In 2010 we visited "Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces" from the Musee d'Orsay at the De Young Museum. We were thrilled by the fanciful bustle dresses from the late 1800s and marveled at the similarity of their sashay to the balloons we often find on the beach.
We are grateful to ODC for giving us the opportunity to realize our Sashay dancing balloons vision from some 13 years ago. Frequented by café patrons and theater-goers, the Lobby Gallery features artists whose practices center on environment, sustainability, migration, and/or dance.That's us!!!
Many thanks to Brian Williamson, Theater Venue Manager, and Cora Cliburn, Company Dancer and Outreach Director @artistsclimatecollective for helping to make our show possible. Special thanks to Electric Works, Noah and Kris Lang for their expertise, making our photos/prints shine.
Like many girls, at age 5, I loved dancing and was on my way to being the Swan Queen. Although I had the poise and skill, my teacher dashed my hopes. She said that my neck was going to be too short and I would never be tall enough to be in the Corps let alone a soloist or principal. Plus, my legs were too chunky, not svelte enough. How she could tell all this? Maybe it’s like looking at a puppy's paws to determine how big a dog will get. Although she diminished my professional ambitions she did not change my love of dance.
My parents were big believers that lessons — ballet, ukulele, piano, tap, made for a well-rounded person. Maybe not round but square, dancing that is, was the dance of the day in Dallas in the 50's. Since everyone needed to know how to do the do-si-do, promenade left and right, swing your partner, square dancing was even taught in elementary school. Hey, it's Texas!!!
When Hawaii became a state in 1959, my mom and me, along with all of our neighbors embraced island comfort by wearing muumuus and flip-flops and learning to hula. Aloha!
Fortunately, in my teens, the rules of formal ballet were called into question. The role of trained and untrained dancers and the value of all body types opened the stage for the performance arts: improv and happenings.
In 1970, in college, in Claremont, CA, I found Darth Ivins, a teacher who introduced me to interpretive dance. In a multi-sensory way, she challenged us to dance as if moving through peanut butter; as if moving through jello; then express the difference. Along with the discipline of the body, she made embodiment crazy-fun.
I became enthralled with dancers/choreographers Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, Maguy Marin, Mark Morris, Anna Halprin to name only a few of the many innovators whose extraordinary performances I've been witness to.
My personal free-form repertoire includes dancing with the waves at the seashore and with the birds on mountain tops. At Burning Man I've raved to the pulse of the electronic beat. Of late, I love to bend and swoop at a more relaxed pace, moving through space/life, especially in the garden, where walking with grace is my dance.
Now at ODC, I'm pleased to come full circle (do-si-do) dancing with Richard and our exhibition of dancing balloons. Sashay, is now at ODC, November 1 - November 27, 3153 17th St, San Francisco, CA.