Artists in Residence

12 Feb, 2011

Conditioning

2016-03-18T22:18:54-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater|Tags: , , , , , , |

I'm humbled to see how deep so much of my conditioning runs. I've been learning about and experimenting with inclusive dance techniques for almost a decade now. I'm continually looking for ways to make the ways I perform, think about, create and teach dance/theater inclusive of people with diverse mobilities. And still my conditioning asserts itself over and over. I fall back on how I learned to dance. Sometimes this is wonderful and provides a storehouse of movement approaches and

13 Feb, 2011

This One’s For Friendship

2016-03-18T22:18:42-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One of the things that is shifting in me in response to the recent death of my friend Sharon Mussen is a re-prioritizing of friendship. I had a professor in grad school tell me once that I should never direct my friends in my projects--that the roles become too confusing. Even though I respect this professor very much, that advice somehow confirmed for me how much I operate from exactly the opposite view. I love creating experimental performance precisely because

13 Feb, 2011

2nd Work in Progress Showing

2016-03-18T22:18:25-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater, Video|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I was reminded yesterday of how helpful work in progress showings are. I often forget that this is an experimental form we're working in, and that experimental forms need actual experiments. While performances are experiments, they are high-pressure ones, and I learn as much, if not more from showings along the way. Here's some excerpts from ours yesterday:

14 Feb, 2011

Letting go of gumbo..

2016-03-18T22:35:39-07:00By |Categories: Amara Tabor Smith, Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Images|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

For many years on my birthday, my mother would make her seafood gumbo. It was one of the few times I would ask her to make this dish and I always liked to share this experience with family and friends because my mother’s gumbo is an experience. It is thick, messy, full of crabs legs, shrimps, oysters and okra. We used to spread newspaper on the table, wear bibs and used nut crackers to crack the crab, the sound of

14 Feb, 2011

Investigating Mysteries

2016-03-18T22:18:11-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I love mysteries. I love mystery novels and movies, and mysterious stories and myths. I love when spiritual teachers refer to the divine as the "Great Mystery." More and more these days I'm seeing my performance work as a series of mysteries I'm immersed in. Each new performance project at times seems like something I've conjured up with my collaborators, and at other times like something much bigger and mysterious that we are entering into. I much prefer the latter

17 Feb, 2011

Reflections on Queer Dance

2016-03-18T22:17:55-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater|

The following is my introductory note in the program for tonight's 2nd Annual Queer Dance Festival at CSU East Bay, followed by some related videos. This felt like an appropriate exploration to share here: Reflections on the Nature of “Queer Dance” By Queer Dance Festival Director Eric Kupers February 17th, 2011 University Theatre, CSU East Bay I want to attempt a definition of “Queer Dance,” (even though I believe that these two words are ultimately impossible to pin down.) “Queer”

2 Mar, 2011

Refueling

2016-03-18T22:17:43-07:00By |Categories: Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater|

Being a person is hard work. And then being a person who is living as an artist adds a whole new layer of difficulties. A lot of the time I pride myself on being able to keep on keepin' on, no matter how hard the traveling becomes. And I am committed in my creative work to not settle for easy answers, but instead to approach challenges directly, even inviting them to come forward. Developing capacity for great emotional and physical

3 Mar, 2011

Surprise Gifts

2016-03-18T22:17:32-07:00By |Categories: Archive, Artists in Residence, CounterPULSE, Dandelion Dancetheater, Video|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

There always seems to be surprise gifts that come from creating a performance work--things that enhance my life and/or art making that I didn't expect to receive from the project. With the Friend project, a major gift has been a reminder about the joy of making stuff. By stuff I mean visual art (sculpture, collage, installation, etc.) This gift has come at me from two sources. My friend Sharon was a visual artist at heart, always making sculptures of various

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