• April 8, 2016

    A brief genealogy of 35F

    By Published On: April 8th, 2016

    Salinas workshop participants (photo Zen Cohen) Perhaps it is right to begin our blog by positing ourselves this way: Like with much in our contemporary lives, The 35th Floor / Another Stor(e)y Above and Beyond Her Fall (35F) is largely informed by our necessity to face the violence that surrounds our bodies, and

  • March 29, 2016

    Snake Talk and the Zany

    By Published On: March 29th, 2016

    Photo by Robbie Sweeny.Below is some of our writing about Snake Talk, which is in part inspired by Sianne Ngai's book Our Aesthetic Categories. Specifically, we are investigating what she calls the "zany" aesthetic, allowing it to permeate the structure and physicality of our work. For a more in depth conversation regarding Ngai's research on contemporary aesthetics,

  • March 14, 2016

    Shape Shifting: A conversation with Dana Michel about Yellow Towel with Rob Avila

    By Published On: March 14th, 2016

    Photo by Ian Douglas Shape Shifting: A conversation with Dana Michel about Yellow Towel with Rob Avila Yellow Towel, the much lauded solo by Montreal-based choreographer-performer Dana Michel, makes its San Francisco debut this weekend. Riffing on a blurred range of black stereotypes, the piece has the effect of unsettling the specific in

  • December 1, 2015

    You’re more than your money

    By Published On: December 1st, 2015

    As you may or may not know, today is Giving Tuesday. A day where we can repent with our dollar, and generate enough warm fuzzies to obliterate any feelings around what we do with our money every other day of year. Another day where the forces of mass communication can commodify, essentialize, and spin yet

  • November 8, 2015

    Interview For Our Upcoming Premiere

    By Published On: November 8th, 2015

    A colleague of mine, Katharine Hawthorne, came to our recent work-in-progress showing and asked me a few questions about the work. Below is our interview that discusses why I am making a musical and how working during CounterPulse's construction has influenced the piece: Interview: Liz Tenuto/Dance and a Half This Year is Different: A Self-Help

  • October 29, 2015

    Important 80 Turk Update

    By Published On: October 29th, 2015

    Dear CounterPulse Community, We have an important update regarding the 80 Turk Project. The opening performance of our 80 Turk Inaugural Season, will in fact, not be happening at 80 Turk. Due to sudden timeline delays with the renovation of the theater, our partners and friends at Joe Goode Annex will be hosting all evening

  • October 21, 2015

    Friends, Family, Patrons, Artists and Our New Home

    By Published On: October 21st, 2015

    Executive Director, Tomás Riley, working with staff and volunteers to paint our new theater space! As we enter into the Inaugural Season at our new home on 80 Turk Street, we feel as if coming home from a long journey. The building has not been an easy project - from rallying multi-million dollar

  • September 10, 2015

    Ask ME

    By Published On: September 10th, 2015

    Our new Community Engagement Fellow: Alexandra Maricich Photo Credit: Chelsea Rodino This story begins long ago in Seattle. Where I met my dear friend and collaborator at Cornish College of the Arts: Mariah Martens. We have confided, confronted, confirmed, collected, constructed, created, condensed, conversed every part ourselves to each other. In between graduating from

  • September 8, 2015

    80 Turk Inaugural Season Curator’s Note

    By Published On: September 8th, 2015

    80 Turk in Fall 2014, Photo by Kegan MarlingOur Inaugural Season crowns a remarkable, highly anticipated move to a state-of-the-art facility at 80 Turk Street. Appropriately enough, the season, creations from artists variously working in New York, Austin, Ireland, Berlin, and the Bay Area, offers a kaleidoscopic set of reflections on metamorphosis whether in the

  • August 20, 2015

    Tomás and James Talk 80 Turk Street: an interview with our Executive Director

    By Published On: August 20th, 2015

    James: So the first question I have – what’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of our new home at 80 Turk Street? Tomás: Potential – I mean, CounterPulse has the potential to transform the community; it’s something that’s so needed and necessary in the Tenderloin. The Tenderloin certainly has the

  • August 17, 2015

    Exploring Engagement: CounterPulse & Violeta Luna in Salinas

    By Published On: August 17th, 2015

    An update from the field, with CounterPulse executive director, Tomás Riley. With support from the James Irvine Foundation’s Exploring Engagement Fund CounterPulse recently celebrated the stage premier of Como la Tierra/Like the Earth in Salinas, CA. Presented in collaboration with the Alisal Center for the Fine Arts (ACFA), local artist collective Artists Ink and renowned performance

  • August 17, 2015

    Summer Rehearsals: A Visual Post

    By Published On: August 17th, 2015

    Photo of Ben Juodvalkis and Rebecca Siegel at a music rehearsal in Rebecca's garden. Video of creating choreography in the studio:  choreo.video