A Turning Point

A bounty of generous resources from our dance community and the San Francisco Bay Area is how I found my way through a return of breast cancer and the death […]

WestWave Dance Festival Artists Speak

In addition to our interview with Joanna Haigood, we asked the 45 artists participating in this year’s DanceWaves and Film Night to offer up a first person perspective—or in grant-speak, […]

Jester in the Router: Multi-site Performance Using The Internet

Imagine artistic and cultural exchange on a worldwide scale. One where live, truly collaborative performing arts events occur on a regular basis at multiple locations simultaneously, not simply connecting a […]

The Experiment Called Contact Improvisation

Contact Improvisation defies any specific definition or historical analysis. The dancer most often credited for CI’s development is ambivalent about his role and some of CI’s early participants have divergent […]

Stepping to the Beat of a Different Fiddle with the Barbary Coast Cloggers

As the first high notes of fiddle fill the air, a group of twelve men in jeans and flannel shirts begin to clap rhythmically. A banjo joins the fiddle, and […]

Dispersing the Diaspora: Excerpts from the CounterPULSE Blog

Edited by Maureen Walsh Traversing personal and cultural borders are two topics that the Performing Diaspora artists, staff and audience are talking about. I’ve sifted though the CounterPULSE blog, selecting […]

Moving Across Cultures: Transmitting cultural knowledge through movement language

The effects of dance on the brain have been studied using Western dance forms like ballet, but not with less known forms like Persian/Iranian dance.

Collective Matters on Dance and Other Body Modifications

Dancing Around Race (DAR) explores the socio-cultural dimensions of race within the interconnected fields of choreography, dance presentation, dance training, funding, curatorial practices, and dance criticism in U.S. contemporary and […]

we done/come home: a ritual prayer for belonging

House/Full of Blackwomen Photo by Robbie Sweeny. [ID: A Black woman with her eyes closed sits in a blue armchair with her head slightly leaning to the side. On the […]

Imbuing Spirit into Cloth

  I didn’t wake up one day thinking I should create ritual costumes. They snuck up on me. They whispered to me, they brought magic into my home and drew […]