As we finish up our first premiere weekend of Arthur in Underland, and move towards our last, (performances run through March 18th) here's some background on the piece, from the Director's Note I wrote for the program: Arthur in Underland is one of the most personally vulnerable pieces I’ve ever made. It is based on a year in my life that turned everything I believed and wanted upside down. When I was 15 I left my native Los Angeles to
Emmaly Wiederholt interviewed "Arthur in Underland's" Co-Director, Writer and Performer Mantra Plonsey about the creation of Dandelion's new work: EMMALY WIEDERHOLT: What was the process of drawing from Eric's personal history to write Arthur in Underland? Conversely, what is it like to perform in? MANTRA PLONSEY: Eric had recently completed the process of creating and producing AND performing in our past winter season's piece FRIEND, which dealt with a dear companion's death from a brain tumor, with whom he had gallivanted around during
I'm thrilled to be back at CounterPULSE, about a year after our first ARC residency. The piece we created through the residency, FRIEND came out of the recent loss of one of my closest friends to a brain tumor at the beginning of our time at CounterPULSE. In working on that piece and unearthing stories about the beginning of our friendship in 11th grade I was flooded by other stories. I had met Sharon during my one year of attending
I'm a big fan of fermented foods and drinks: sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha, rejuvelac, kim chee, wine, beer and more. It's fascinating to me how completely new nutrients and beneficial bacteria develop when we let things settle for awhile. And then how new food and drink is created, not necessarily better than what was originally there, but different and fulfilling other needs. I'm realizing that I love fermented art too. When a project first appears to complete on closing night, I
Transitioning back to ordinary life after a performance run is difficult for me. And this particular transition out of performances of Dandelion's Friend has been particularly difficult. Ram Dass wrote and spoke about how as he began to get in touch with larger and more beautiful spiritual experiences--as he got "higher" each time--the accompanying falls afterwards became increasingly painful. These performances were especially "high" for me. I made some big breakthroughs artistically: editing more fiercely, trusting my inner feedback over
My current favorite definition of the word "dance" is: "Impermanence made visible." That seems to cover the immensity and the minutia of this slippery form. I'm particularly in touch with impermanence as Dandelion moves into our premiere of Friend tonight. It strikes me as odd how performance is what I pour my most extreme efforts and longings and strivings into--and then it's gone so quickly after it arises. This is particularly true in the experimental dance world wherein we often
I've come to love tech week--the week leading up to a performance run in which we have tech (technical) rehearsals, dress rehearsals and last minute scramblings to finish. I notice that during this time I am highly energized with a mix of anxiety, anticipation and joy. And I notice that the main thing that keeps me grounded is spending as much time as possible at the theater. I like to get to the place we're performing hours before each event,
The showings that Dandelion has been doing as part of our residency at CounterPULSE have taught me a lot. Here's an incomplete list of insights, reminders, clarifying moments that I've gathered so far from the three monthly public showings of our Friend project: 1. Public showings are crucial to the development of the kind of experimental performance we create. They force us to get things together on a deadline, to try them out and then to retreat and re-tool. There
For Dance Anywhere Day this year we performed a minimalist movement structure in Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland. Ensemble Member David Ryther led us in an improvised piece based on a street performer he had witnessed many times in Santa Cruz. We traveled slowly around the plaza, waving and looking back and forth with a highly exaggerated and slow motion smile. There happened to be someone shouting what sounded like Fundamentalist Christian doctrines on the plaza for a good
It's been longer than I would have liked since my last post. I'm in the final stages of "birthing" our Friend project, and these past few weeks have felt like the major hump to get over. As I catch up with myself and the work, I'll be posting some eclectic reflections from the adrenaline-fueled final phase of this particular creation process. Here is a post I started two weeks ago, when I felt right in the middle of the fire,
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Jan. 24th, 2025 @ 8:00PMEvent Detail Button
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