Dance Needs You! (Or, rather, you need dance?)

I have been thinking a lot recently about the nature of dance and its need for stronger community support.  And, I am not talking about TV produced Dance reality shows. Obviously. 

I am talking about the little fish in the pond, the smaller buggers that put their life and soul into their art and often receive little to no community support outside of their immediate friends and family. 

But, I realized that the issue is not that dance needs people, but that people need dance.  I need dance. You need dance. Our society needs dance. But, why? 

We are forgetting.

We are forgetting how important it is to be in communion with our fellow community members. We are forgetting what it feels like to dance in harmony, to dance in unison, as one body, with one common trust in our own humanity.   We are forgetting just how it feels to be present in the moment without competition, without an audience, without an applause meter or a phone line voting system.  We are forgetting how it feels to be in the body with others who are in their own skins, breathing, sensing, moving, relating.  Dance isn't just about moving to move.  It is about our ability to cultivate relationships in motion.  To release our own sense of identity in order to partake in a larger body. 

I learned just recently about a beautiful Global dance that happened today.  Initiated my Martha Eddy, the Global Water Dance is a dance in celebration for all beings, of all cultures, in all locations.  This is an example of how dance (and music) transcends all barriers.  How dance is a safe and open invitation for all people to simply participate in being human by moving together in harmony. 

I am tired of dance as spectacle.  I am tired of dance for the privileged.  Dance for the stars. Dance for competition. Dance can serve all people in increasing their quality of life, in their quality of being human. 

When was the last time you danced?  At a wedding? In your living room? In a dance studio?  Have you forgotten? 

 And, this is not to point blame at you.  I believe the active dance world is as much to blame.  I suspect that the dance world may have encouraged you to forget.

And, what I mean by this is the tendency I see for the "dance world" to make work that is either "light entertainment" or "inaccessible art."  What are your impressions of concert dance?  When was the last dance show you attended in person? Why did you go? What did you get out of it?  Please comment because I actually want to know!  I suspect that most people who attend live dance concerts go because they know someone in the performance.  They go to show their support. This is admirable and much appreciated, however I would rather people come to be inspired! To rediscover themselves through the experience of watching live dance. To be enriched as individuals making their ways through the world.

I am convinced that there is concert dance in this world that is both artistic and enjoyable. And, I intended to keep making dances until I find that balance.  Until the audience remembers that seeing dance can increase their enjoyment of life and the richness in their understanding of themselves as humans in this world. 

And, I will know I have succeeded when I see strangers take the risk to see dance performances in their local towns and return to their homes and friends with stories of how they feel more alive and more "inside their skin". . . and how they couldn't resist dancing in their hearts out in their living room.

My Rogue Festival Picks 2013

So, going to a Fringe-type festival like the Rogue Festival Fresno can be overwhelming because there are so many options and everyone is pretty darn good at making their show sound like the best thing since sliced bread. So what is an audience member to do?

Well, this will be my 6th year attending and performing in Fresno's Rogue and I thought you might enjoy my selections for this year and a recommended schedule for the "movement minded".  Granted, I could easily call this "The Dance Lover's Guide to Rogue" but there is more than dance on this list and I will explain why!

First the Plan:

Friday March 1st
Pizzicato Porno $8 5:00pm at Broken Leg Theater
The Chaser, a one-man, vaudeville musical $10 7:00pm Starline
Secrets $8 8:30pm Severance
NOCO $9 10pm Severance

Reasoning:  Pizzicato Porno has a kick-ass promo image. She is clearly beautiful, and she is from Texas, so I am sure she will appreciate the support early in her run.  The Chaser guy is bald with a joker like smile, I am taking a risk on him, but he is also and out of towner and "vaudeville" is my middle name so I have to go.  Secrets is performed by Martha Kelly Fierro's dance group Altered Modalities, her dancers are brilliant and I have seen her choreography mature and blossom over the last few years in a way a deeply appreciate artistically.  NOCO is the face of the Rogue.  How can you not go? 

Saturday March 2nd
Magical Mystery Detour $10 2:00pm Severance
Ah! That's My Dance Body (MeCo) $10 4:00 pm Severance
Apocalypse Clown $10 5:30pm Starline
CDE at Rogue $10 7:00pm Severance

Reasoning:  The Magical Gemma Wilcox has won Best of Fest 9x. I have yet to see her, and I plan to remedy that.  Ah! That's My Dance Body!  Well clearly I will be there since it is my show.  But you should some to this one because it is our Premier! Then Apocalypse Clown, not far away so we can definitely make it after our show and MeCo loves clowning.  Then return to Severance for CDE another dancr show with the budding talent from Fresno State's Dance dept.

Sunday March 3rd
Master Class with Megill & Company (MeCo) 1:00pm at Cal Arts Academy (Blackstone)
Ah! That's My Dance Body (MeCo) $10 5:30pm Severance

Reasoning:  Need I state the obvious?  MeCo master classes are always a good time.  Meant for everyBODY who wants to enjoy the full experience of dance.

Monday-Thursday:  RECOVER

Friday March 8th
The Bike Trip $10 5:30pm Tower Lounge
A Secret History of the World  7:00pm $10 Dianna's North
A Hole in my Bucket $5 8:00pm Broken Leg Theater
Ah! That's My Dance Body (MeCo) $10 10:00pm Severance

Reasoning: This Bike Trip guy seems pretty charismatic, and I am hoping for a Brooklyn accent. Secret History is a product of one of two clowns/ physical theater artists from last year's show Poe and Mathews, I'm pretty much one of their biggest fans (even though they don't know me).  Then, Hole in my Bucket, because it is dance and references dixieland jazz both of which are a must for me.  Then back to Severance for our show!

Saturday March 9th
Ah! That's My Dance Body (MeCo) $10 1:00pm Severance
What Jazz Can Be $8 4:00pm bloo
Gary Has a Date $10 5:30pm Dianna's North
Ah! That's My Dance Body (MeCo) $10 7:00pm Severance
Rogue Jazz $10 10:00pm Severance

Final day of Rogue! And, it goes so fast!  After our matinee, I plan to head over to see my former FCC colleagues Andre Bush (with guest Mike Dana also from FCC).  They are great musicians and great music educators.  Then back to the realm of physical theater with Gary Has a Date with Emily Winder who plays funny, uptight male characters so very well.  And, after our closing show, we hit the bar for a celebratory drink and head back to Severance for Rogue Jazz. Maybe if I 'm real nice, they will let me tap dance on a tune.  

Total cost:  $128 (FYI I didn't double check the math-- so you should)
Total # of Shows: 14
Total # of Venues: 6
Total amount of Fun: Priceless! (ok, that was dorky, but seriously you are going to have one awesome Rogue Fest.)

On Being a Razor Babe. . .

I'm not sure exactly how I fell into this group of people.  It all seems like a blur when I think back.  But, after tonight there is no denying that I am a Razor Babe.

I guess it started with Sandra Hunter and my need to do something other than dance.  But, I never suspected it to go this far.  I mean. . .  A poetry performance group?

I never dreamt in a million years. And, yet, here I am, having completed my very first debut performance as a Razor Babe. 

We performed tonight at the Artists Union Gallery in Ventura. You could feel the damp ocean air and smell the briny tide at the door only a stone's throw from the surf.  There we were, in our new Razor Babe t-shirts, with our Razor Babe Chapbook, and videographers and photographers and me!

Surreal to say the least.  Of course performance in nothing new for me, but this venue, this format is very different. I am used to a world of movement, music, lighting, costumes and dance. This performance was about baring you soul as is no persona, no illusions, no tricks.  Pure. Simple. Human.

Yes, we perform poems, but I learned tonight that we are more than poets, we are storytellers.  There was something about our performance that made me feel connected to ancient civilizations.  Just as the orators of ancient Greece and Rome told their stories, we were telling ours. Words put together to create new worlds. I felt the Razor Babes transporting the audience to and from these worlds of  hopes, dreams, desires, and tragedies.  Moments of hysteria, laughter, excitement and poignancy wrapped up into one amazing trip.

We were telling our stories, yes, but I couldn't help but feel we were telling everyone's story. The story of being human, one poem at a time. A kaleidoscope of images and sense memories.  This ancient art of storytelling, engaging in who we are what we share, intoxicates me. 

Standing at the back and looking at the group, in our matching shirts with the edgy razor blade logo, I couldn't help but think: what a motley crew we are.  A mishmash of ages, races, stories, lives.  But, we come together and all of that disappears as create a safe space to share our poems and stories with each other and with the world. 

I am a member of a precious tribe of artists. 

I am a Razor Babe.

Here is our write up in the Ventura County Star:
http://m.vcstar.com/news/2012/mar/29/razor-babes-present-an-evening-of-interactive-3/

For more on Sandra Hunter's Workshops and Razor Babe events:
http://www.sandra-hunter.com/