A few dozen volunteer dancers, disabled and non-disabled, myself included, joined Axis Dance for a site-based performance at Yerba Buena Gardens. We rehearsed for a few weeks in the park on weekday evenings. The summer-scape of downtown San Francisco. Rush hour, trash can drums, church bells, sudden bright gusts of wind, fog beveling the park into quartz and moonstone facets, the bougainvillea along the railings above the falls, rushing up into that fuscia underbrush glow to lean over the railing and undulate in unison. Coppery green, glinting from reflecting pools. But mostly the white noise of the falls. And then, the day of the performance, the droning, whirly-gigging, keening, cuckoo clock set free sounds of Caroline Penwarden and her orchestra. Sonsheree Giles of Axis directed the choreography.
This experience made me happier than anything. Closest I've come to really being able to meditate. And, skim out endlessly on a (tide) line (in a poem) without any words. Almost home, almost the gulf, being beside the waterfall and with others. Aquatic, hot, breathing under other elements. (Not making it to Florida this summer--but enclosed a little prayer for the waters in this doing, over and over again.)
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Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
People talk about us
Wonder full blog post on "feminists with disabilities" about AXIS' performance at Yerba Buena Gardens.
http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/06/30/creative-work-axis-dance-company/
The whole dance had a very organic, flowing feel, and I loved watching all of these individuals and bodies moving in all kinds of interesting and different ways.
I am not a modern dance critic, or particularly well versed in dance in general. Usually I look at things and go ‘oooh that’s nice’ or ‘hrm.’ I really loved the AXIS piece, though. I felt like it really played to the strengths of the dancers as individuals, highlighting them as human beings rather than presenting them as an amorphous mass of interchangeable people, which is sometimes how I feel with highly regimented choreography where everyone moves in precisely the same way. The piece had character and it sparked some thoughts in me about interconnectivity, interdependence, and community.
http://disabledfeminists.com/2010/06/30/creative-work-axis-dance-company/
The whole dance had a very organic, flowing feel, and I loved watching all of these individuals and bodies moving in all kinds of interesting and different ways.
I am not a modern dance critic, or particularly well versed in dance in general. Usually I look at things and go ‘oooh that’s nice’ or ‘hrm.’ I really loved the AXIS piece, though. I felt like it really played to the strengths of the dancers as individuals, highlighting them as human beings rather than presenting them as an amorphous mass of interchangeable people, which is sometimes how I feel with highly regimented choreography where everyone moves in precisely the same way. The piece had character and it sparked some thoughts in me about interconnectivity, interdependence, and community.
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