The Jewish Nutcracker Goes Back in History and Redresses for the Holidays

MAKING HISTORIC COSTUMES for the theater can toss a designer way back in time, but for dancer-designer Jamielyn Duggan it was a quantum leap to 166 BCE for The Jewish […]

Contact Improvisers Consider #metoo

The West Coast Contact Improvisation Jam in Berkeley (wcciJAM) has been a hub for the investigation of the form for over 25 years. Contact Improvisation (CI), which grew out of […]

Afrimerica, A journey to be at home with ourselves

Is there any place on the planet more misunderstood, more misused, unknown, mistaken, proclaimed, mythologized and unresolved than the continent of Africa (the answer is ‘no,’ btw)?

Becoming Stronger than the Struggle

In recent passing conversations with fellow dancers, teachers, choreographers and performers there seems to be an agreement that the Bay Area contemporary dance scene is currently experiencing a transition of sorts. While there […]

SPEAK: Wax Poet(s) Explores the Body in Resistance

Let’s talk about rage. Are you numb? Did it ever seem possible to be afraid of your phone? Dread checking the daily news; feel compelled to remain abreast of current […]

Questioning Assumptions, Challenging Expectations: A Conversation with Lucia August

Writing about today’s dance scene, I notice that I use certain phrases pretty often. Things like ‘questioning assumptions’ or ‘challenging expectations’. Sometimes these words are a response to innovative physical vocabulary; […]

Describing Dances: Increasing Access for Blind and Visually Impaired Audiences

with Tiffany Taylor and Georgina Kleege In 2016, during the development of a duet I created and continue to perform with noted Scottish disabled artist Claire Cunningham, The Way You […]

A Show Must Go On, Jérôme Bel Style

FEW ARTISTS HAVE TRIGGERED the intensity of divisive responses that Jérôme Bel has elicited for close to two decades. To some, Bel’s a brilliant artist and a clever provocateur, rethinking […]

A Mini History of Dance Education

Dance has been a part of U.S. public education since the early 1900s, when the concepts of gymnasium and open-air exercise were becoming popular in Europe. National dances were developed, […]

Not Laughing, But Dancing

An artist with a mobility impairment reflects on her journey into dance.