularly, my feet have lost their cal- conditions of exclusion by restor- of intervention – this sense that
and run by white people. The system white supremacy and plant seeds that
TO THE PRIVILEGES luses. Those layers of skin made ing a felt sense of safety through People of Color know all-too-is set up such that BIPOC artists must will grow and transform burn scars
AFFORDED TO THEM BY tough and thick through wear and an embodied preparedness that can well as imperial benevolence? In
rely on “renting” from established into new growth. Refusing colonial
tear have protected me from floor weather white supremacist culture. By other words, changing the narra-
white artists, which perpetuates structures that reinforce separation,
WHITENESS, WHITE burns and splits while allowing me to doing so, we can alter the atmosphere tive that says white people will
white saviorism, white ownership, competition, and exploitation, we will
PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE turn, glide, and brush the floor with- and generate new ecosystems that fix your community, save you and Black and brown tenancy. find ways to rewild the spaces that
TO ACKNOWLEDGE out pain. Losing calluses also means a minimize harm while acknowledging from being irrelevant, and pre-Racialized climates can be seen and have not been available to us. Tend-
loss of felt sense, being out of shape, the harm when it arises. scribe educational and enrich-
felt by artists of color but thanks to ing to our bodies and each other, we
HOW THEY BENEFIT and general tightness. We haven't Last summer, instigated by Jill ment programs so that they look
the privileges afforded to them by can learn to heal from generational
FROM SUCH SYSTEMIC had our rigorous movement practices Homan Randall and as part of a charitable and have no hiddenwhiteness, white people do not have trauma, and like calluses, we can
FORCES; IT IS SIMPLY and communal exchanges in shared series of writing that featured the ulterior motives. to acknowledge how they benefit from regenerate tougher skin that will pro-
spaces and that lack of human con- Dancing Around Race cohort, I wrote such systemic forces; it is simply the tect us from the elements.
THE NORM.
U
tact has also produced sustained emo- a piece called “Regranting as a Per- norm. As an example, many white-
tional distress. formance of Benevolent Colonialism.” nfortunately, even after led organizations continue to produce My writing and thinking have been
Callousness can also be used as a I have been thinking about how this the overdue racial reck- well-meaning programs that support influenced by conversations with
metaphor for emotional hardening needs to be revisited, especially now oning that inspired so (emerging) artists of color as well as the Dancing Around Race collec-
—protection from constant oppres- at the year-long mark of COVID-19 many people to protest mentorship platforms that imply a tive (David Herrera, Yayoi Kambara,
sion or harm. As a dance artist of and after the many pronouncements in the streets with power- boost to those artists' careers. Such Kimani Fowlin, Bhumi B. Patel, and
color, I know how to deploy this of diversity, equity, and inclusion that ful calls to action following the mur- white savior mentality is complicated Raissa Simpson). I have also been
emotional armor when I need it to white-led organizations have pre- ders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, by the notion of white ownership, and inspired by the writings of Maile
survive microaggressions/invalida- sented on websites, social media, and and Ahmaud Arbery, things have not together, they drive market forces that Arvin, Resmaa Menakem, Claudia
tions/assaults—like that time in ballet in many online interactions where changed much in terms of racial pol- contribute to racial capitalism by pro- Rankine, Christina Sharpe, and Edgar
class when a white woman physically I have witnessed emotional perfor- itics and power dynamics in the Bay moting a logic of possession. This cre- Villanueva.
forced me to move because I was mances of solidarity. Area dance ecology. White-led dance ates specific turbulence for those of us
blocking her view of herself in the organizations resume operations as whose families have never owned any GERALD CASEL (he/they) is the artistic direc-
mirror. Violence like this often comes In addition to having annual if nothing has changed – not acknowl- property or who have had to move tor of GERALDCASELDANCE. His choreographic
quick, leaving me frozen and burn- seasons, many white dance art- edging how they benefit from their frequently because of our tenancy sta- research complicates and provokes questions
surrounding colonialism, collective cultural amne-
ing with anger, but the scars last for ists with companies or orga- social position through the insti- tus. It is a struggle to feel a sense of
sia, whiteness and privilege, and the tensions
a long time. This incident reminded nizations have benefited from tutional structures of whiteness. belonging even when these gestures of between the invisible/perceived/obvious struc-
me how "white body supremacy," receiving large grants only to Informed by scholars Eve Tuck and support from white-led organizations tures of power. Casel is an Associate Professor of
a term used by somatic abolitionist disperse funds through a festi- K. Wayne Yang, who remind us seem benevolent. Dance in the Department of Theater Arts and is
Resmaa Menakem, allows white peo- val or through a shared evening that decolonization is not a metaphor, What would happen if founda- the Provost of Porter College at UC Santa Cruz. A
ple to take up space and claim own- of dance that promotes emerg- this “evasion” or failure by white tions gave resources directly to artists graduate of The Juilliard School, with an MFA from
ership over shared or public spaces. ing artists of color. This is possi- people to enact sustained and of color rather than brokering them UW Milwaukee, Casel received a Bessie award for
I take care not to be too hardened ble, in part, because these white systemic change gives rise to plati- through systematic white gatekeep- sustained achievement for dancing in the compa-
by these jabs and seek balance when choreographers have lived and tudes that are nothing more than ing? Would BIPOC artists feel more nies of Stephen Petronio, Lar Lubovitch, Stanley
Love, among others. His newest work, Not About
navigating the unpredictable weather worked in the Bay Area for some performative gestures. of a sense of ownership rather than
Race Dance, has been awarded a National Dance
of white supremacy. In her book, In time but also because they have Because of historical, legal, and being owned by these organizations Project grant and will be in residence at the Mag-
the Wake, On Blackness and Being, solid support from funders who institutional barriers such as redlin- who parade their institutional ethos gie Allesee National Center for Choreography and
Christina Sharpe describes the possi- also (through general operating ing, racial quotas, restrictive voting of racial equity and inclusion? On will premiere at CounterPulse with a forthcoming
ble metaphors and materiality of "the support grants) cover the costs of and immigration laws, and other set- the other hand, what if BIPOC artists national tour. Dancing Around Race, a commu-
weather" that creates a climate where administrative staff, marketing, tler-colonial logics that are baked refuse these offers and instead collec- nity-engaged participatory practice he founded
anti-Blackness and white supremacy and development and grant writ- into systems that regulate who owns tively generate their own systems of that examines racial inequity in the Bay Area and
are pervasive. Sharpe writes, "The ing support. What if white art- what, generational wealth gaps support that foster communal care beyond, continues to grow.
geraldcasel.com
weather necessitates changeability ists who are able to receive these between white people and their and mutual aid?
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SPRING 2021 indance 17
44 Gough Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, CA 94103IT’S HARD TO SAY
DANCING AROUND THE FEAR OF ART, of her shirt. I copied her, leaving the
stem poking out. It looked like the beak
Joyce is a mother, grandmother,
retired court reporter and creative
me inside the pool, swim with me and
keep the loneliness at bay.”
LONELINESS AND DEMENTIA
of a yellow bird. I started whistling. writer. I have asked her to help me Dementia caregivers are especially
Jane copied me. We gently danced our write a handbook on how to support susceptible to Caregiver Burden, a
banana birds. We whistled and bal- dementia caregivers. She comes medical term used to describe a state
anced our bananas on our heads, hands from a family of strong women, of physical, mental and emotional
By Rowena Richie with Joyce Calvert and feet. We listened to them like tele- but when it comes to caregiving she exhaustion.
phones. We smoked them like cigars. chafes when people say, “Oh, you’re “It’s like existing in another substance,”
Then Jane asked Joyce if they had so strong, you’re so brave. It must Joyce writes. “Grief touches every place,
THIS IS THE STORY OF A DANCING BANANA. Try saying it out loud: “Dancing any more bananas. I only had the one be SO hard.” every cell, like water, it changes you. Joy
banana.” On the first syllable of “dancing” and the second syllable of “banana” so I grabbed a gourd. Jane retrieved “What is SO hard, tell me?” she can emerge from grief. Rowena comes and
a second banana. She placed her writes in the handbook. “And what jumps in the pool with us.”
your mouth turns up into a smile. bananas in her imaginary holster. would you expect? ‘You’re so brave,
This is the story of two dancing bananas. Mine went into my waistband. Joyce you’re so strong’ – would you expect I MET JOYCE AND JANE in February
said, “Ready...Set…” (Jane wiggled her a caregiver to be anything else?” 2020 when I was looking for partic-
I have a new friend. Her name is Jane. She is a remarkable visual artist, a retired fingers), “Fire!” Jane’s draw was so Many of us have been treading ipants for a creative research project
high school art teacher, a mama of two kitties—Grace and Frankie, a wearer of fast I got caught with my hands in my water since the pandemic started. I’m piloting. Over the past five years
many hats (literally and figuratively), and a lover of the moon, hummingbirds and pants. We erupted in peals of laughter. Joyce has been caregiving 24/7 with my For You performance collective
very little respite. I imagine a constant collaborators, Erika Chong Shuch and
butterflies. Jane is also a person living with Alzheimer’s Disease. THIS IS THE STORY of a pool. An caregiver hiss, a drone drowning out Ryan Tacata, and I have developed a
Jane and I were dancing over Zoom recently when she asked her wife, “Do we ephemeral pool. A pool that Joyce everything else. “The pool” metaphor person-centered performance prac-
swims / floats / occasionally splashes surfaced during the wintertime. “It’s tice. Our goals are to bring strangers
have any bananas?” Her wife, Joyce, nodded at the fruit basket. Jane sauntered around in with others / occasionally hard to come out of caregiving, out together and to make performances as
over and retrieved one. I grabbed a banana, too. Jane tucked hers into the front submerges in alone. of the pool,” Joyce writes. “Come see gifts. We wanted to see if this practice
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SPRING 2021 indance 19
44 Gough Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, CA 94103you. And we love you!” I AM AN ATLANTIC FELLOW for Equity BUT THERE’S ANOTHER OBSTACLE to do was not reference art at all,” “validating.” It goes both ways: Jane
Erika’s cousins—Ted in Brain Health at the Global Brain making it hard to prove. A societal Anne explained, “because the bag- and Joyce affirm and reflect—vali-
and Merrill, Willa and Health Institute (GBHI), a program hurdle that is making me question gage and resistance to creativity and date—me. It is a healing experience
Corey—kicked things off at UCSF and Trinity College, Dublin, whether this is a viable model: art-making was so tremendous that for all of us. One that motivates me
by caroling, “Joyce to the dedicated to improving brain health People’s resistance to art. Resistance we decided to just say our invitation to keep chipping away to create the
world / this is a song / for and reducing the scale and impact of not only from the scientific commu- to participate was, ‘I have a question world I want to grow old in, a world
Joyce / rejoice / and sing! dementia worldwide. Through the nity which can be dismissive of of the day, would you like to hear where I can play fully at the limits
/ Let every heart / prepare fellowship I was awarded a grant by even the most rigorous arts-based it?’” Then she got an overwhelming of what I can possibly do. A world
her room / the wonder GBHI, the Alzheimer’s Association research but from folks we’d like response. where, if I have dementia or my loved
of her love / the wonder and the Alzheimer’s Society (UK) to to recruit. In general people don’t There’s a part of me that subscribes one has dementia, people don’t disap-
of her love / the wonder, pilot For You’s personalized creative line up when you say, “I have an art to this code-switching tactic—call- pear because they don’t know what
wonder of her love…” engagement practice. One of the aims project, would you like to partici- ing our pilot an “intervention” when to say or how to see us. Instead, they
of the pilot is “To validate care part- pate?” They back away. we’re talking to researchers, an “art flock to us because what we’re doing
THIS IS A STORY that ners and their loved ones living with Anne Basting is one of the most project” when we’re talking to artists, in response to dementia is flourishing.
repeats itself. The other dementia. Oftentimes we think of seasoned practitioners in the cre- “deep hanging out” when we’re try- “The greatest joy of caregiving
day Jane asked, “Do you performance as an opportunity to ative care arena. She is a MacArthur ing to recruit participants. But part comes when someone else embraces
know me?” I told her I see. What happens if it’s an opportu- “genius” Fellow, an author, professor, of me worries: how are we ever going my loved one.” Joyce writes. “It is
did. “How long have you nity for audiences—our participating and the founder of TimeSlips, a to substantiate art if we can’t say it? such a pleasure and liberation to wit-
known me?” I told her care partners and their loved ones— storytelling-based participatory ness that.”
I met her about a year to be seen?” program designed for the dementia A couple days ago I
ago. “How do you know
me?” she asked. “As a
Is there a tool that measures how
it feels to be seen?
population. The TimeSlips motto is:
“Forget memory, try imagination!”
HOW DO WE UNPACK received a text from Joyce.
She and Jane have both
of personalized creative engagement fellow artist,” I said. “I think we can One of my favorite GBHI fac- Anne has dedicated her career to THE BAGGAGE THAT had their vaccinations and
could make a difference in the lives
of dementia caregivers and their care
learn from each other about how art
can support dementia,” I told her,
ulty members, Dr. Virginia Sturm,
Associate Professor of Neurology
bringing opportunities for “meaning
making” to people all the way to
HAS LED PEOPLE TO they went out to break-
fast with friends for the
recipients, people who are often iso- “because I think it really, really helps.” and Psychiatry at UCSF, developed the end of life. DOUBT THEIR first time in a year. Joyce
lated and stigmatized.
“Welcome to ‘Joyce to the World
“Can I ask you a question?” Jane
said. “How long have you known
a study called “Awe Walks.” In the
study, older adults who took weekly
Last month I attended a webinar
Anne gave where she addressed both
CREATIVE CAPACITY wrote: “We all witnessed
Jane soak in all the social
—A Winter Solstice Variety Show,’” me?” I told her about a year. “How 15-minute “awe walks”--focusing the Arts vs. Science tension and the FOR SO LONG? contact and come quite
I announced to a handful of guests do you know me?” she asked. I told their energy and attention outward problem with saying the word “art.” alive and present. Every-
on Zoom. It was Monday December her that I was a fellow artist learning instead of inward--reported increased “Our systems have a residue from one made sure to enjoy
21st during the Saturn-Jupiter Great how to help people with dementia. positive emotions and less distress the institutionalization of medicine Won’t it always be hard to say? How being with her, letting her hold their
Conjunction of 2020. The pandemic “Oh, dimm..dimm...that word,” she in their daily lives. This shift was and the institutionalization of arts do we unpack the baggage that has hands and wave at birds. It was
was surging so we abandoned our said, struggling to say “dementia.” reflected in “selfies” participants took as separate entities from the 1800s. led people to doubt their creative fuckin cool!”
flash mob performance fantasy and “Can I ask you a question?” I said. on their walks, in which an increas- We are slowly getting to a place where capacity for so long? Through the text message I could
instead presented a scrappy Zoom- “What is something nice we can do ing focus on their surroundings rather I think we can now start refusing that hear Joyce’s voice rise above the care-
based potpourri of performative gifts for Joyce?” She thought about it than themselves was paralleled by separation. For people who work in SOMETIMES WHEN THE PARTS of the giver drone. Like a diver suddenly
for Joyce: “butterflies” (Erika) danc- for a moment and then replied, “It’s measurably broader smiles by the end the health system, you should con- brain that block inhibition shut down, emerging from the depths of a pool.
ing out from under bedsheets, an art hard to say.” I responded by hug- of the study. They could see the mea- stantly be asking yourself, ‘Are there the impetus for unfiltered creativity
lecture from Ryan’s bathtub, an ani- ging myself and then extending my surable change in the number of pix- opportunities for meaning making and novelty comes online—the bag- ROWENA RICHIE has been a dance theater-
maker and performer in San Francisco for 25
mal spirit card reading from a sha- arms out to her. She opened her arms, els the smiles occupied. here?’ And in cultural settings, ‘Are gage is discarded. Every time I meet
years. She’s a member of For You, a performance
manistic cat (my friend Temple). raised and lowered them, like wings. Science requires proof. I’m having we attentive to accessibility for people with Jane I find beauty and wonder, collective, along with Erika Chong Shuch and Ryan
I opened the show with a dedica- (Birds and birdwatching are some of difficulty proving our claim that per- from all different ranges of health whether she’s constructing sculptures Tacata. She’s also an Atlantic Fellow for Equity
tion: “As a devoted partner, mother, Jane’s favorite things). The barrier of sonalized creative engagement vali- and abilities?’” out of avocado sandwiches, party in Brain Health and an Encore.org Gen2Gen
grandmother and friend; as a cosmic language was removed; there was no dates the experience and worth of care Anne envisions art as water to pour hats out of cat toys, or banana Innovation Fellow. Learn more about For You at
foryou.productions. Learn more about GBHI at
being full of grace; as a human com- sense of right or wrong answers; we partners and their loved ones. For one meaning-making opportunities into dances. Her creative self-expression
gbhi.org.
panion to Grace and Frankie; and were just moving together. Art Ther- thing, I’m struggling to come up with the cultural and health systems. But is incredibly articulate. And I end up
as a full time dementia caregiver full apist and Experiential Researcher Dr. an assessment tool that is both sensi- she, too, has been deserted when she expressing myself, too, in ways I JANE and JOYCE have been together for 20
of love without condition...” A sob Erin Partridge has said working with tive enough to measure the amount invites people to participate in art never have before. years. They were married in 2015 after returning
lodged in my throat. All of the unex- people with dementia in this way— of “validation” that Jane experiences, projects. In one instance, she invited My role in the pilot is to offer to their San Francisco home from 10 years living
in a small village north of Albuquerque, New
pressed tears that had accumulated in a creative, non-judgmental, non and flexible enough to work with her older people living alone to partici- what Anne describes as “radical Mexico. Jane is retired from teaching art at San
over months of witnessing Joyce were goal-oriented way—communicates, capacity for assessments. A tool that pate in an art project that involved affirmation and demonstration of Mateo High School. Joyce retired early from
swimming to the surface. “...This is “You are worthy of having commu- wouldn’t require her to come up with responding to creative prompts. The that affirmation of choices.” Anne freelance court reporting and is Jane’s primary
a gift to say: We see you. We hear nity. I see you.” answers that are “Hard to say.” response: crickets. “What we decided calls this “proof of listening.” I call it care partner.
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SPRING 2021 indance 21
44 Gough Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, CA 94103MAKING AND NOT
ANCHOR
By AURA FISCHBECK AND CHRISTY FUNSCH
MAKING IN THE
TIME OF COVID
In mid-December 2020, my friend and colleague Christy
Funsch and I began a conversation about how to find a way
to work together in creative practice through the geographical
distance which are our current circumstances—she sheltering
in place in Butler, Pennsylvania and me in San Francisco,
California, the traditional land of the Lenni Lenape and
Ramaytush Ohlone people, respectively (and respectfully.
We support the work of Sogorea Te Land Trust – Shuumi
Land Tax and encourage you to check them out).
Christy and I have had a working relationship since 2010
when I was a performer in her dance White Girls for Black
Power. Since that time, our relationship has grown and
included many hours of improvisational practice in the studio
and in performance, inside and outside, as well as rich conver-
sations and sharing of perspectives about creative practice.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WORLD ARTS WEST
PHOTO BY AURA FISCHBECK
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SPRING 2021 indance 23
44 Gough Street, Suite 201
San Francisco, CA 94103FOR TWO ARTISTS WHO ARE SELF-PRODUCING EVENTS FOR THEIR AF: How do you find yourself relating to me in your/our
practice through the distance?
LOCAL COMMUNITIES, THE NOTION OF HAVING A PRACTICE THAT CF: It’s a boost for sure, and some of that boost is the
NEGATED ANY KIND OF PRODUCT APPEALED—AT ONCE SUSTAIN- not-so-simple realization that you’re doing it. You’re
ABLE AND RESTORATIVE. held to the same task. It’s like we’re co-workers. And
in the sharing of data and documentation there’s a lan-
guage that’s ours-we are co-authoring it as we practice.
I find a lot of richness and mystery in the way minds
We were set to be working together again throughout • Practice sensing with the whole body at once/ work, and our minds work differently. I admire how
2020, on Christy’s new work EPOCH, which was sched- multiple directions you articulate your perceptions. I try on the words you
uled to premiere at ODC Theater in San Francisco, in fall • Connecting to rhythm in visual and aural fields use, I take them with me, almost like a puzzle of sorts,
of 2020. Needless to say, this was rescheduled along with • Quantifiable data of latitudes, longitudes; distance and if I start there in that thought process of decipher-
the multitude. As our adaptability was tested, our ability travelled; direction; time of day and weather; Beau- ing, then I am led somewhere. It isn’t as causal as “Oh!
to function and approach process in the usual ways has fort scale (this is a wind tracking system); cardinal Now I know what she is talking about, I’ll do that, too.”
been faced with increasing ambiguity. The need to reframe directions; Perimeter/Horizon/Locus-all as a means of It’s more like your thought ends and mine begins, or I’m
artistic practices has become paramount. locating our individual worlds distracted and that itself is a kind of continuance.
We wanted to find a way to work together but without • Track/name what emerges by making verbal lists,
the historically valued parameter of creating any type voice recordings, and/or maps AF: I echo this appreciation for the way our minds work
of product or production—no dance film, no choreog- • Repeat and/or return (to place or directives) and find differently. I fascinate on how we might interpret the
raphy to hold onto and no performative component something new in the midst of ongoingness same set of parameters so differently. We’ve talked
(maybe subconsciously invoking Yvonne Rainer’s infa- • Let yourself be seen about “task” being enough. You coined this wonderful
mous No Manifesto). For two artists who are self-pro- • Shake up/shed/radicalize phrase “task over longing.” What does this mean?
ducing events for their local communities, the notion • Forgiveness/failure CF: “Task over longing” reaches back to the brilliant
of having a practice that negated any kind of product Rowena Richie. A few years ago I was part of her piece
appealed—at once sustainable and restorative. It spoke In the spirit of our non-productive approach, we are Dearly Gathered which interrogated how capitalism
Christy Funsch
to embracing a formalism that is of this moment in framing this article as a series of questions, which serves engenders longing. Since Anne
thenHuang
it’s been on my mind and Kerry Lee
time—at once rejecting productivity in a definitive way, as a branching out of our continued conversation. We are deeply informs my upcoming work EPOCH. As embod-
but also forging a rigorous practice which asks for a using article writing to reveal more about our research ied in our score, I’m keenly aware of my longing when
specific level of commitment and durational scope. and also to create more potential directions for future I am in the act of going to (my spot in) the woods. Then, that the documentation refers me to a larger, deep world
One that values “task over longing” and carving out dialogue. as soon as, or even before I arrive, I feel free of desire. of being in something. When and how do you choose
time for research that acknowledges the changed world I go to the woods because it’s part of my day. I think the to document?
we inhabit. HOW and WHY frequency keeps me in task mode.
We landed on the score for week 1 on 12/31/20 and Aura Fischbeck: Why is a regular improvisational prac- AF: I think the documentation is usually something I want
began on 1/1/2021. Since that time we have been collab- tice important (to you)? AF: Yes, definitely the frequency is a powerful element. you to see or hear or something I want to be able to offer
oratively creating scores and practicing a minimum of 5 Christy Funsch: It’s the earliest way I made sense of the And also how it can be something that you do even both of us to be able to know about or reference in our
days a week with a commitment to 3 months of practice. world, and is still the most meaningful way I have found when you don’t feel like doing it. It’s both a comfort and collection of data. Sometimes it’s also just naming like
We are documenting through images, writings, drawings, to be in the world. It’s not that it helps formulate thought, a type of labor. I love the word “practice.” What does it “today I’m in/with the garbage” when I noticed that there
sound recordings and video recordings. Our process has it’s that it IS thought (thank you Susan Rethorst!). It’s a mean to have a practice? And what are we practicing? was garbage strewn around the area where I was danc-
been to agree on the parameters at the start of each week, crucial way of functioning. It’s foundational. As an improviser I have continually come to find my ing. And so as a phrase it becomes recontextualized. So
and share documentation on the last day through a shared experience of improvisation as a practice of presence, it’s both about observing what’s happening but it’s also a
“google folder.” Sometimes we are returning to things. AF: How has this practice affected/changed your or becoming present, or maybe it’s “presence-ing.” practice of harvesting. I start with whatever parameters
Sometimes we choose slightly different areas of focus or SIP experience? I feel that so clearly in our current way of working. As we have set for the particular week, and this tunes
interest, but they are always linked so that we can have CF: Well, task is good for me. I was raised in a very task- though I sense the practice as a constant companion, my attention in a particular way, tunes me to what I’m in
the experience of being in this shared practice. based worker bee household, and I know how to func- like a steady hum or vibration, or some kind of benevo- relationship to. This could be visual, aural, spatial, concep-
tion in that way. It’s grounding for me-especially task that lent spirit guide. tual, somatic, directional, etc. I think that’s how the doc-
Some of our parameters for working with score have doesn’t lead to product. The doing of it is its own reward. CF: “Practice as a constant companion” - Wow, yes! umentation “asks” to be included. It’s a kind of “thingy-
been: It’s also a way for me to give a different kind of attention This reminds me of that song “Love Letters” (“I’m not ness.” For example, with the sound recordings it started
• Unanchoring: a deliberateness that resists accumulat- to the natural world here. The woods have been my safe alone in the night, when I can have all the love you because I became very aware of the sound of my boots on
ing or culminating spot, a place where I feel completely accepted. And that write…”). How poignant this idea is during SIP. Who the gravel I was dancing on and wanted you to be able to
PHOTO BY CHRISTY FUNSCH
• Coaches. Coaching: expanding through influence kind of acceptance makes possible a specific kind of action doesn’t feel alone? hear my dance, versus see it.
• Chance procedures to determine focus and duration and risk-taking. The practice has not been as bright for me Part of what we are up to with this practice involves CF: “How the documentation asks to be included”—yes
• Observation as a state of receptivity: move while when I’m inside at home. Which is a bummer, because it is documentation. When I see your documentation I to that! That, to me, is a continuation of not valuing the
noticing. Receiving is an active state now on average about 25 degrees Fahrenheit outside! am struck by how substantial your practice seems. It’s product but instead continuing to notice what is there.
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