Book Review: Ralph Lemon’s Come home Charley Patton

In Come home Charley Patton (Wesleyan University Press, 2013), choreographer, writer and visual artist Ralph Lemon journeys through personal and Civil Rights history like a migrant worker. Gleaning ancestral fruits—both […]

SPEAK: A Slim Corner of the World

Being asked to reflect on 20 years of dance making is daunting. So I have decided to write in the second person. Adrienne Rich, one of my favorite poets and […]

Arts Leadership and a Healthy Arts Community

I think it was sometime back in the ’90s when the arts field first started talking about a crisis of future leadership. We looked around and saw a LOT of […]

Grrrl Brigade, 15 Years of Social-Feminist Dance

Grrrl Brigade is a dance leadership program that fosters female empowerment through dance. Based out of Dance Mission Theater, Dance Brigade’s Grrrl Brigade has instructed more than 500 girls over […]

The Body Politic: Baroque Dance Speaks Truth to Power in The Temple of Glory

Dance has never been more political than it is today, with artists creating work on themes of feminism, racism, inequality, violence and the fight for justice. The issues may be topical, […]

Gabriel Mata On Using Personal Narrative

Photo by Tom Hassing The current immigration policy has sparked debate and protest throughout the country. For Mexican American dance choreographer Gabriel Mata dance is a form of protest. He […]

Dena Beard Gets Moving: The Lab’s Director Talks about a Vision for Art-Making

It’s been a year and a half since Dena Beard took over the directorship of The Lab. The longtime hub for experimental cross-disciplinary art and performance, founded by five San […]

Opening the Boxes

For some reason I have always been drawn to the rough spaces in theaters. There is a mood within these spaces that is rich with history, objects, technologies and stories […]

Getting it Out There: Smart Mobs, Improv Everywhere and Engaging Dance Audiences

A few weeks ago, a good friend told me I needed to check out a YouTube video she had come across—The Sound of Music at Central Station in Antwerp. Google […]

Expanding Expressions: Madhuri Kishore brings Kuchipudi to the Landscape of Bay Area Indian Dance

Madhuri Kishore School of Kuchipudi / photo courtesy of school Traversing the landscape of Indian dance forms practiced in the San Francisco Bay Area, it can be easy for the […]