Victor Talledos - Dancer of the Month - March 2012

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"...the only sound was his loud, heavy breathing - which seemed almost like an animal crying..."


The dance event was Labayen Dance’s Home Season at Dance Mission Theatre last August, 2011. As so often happens, this was a moment when the performance ends, but the audience is not quite sure the show is really over – the lights go down and there is an uncomfortable pause. Is it time to clap...will the dancers come back...? During this lapse, only the faint silhouette of Victor Talledos' body, laying flat, was visible thru the soft gray light. With his back arched, his breathing - almost like sobbing - derived from exhaustion, joy and imagination.

BayAreaDanceWatch is honored and proud to present Mr Victor Talledos as our Dancer of the Month - March 2012 and the first male artist to receive this title.

BADw's road to Mr Talledos is thru Amercian women and once there, I discoved his high esteem and love for Mexican women, especially his mother and grandmother, who raised him as an only child after his father died when Victor was 8 months old.

Even though growing up in a culture which emphasized machismo, Victor attended his first dance class at age 12. Later, he was selected for a special dance program where a small group of young Mexican men were sent to Monterey, Mexico to study at one of the two best university dance programs in his home country.

After college, Victor moved to N.Y. and successfully completed the two year dance program at Alvin Ailey. Remaining in that city, Victor found the dance scene filled with an unhealthy level of competition, which took a great emotional and physical toll on him. Stealing a five day break from everything, he flew to San Francisco, meeting friends who were visiting from Mexico. While here, Victor and one of his friends were walking down Market Steet; he looked up and saw the LINES name on the side of a building. Victor yelled "...I know that dance company, lets go inside."

Caught without traveling dance clothes, Mr Talledos dashed off to buy gym trunks at the nearest store, then rushed back to LINES. And as so many stories in California go - the rest is history.

Victor's first CA class (ballet) was with Laura Bernasconi, who in turned introduced him to Enrico Labayen, founder/artistic director of Labayen Dance - the first West Coast dance company who hired him. It was also at LINES where he meet both Kat Worthington, one of our leaders in the local dance scene and a "Lioness" of the highest order as well as Jennifer Mellor, our lovely but deadly black belt James Bond Muse of a dancer. These two young ladies put me on a path to meet Victor Talledos.

BADW's first encunter with Victor was with Jennifer Mellor's home season at the Garage in early spring of 2011. (See Jennifer Mellor's Blessay May 2011) This was Ms Mellor's dance of the muses. Victor's role was that of the male victim, dancing of love, suffering and the struggle to deal with two muses - at one point crawling on all fours while Ms Mellor sat riding on his back-side; all the while, creating art, literature and even reading the classics. Victor talked about how he loved working with Ms Mellor, especially her openness for him to experiment with ideas and pieces of choreography - while she in turn chose the best, incorporating them into her dance vision.

Less than two weeks later, the next sighting of Victor was with Ms Worthington's Copious Dance Theater at Zspace. (See Copious's Blessay May 2011) Victor immediately fell in love with the physicality of Kat's dancing and choreography - all presented as a complete visual art piece as only a dancer and artist can achieve. Victor feels that Kat pays attention to all the elements of creating and performing dance, delivering the whole package in such fine, rarely seen detail. He did say wearing the skull cap took some adjustment on his part. A reminder: Ms Worthington, like all our muses, make us work and suffer - yet allows us to find our passions and grow.

Jennifer and Kat lead BADw to Victor which lead to further discovery of his gift - Danzon - Victor's tribute to Mexican women. It is a dance Enrico encouraged Victor to create by incorporating his Mexican heritage. Victor, in turn, researched Mexican folk dancing and learned that it is a rich art form, filled with images of the country's women. And since women raised him and always supported his creativity, these were the images he needed to foster. He wanted native Mexican music and so selected a gorgeous modern, classical short symphony: Danzon by composer Arturo Marquez. Finally, enlisting the female dancers of Labayen Dance, he had them fitted with long, flowing Mexican dresses as costumes for his work of art.

What did happen that night at DMT after Mr Talledos regained his breath? (He had, after all, performed in every section of dance that evening.) Something quite simple, really. The audience had scattered and the two of us stood for awhile at the side of the stage, alone, talking and joking a little about how he seemed like a wild animal let out of a cage during the performance. He talked about the women of Mexico. As he spoke I couldn't help but realize that Victor is one of the most gentle men I have ever meet - animal on stage, gentleman off. As I turned to walk away, I thought about my own mother, Victoria, who was the most gentle person, the most gentle soul, I have ever meet in my life. I smiled, knowing that still another connection had been made between an audience member and performer - a line, perhaps a different kind of dancer's line - from Victor to me to Victoria and back to Victor.

In the end, it was thru the women that Victor was my dancer of the month, long before he and I ever met...

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Victor Talledos next performances:

Robert Moses KIN - YBCA on March 30, 31 & Apr 1st, 2012
www.robertmoseskin.org

Labayen Dance - ODC on April 20-22nd, 2012
www.labayendancesf.org

Copious Dance Theater - TBA, 2012/2013
www.copiousdance.org


PHOTO #1: Labayen Dance. Photographer: Weidong Yang.
Pictured - Victor Talledos, Leda Pennell, Alyson Abriel Salomon, Karen Meyers & Catlin Max Perna.

Photo #2: Danzon, Labayen Dance. Photographer: Weidong Yang.
Pictured - Leda Pennell.

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Gorgeous Dance VIDEOS 2011 - S.F +

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from the kitchen to the roof top & beyond
in the end, it's really about the solo...


#1 Arrow by Bobbi Jene Smith (with Christian Burns)
S.F. Conservatory of Dance - Tom Weinberger co-choreographer.

Arrow tells the story of two young lovers from America's heartland, danced in an almost tearful fashion. It's really two solos as much as a duet. The dancers never really touch and there is one moment when they don't actually kiss, but they creatively express one of the most beautiful kisses I've ever seen in a stage performance.



#2 Horses Never Lie Caroline Richardson

Ms Richardson is the uncanny embodiment of a horse through dance. Staged, for the most part, in an actual corral, this video demonstrates just how much she knows horses, their movements and loves them as much, if not more, than dance itself. Simply Gorgeous !!



#3 Kim; dancer: Morgan Nutt

"The piece was inspired by the life of an audience member who attended rehearsals during the course of creating the piece," per choreographer Cyrus Khambatta. In the beginning, Ms Megan Nutt is writing something with her toe in what appears to be imaginary sand. The music itself, with its melancholy, elongated pace, is one of the most sorrowful tunes I've ever heard. When the song and movements end, we can only imagine what her right foot is saying...



#4 Roof Bust by Kevin Williamson; Kdub L.A.

This spontaneous, exuberant dance takes place in between rainfalls on a rooftop in New York City. There is no camera man - Mr Williamson, moves and places the camera in different locations, filming himself. With images & symbols that have occupied theater, dance and movies down through the ages, his dance celebrates the joy of impromptu moments. In the end, we're watching Mr Williamson through his own eyes.



#5 3/4 Cup Dancer: Gina Marie Shorten. Filmmaker: Alise Anderson.
(Ms Shorten is one our young SF/Bay Area local dancers!!)

Ms Gina Shorten's lovely site specific dance leads us into her kitchen. From the floor to the counter top, she conveys her story through daily tasks of measuring and cooking. It's as much about inner turmoil as it is about her routine chores - a reminder that sometimes the mundane can save us.




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S.F. Top 5 Emotional Dance Moments 2011

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"Sometimes we dance for our Fathers..."

This thought occurred to me earlier this year, after a conversation with Natasha Carlitz as we stood in the lobby of ODC Theater, following her company's performance. I had been touched by an opening to one of her dances and she explained to me that it was a dance she choreographed for her father as he lay dying of cancer. I was moved even more by the gift she had created for her father and for herself. So, from time to time, throughout the year, my mind has wandered back to that evening with Ms Carlitz and her work of art. I realize now she started me on a journey that has brought me to this blessay: BADw's Top 5 Emotional Dance Moments for 2011. In honor of Ms Carlitz, her company of dancers, her father, the dancers mentioned below and the local dance scene in general, I dedicate this blessay.


#5: End Love by Saki Suto.
LINES Dance Center S.F.

From medical operation to the dance floor in a single leap: Ms Saki had a hip operation in January 2011, and by spring she was back on the dance floor. She returned so quickly by designing a solo which has her sitting in a chair keeping as much weight off her hips as possible. It's her dance from the waist up; with lots of arm and hand movements, she sways, spins and slides her strong, petite body in every direction - all of it deriving from her boundless energy. It's a solo where East meets West with some modern hip hop thrown in. BADw has had the good fortune to witness End Love on several occasions when Ms Saki performed as a guest artist at Kathy Mata's Ballet Showcases.

(To enlarge video to Full Screen - click icon lower right hand corner of video.)



#4: 7 Ways to Hide yourself from the World (ODC)
by Kelly Kemp/Leah Rybolt and Number9 Dance Company.

Sign Language as dance that's taken to a whole new level: This is not the sign language that is used by and for people who are hard of hearing, but a new language that comes from all of us, literally. Kelly Kemp sent her unique dancers out into the everyday world, on their own, where each was assigned the same task. They were to observe and memorize people's hands and arm gestures which were used while speaking. Ms Kemp then had her dancers team up in pairs to merge their respective movements - afterwards bringing the whole company together and mixing all the gestures into one long segment of dance. Leah Rybolt, while seated, danced this gorgeous, strange combination at Number9's January 2011 Home Season at ODC - another dance from the waist up. I remember joking with the dancers of Number9 that they would all make great gang members, since many of their gestures looked like gang signals, parlayed into dance. In the video below, Ms Leah is seated in the lower left hand corner.



#3: Six Years Dreaming by Gretchen Garnett
CounterPulse, S.F. (Haunting dream music by Brendan Berry - on FB !!)

Every dream has a center - a beating heart if you will: The center of Six Years Dreaming is a two minute segment of dance meant as a loving homage to five generations of female dancers - each dancing a solo, one at a time, then passing on, so the next may dance. It takes place under a spotlight on a darkened stage. Jackie Goneconti starts with a sitting solo. After a few moments, the next dancer, Leah Curran, walks up to the rim of the circle of light and waits patiently at the darkened side of the rim for her turn to enter. When Jackie is ready, the two women sync themselves in both posture & movements, as Jackie glides out of the light and Leah glades in. With Leah's new solo, the cycle of life begins all over again. It's a dance, a story of a daughter patiently waiting out of respect for her mother, and the mother, in turn passing on her knowledge and experience thru their synchronized movements. The dance ritual is performed through five generations of dancers - a reminder that the beauty of our mothers resides in their unique life solos, as well as in their transference.



#2: Tempus Fugit by Natasha Carlitz
(ODC Theater)

Ms Carlitz's dance begins in a darkened stage with three separate spotlights. Under each light is a lone female dancer lying on her back - with only arms and legs visible dancing in the air. Watching this dance for the first time, all I could think and feel was...if the opening of this dance were shown to all the young girls in elementary schools, every one would want to be a dancer when she grows up.. I shared my reaction with Natasha right after her dance at ODC and she described how she choreographed the dance for her father as he was dying of cancer. To which I asked, Did he see his dance? ...only the first part, Natasha explained. At that moment I realized, dance subjects don't get much better than when we dance for our fathers...

(Photo by Elazar Harel. Video to follow at later date.)














#1: The Woman Invisible to Herself by Mary Armantrout
(The Sunshine Biscuit Factory, Oakland, CA)

Some of the most moving autobiographical words I've ever heard on a stage form the very cornerstone of Mary's performance piece. She recites them to us inside a large bathroom in the abandoned Sunshine Biscuit Factory in Oakland, CA. Her words tell the story of a young girl, Mary herself, about 13 yrs old, whose father comes out of the closet and starts his new life. Young Mary wants to go with her Dad on his new journey. But how to do it? Does she need to create her own gay male side to accompany him? In the end, she realizes she just wants to stay the apple of his eye - remain the little princess to the first man in her life. This is an expansive site-specific piece that moves along bending hallways that are both wide & narrow. It takes us down stairways to the subterranian, thru covered alleyways and to the back of buildings with their chainlink fences. We are looking for the invisible part of Mary - the many sides of her. This could be titled: In Search of Mary - Full of Grace. From the bathroom to the rooftop, Mary leads the way, bringing Beethoveen along with his 7th Symphony. And once on the roof, surrounded by that unique bluish-tint Oakland light as it bounces off the Bay waters, Mary treats us to her creative use of Beethoveen's masterpice and shows us why the music is also named The Dance Symphony...


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Most Disturbing Moments 2011

(1) Megan Nicely: CounterPulse, 2nd Sundays. Ms Megan lying on her belly completely disabled, dragging herself by her chin, chasing a microphone being pulled across the stage in front of her by partner. A reminder: we all want attention & love, no matter how shallow.

(2) Raisa Punkki: The Garage/DMT. Solo dance Waiting - final image one part wedding dress other part suffering creature.

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Most Disturbing Subjects 2011

(1) Ashley Trottier: Mills/ODC: Good Morning. Attack on pornography using movie like images with feral looking dancers.

(2) Mary Carbonara: KUNST-STOFF: What does it feel like to kill someone? Killing in the form of rape.

(3) Samantha Giorn: CounterPulse: sex,love,money. Marriage as a battle ground.

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Most Elegant Dances 2011

(1) Deborah Slater: SFMOMA. w/Wendy Rein, Melissa Caywood, Kelly Kemp - all three dressed in black, dancing on the steel gray bridge, 5th floor, inside the museum.

(2) Liss Fain: YBCA. The False & True are One - words forming dance. Performed at a site specific but on a stage - four galleries built for dancers & audience to mingle together during performance.

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Most Surprising Dance 2011

LEVYdance: ROMP, Zspace. Everyone on stage! "Thank you for setting the table with dancers! We await the next course..."

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Most glorious tribute to our Mothers! 2011

Paris Wages: Z-Space. Google Woman. Our Mothers would be amazed to witness this performance, gifted to us on Mother's Day Weekend. God, I wish my mother could have seen this one Ms Wages!

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Most Creative Site-Specific Dance 2011

Wendy Rain & Ryan Smith: Orson's Restaurant. A Public Affair - dancing in middle of restaurant during dinner time. Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers who??

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Most "pushing the envelope big" 2011

Stacey Printz: Z-Space. Hover Space - 2nd dance floor floating above stage. At times looking like a boxing ring. Reminder, sometimes in relationships we have to be athletes.

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Most surprising dance at a festival 2011

Westwave - Joan Lazarus: ODC. Duets ...falling in love with dance for the first time, all over again...

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Most humorous performance-piece moment 2011

Lisa Townsend: 2nd Sundays, CounterPULSE. Lisa describing & mimicking beating up someone who asked for it - with 3 dancers duplicating her gestures in silence. Sounds of an individual fight, visuals of a gang fight. Ms Townsend is coming into focus & it's blurry! Hilarious. p.s. nothing is her fault...

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Most rewarding, visiting dance companies 2011

(1) Kibbutz - SFJCC (SPECIAL thanks Dana Raz - we dance in next lifetime!)
(2) Modern Garage Movement from N.Y. (Berkeley's Subterranean)
(3) Netherland's Dance Theater (Zellerbach)
(4) Wayne McGregor (YBCA)
(5) Kdub L.A. (CounterPulse)



BayAreaDanceWatch shares THANKS to the following for giving so much respect to me, despite my many shortcomings!!

Joe Kreiter, Joe Landini, Kathy Mata, Christy Bolingbroke, Jennifer Meek, Kat Worthington, Robin Anderson, Jessica Robinson Love, Jamie Wright, Travis Rowland, Michelle Fletcher, Amy Seiwert, Jackie Goneconti, Jodie Renaud, Frances Rosario, Kim Epifano, Dominic Duong, Gary Masters, Dalia Rawson, Maria Basile, Tanya Bello, Jaclyn Anku, Shamsher Virk, Randy Symank, Kat Cole, Eric Garcia, Stella Adelman, Noelle Durant, Stacie Powers, Krissy Keefer, Tanya Bello, Annebelle Henry, Katherine Wells, Julie Potter, Gina Marie Shorten, Raissa Simpson, Robert Moses, Bianca Cabrera, Bianca Brzezinski, Victor Talledos, Dudley Flores, Kerry Demme, Laura Sharp, Jenni Bregman, Christine Bonansea, Jennifer Mellor, Kelly Bowker, Nol Simonse (Nol, giving me the Biggest hug ever @DMT!), Afshin Odabaee, Christine Germain, Aaron Jessup, Antoine Hunter, Cindy Pop, Colin Epstein, Daniel Berkman, Dan Wool, Erica Rose Jeffrey, Evangel King, Hilary Palanza, Jamie Venci, Jennifer Raine Kostel, Joseph Copley, Julie Mahony, Krystal Harfert, Lynda Penados, Marina Hotchkiss, Mary Alice Fry, Milissa Payne Bradley, Norma Fong, Patric Cashman, Philein ZiRu, Scott Marlowe, Yuri Zhukov, SF Conservatory of Dance and the SF/Bay Area Dance Scene ALL.....not sure I deserve it, but I don't want to give any of it back...



And a BIG Special thank you to my "Three Musketeers"

Alyce Finwall: Giving me my best Film Noir moment in my lifetime!
Pearl Marill: Restoring life's smile & stretching my humor & creativity!
Kelly Kemp: 1st dance commission - my parents never would have dreamt!

See you at the dances...



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Raisa Punkki -- Dancer of the Month -- November 2011

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"If you could see, what I have seen, thru your eyes,"

...is one of the more poetic modern day movie quotes uttered from the silver screen. It is even more poignant when we realize how impossible it is for anyone to see through someone else's eyes. Raisa Punkki, however, born and raised in Finland, and one of our leaders in the San Francisco local dance community, comes close to doing just that - allowing us to see her art the way she herself sees and creates it.

BayAreaDanceWatch is honored to present Ms Raisa Punkki as "Dancer of the Month" for November 2011.

BADw's doorway to Raisa Punkki is her dance piece entitled Waiting, and once inside the door comes the discovery of PunkkiCo with its world of shared collaboration.

Waiting is simply one of the most stunning, yet disturbing dance/performance pieces I've ever witnessed. The dance begins with a large expanse of dress-like material stretched flat across the entire darkened stage, a balled up figure hidden underneath, dead center. The ending’s final image is one part gorgeous wedding dress and the other part a suffering human creature. During the piece we experience some elegant music and lighting - both very haunting. With a restrained pace and so little motion, Waiting has the feel of a slow, Japanese Butoh performance.

Witnessing the dance twice, speaking with Raisa Punkki and looking over her website, I begin to see some of what she wants others to see. Waiting is her creation from the inside out: she had no idea how the final product would look. Instead, she lets her artistic process lead the way. Importantly, it's a piece that reveals the extent of collabration between Ms Punkki, her costume/set designer and lighting engineer.

"...she looks like an angel, but when she speaks it's like a race," are Claire Pasquier's words to describe Ms Punkki. Claire is PunkkiCo's costume and set designer, who upon arriving in the U.S. in 2006 from France, landed her first assignment with Ms Punkki and has remained with PunkkiCo ever since. She sees Ms Punkki as a “samurai” and thrives as a collaborator on the “strength and beautiful, feminine fragility” Ms Punkki brings to their dance pieces - all of which are evident in the visualization of Waiting.

When it comes to lighting, Ms Punkki wants it to make the dancers shine. That is exactly what her lighting designer, Christian Mejia, delivers. His lighting for Waiting is very sculptural, as if filtered through kirie - Japanese paper cuts. For Ms Punkki, that kirie lighting is such a critical part of Waiting, she will only perform the piece when he is available.

There are many more doors to traverse once inside PunkkiCo, one of them being her strong Finnish influence within the dance pieces. Polar Night, an ensemble, is a bright example danced by Jennifer Meek, Emma Steward along with Ms Punkki herself.

The dance portrays three women living and working in a harsh environment. A long wooden bench represents the setting. Our three dancers wear dark, loose fitting dresses of heavy drape-like material that go down to their ankles - working mumus almost. The contemporary dance steps are performed in front, behind, and on the wooden bench. At one point all three young ladies are together, shoulder to shoulder, sitting on the bench. Back and forth they go, leaning forward then returning upright; all the while hands/fingers are clasped on their laps with only their thumbs twirling in circles - a sign that even the required patience extracted from these working women, these Mothers, has a natural beauty all its own. It's hard not to see the dance movements, costumes and setting, as a celebration of the women's beauty in their strength and durability - not in their physical looks.

A few months ago, BayAreaDanceWatch was pleased to present Punkki Co at the annual luncheon for the SF Veteran's Hospital held at the Kabuki Hotel in Japantown. Ms Punkki, Jennifer Meek & Emma Steward performed three dances: Polar Night and two separate solos.

It was here, in the hallway of the hotel, where I experienced first hand the heavy Finnish influence on Ms Punkki's work. The three dancers with concentrated looks on their faces were lined up, ready to move into the ballroom and dance Polar Night. Just a few feet in front of them, I called over that it's time go. No movement. I called out again “Go”, as Ms Punkki slowly turned her head towards me and said in a steady, low and strong voice, "We wait for the music, Jim," her face returning to that original concentrated look. With the music cue, the three marched right past me, keeping within their perfect row. An enormous strength emanated from their bodies as they brushed by. It caught me by surprise, as they no longer felt like the three dancers I knew. They were strangers – three strong, determined women from some far off land - marching off to work, to do battle.

So, can we really see what others see through our own eyes? Jennifer Meek answers this question her own way as part of PunkiCo.

In order to dance for the veterans, Jennifer and Emma had arranged to take an extended lunch break from their work place, rushing back to their jobs afterward. Ms Punkki scheduled her solo last, so Jennifer & Emma could leave early. Yet Jennifer, running down the hallway on her way out, stopped at the doorway entrance to the ballroom. Despite knowing she was making herself even more late, Jennifer stood and watched Raisa perform her new work-in-progress solo. Jennifer had a look of a sister watching her sibling. As I watched Jennifer, Jennifer watched Raisa - all the while, minutes disappearing. It told me something about Raisa, that someone of Ms Meeks’ caliber would do that. I could not help feeling at that moment I was watching Raisa thru the eyes of Jennifer, and learning even a little more about Ms Punkki, PunkkiCo. and even Jennifer herself. And seeing, perhaps, that the final collaborators were those who come to watch.


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"Pick Cells" is PunkkiCo's 2011 home season of new works plus Waiting @Dance Mission Theater,
Nov 11-13th. For tickets and more info: www.punkkico.com

(Photo of Waiting by Rob Kunkle)

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Pearl Marill -- Dancer of the Month -- Oct 2011

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There's an old saying, when you meet someone who has a great sense of humor, take a look at what they do - you will see that they are almost always good at whatever field they have chosen.

BayAreaDanceWatch introduces a new feature entitled: "Dancer of the Month." We are honored to have Ms Pearl Marill as our first dancer (October 2011). Also a choreographer and actress, she infuses humor throughout as she leads us through her stories, messages and beautiful dancing.

To paraphrase Ms Marill, ...acting, improvisation, choreography and dance are fairly balanced and I strive to incorporate these components into my work. Comedy is important to me because I think it's an entertaining and effective way to make your point of view accessible to a wide range of viewers.

Although 2011 is far from over, it's a great period for Ms Marill. A crowning achievement is her selection as a finalist in the national Joyce AWARDS competition held at ODC/SF this past January. Entitled, "Missed Connections," it is a humorous duet with her male partner Cason MacBride, filled with desperate, aching words over a perceived encounter. These scripts are taken directly from Craigslist where people hope to find some depth of feeling with a stranger. And no matter how small or one sided the encounter might be, they still post, not knowing if that certain someone will even read their recordings on invisible electronic plates.

Throughout the performance, both dancers use their bodies to form the letters M to W (male to woman); W to M; M to M or W to W, while reciting words from the ads and then repeating them as dance steps. Yet, beyond the words and movements, for her, comedy is "...achieved thru empathy and truth" - in this case, people's deep affections riding on tiny cyberspaces of hope. Within that humor, Ms Marill plants elegant dancing steps, solos, rooted in classical ballet, with demi-points, half flips, graceful turns and legs reaching up and back, towards vanishing points of our imagination.

It is most enjoyable when we see Ms Marill's humor as a roadmap - she starts with humor, moves us into her story, then ends with dance. It is this creativity that has built her career, and in the last couple of years she has received numerous awards. In addition to the 2011 Joyce AWARDS, in 2010 she was awarded "Best Actress" for her film "Ladycat," at the 48 Hours Film Festival. Earlier this year, she won "Best Choreography" award, at the same film festival, for her film "Killin it in Reno." This past summer, she was selected as one of the few dancer/choreographers in the 20th anniversary of Westwave 2011 - one of largest and oldest San Francisco dance festivals.

Recently, BayAreaDanceWatch was able to witness Ms Marill perform in a dance competition whose goal was, "...in one minute of dance, show us who you are!" Almost an impossible task. Ms Marill, however, true to her artistic process, starts off with humor then moves to dance. She sashays across the stage dragging a large black garbage bag and from it she pulls out a dummy that looks identical to her in every way - clothes, hair, weight, even the shoes. The excitement of finding herself is quite palpable. She dances with her double, laughs with it and even pretends to make love to it. It's a joyous 30 second recital of finding and being with oneself. With no seconds to spare, Ms Marill then gracefully moves into her lovely dancing solo - as if saying, I've shown myself who I am, now I'll show the world. And what a glorious performance it is - a study of contemporary dance steps, revealing her skills and experience. For that short moment, she projects a celebration of the female body thru dance - showing how much a dancer can reveal in the span of a minute.

Ms Marill just finished wrapping a video/dance workout film that will premiere next year in S.F. and is currently working on a dance improv comedy troupe series entitled, "Modern on Command" (MOC) that will also premiere in the City next year.

Gene Kelly and his umbrella are long gone. But here in San Francisco, we are truly lucky. We have Pearl Marill. She is versatile. Beautiful. And her umbrella is way bigger. Pearl Marill is our, Dancer of the Month, Oct 2011!



PHOTO: I love the photo at the top of this blessay that was taken by Tanya Constantine. Ms Marill is dancing on the rooftop of an old military bunker at Baker Beach; with a prop that brings to mind Hollywood/Broadway musicals - the umbrella. From military to musicals to Pearl Marill, with some humor along the way.

Pearl Marill can be reached at email: pearl.marill@gmail.com
She can also be found on Facebook and various rooftops throughout the City.

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When "sex,love,money" just isn't enough !!

Actually the question may be, When is "sex,love,money" really enough? And the answer - when the subject is in the hands of local SF Choreographer Samantha Giron and her three female dancers - Jackie Goneconti, Ildiko Polony, Vivian Aragon. (The beautiful red photo above and below belong to Mark Andrew Wilson, Website: MarkAndrewWilson.com He can be reached at mark@markandrewwilson.com)

Ms Giron's new dance by the same name was performed July 22nd & 23rd, 2011 at CounterPulse. I even joked, beforehand, with some of the folks at CounterPulse that "...with a title like this - I'll be in the front row."

After attending opening night, I went right back Saturday night, like a fly drawn to a warm, deadly flame, because it truly is a dance well executed. And on the second viewing, I was conscious of how technical this dance is which is rare for me to think about during the actual performance.

The main component of this dance - relationships in marriage are hard work, for many reasons. And the main ingredient of that component - Ms Giron bleeds that hard work into and throughout all aspects of sex,love,money.

The solos, duets and ensembles consist mostly of slow, long drawn out contemporary steps with some ballet gestures mixed all about. At times the stretching out of the legs, with bandaged feet and pointed toes, seem like a hard grind. And really, all their movements, even their arms dancing in the air, circling their heads and faces, feel like difficult tasks, rather than dance.

And what's with the white medical tape around the balls of Jackie's feet and one other dancer? In dance performance this is distracting. In this dance, it is not. The white hospital tape is further evidence just how hard Jackie is working, struggling with her relationship, her dance.

In dance, women's hair styles are almost always beautiful and feminine. In sex,love,money, forget it. Our dancers hair is ratted out and forms what looks like a helmet. A stark look that makes us think their prime years are long gone; a heavy toll has been taken and plenty more is coming.

The women's outfits are simple: shiny gold colored blouses with ruffles down the front and back. For leggings, just muted gold sparkling panties. Jackie says the outfits were designed to be androgynous, since she and the other two women dance both male and female parts. To me they look like uniforms of cocktail waitresses working at a casino that's going out of business. Even the edges, where the sleeves have been hacked off, are jagged and frayed. Our waitresses/dancers are not getting any help even with the up-keep of their outfits. Nothing is coming easy for them.

One of my favorite pieces of choreography actually harkens back to military steps. Vivian is slowly walking from the front of the stage to the rear. Her hands down at her side and face looking straight ahead. Ildiko, keeping the exact same slow pace with Vivian, is walking side step, with her face pressed up near Vivian's right ear. With a stern look on her face, Ildiko is saying things to her partner as they move away from us. We can't hear what she is saying, but they have the look of words that are steeped in meanness. Once the two reach the back of the stage, they reverse roles and Vivian now walks side step, lips pressed near Ildiko's right ear and she now whispers the spiteful words.

These are the exact same steps, same tactic, used along with words, against new military recruits by drill sargents in basic training. Only in the military, the combination of steps and words are used to embarrass the recruit, while here in this dance-relationship the same steps and words are used to hurt the partner. Taking life's moments and small actions - turning them into art - only to have them look real again.


Even the hugs are demanding and desperate, as shown above, in sex,love,money. No, it's not the dancer greeting hugs that we all know in the local dance community. This is a dance move, demanding, "...hold me up while hugging me!" And Jackie, on the receiving end, is struggling with the task of keeping her partner afloat.

Below is a short video of an excerpt of Ildiko's solo in sex,love,money (video was recorded from an earlier performance by Ildiko). Her solo is a raw piece of dancing, filled with mixed feelings that are part passion, part pain. Partners come in and out for brief moments, but it's still a solo. In the end, she is on her own in this dancing relationship.

Aren't we all?



POSTSCRIPT 1

My favorite photo from sex,love,money is the one at the top of this blessay, with Jackie Goneconti. I love it. And I love the fact it's in red, blood red. Another symbol of somethings gone wrong. Jackie looks like she's at a campfire, staring into the fire with a far off look. It's an implied look that she is thinking about her relationship, her marriage and all the struggles and disappointments that have beaten her down. Wondering if perhaps the flames will tell her - where did it go wrong and where does it go from here. This could easily be a scene from a military campfire with a soldier walking by in the background. Suggesting that sometimes, marriage can be a battleground.

But whatever Jackie sees in those flames, she is looking at it with only one eye. The other one is covered. And it doesn't even matter. It's really too late...

_____

Mills Dancer attacks Pornography ??

David Lynch's movie "Blue Velvet" opens with a tranquil and beautiful scene. A man is attending to his lawn and flowers, in front of his lovely, white picket fence home. Suddenly, the man falls to the ground, with what looks like a heart attack. Within seconds, insects are rushing up from underneath the beautiful grass and are crawling all over him, even into his ear. They're eating him. No mistake here - underneath the beauty lies horror!

And in a strange way, on my recent visit to that gorgeous campus of Mills College in the Oakland hills, I relived that Lynch scene. The grass and Victorian buildings were there - the surface beauty - but horror resided underneath in a package of dance/theater delivered by 2011 MFA student Ashley Trottier and
her dancers of dismay.

And as Mr Lynch misleads us right away with his cheerful title, Ms Trottier does the same with her title, Good Morning. From the very first musical notes and steps, there is no good morning - nothing even remotely close to it. She instead leads us down a path that is both disturbing and wonderful at the same time. And although later she explained to me that Good Morning is her attempt to "...try to understand my relationship to pornography as a woman/participant in society in 2011..." I somehow feel it is a direct attack on pornography. Ms Trottier accomplishes this with what is really not so much a dance, as a series of action scenes from a stage play or silent movie that are tied together with dancing.

The opening has young ladies stationary and moving only their arms and hands - gestures framing their faces with movements that are at times a little feminine and yet quite harsh. Their makeup and lipstick are grossly thick - signs of overly exaggerated sexuality. Their eyes completely circled in black powder - making them look more like feral creatures or woman with big black eyes. Their bodies look young, but their faces look old - just as we might see in the porn industry.

Even their costumes are a little off kilter. Although meant to play down their sexuality, they in fact do the opposite. They shape the body and accentuate the female form and look of ancient times - soft tunic in appearance, almost like classy bathing suits. I can imagine Helen of Troy wearing this costume. The color is of dark gray/silver, two colors which often look very attractive on women. Only the long, red stripe, up and down the back of the costumes jars the senses. These costumes looked perfect and help contribute to the feeling that something is amiss here.

The opening starts off with the first of many disturbing scenes with workers, men and women, neatly dressed in black and who look like banquet caterers, or bouncers, moving about the stage. These caterers pick up our dancers, from behind, in bear hug like grips around the dancers thighs and carry and deposit the dancers to new spots on the stage - all the while the dancers continue their modified form of dancing with their arms. As if we're seeing dancers moved about as statues - as things.

During another uncomfortable scene we see the dancers form a backwards triangle ensemble. The dancers are crouched low to the floor, knees and thighs bent, staring straight ahead, while they rock and sway left to right and back again. They look primitive, yet very strong in their young bodies. Another scene which is not really dance, but instead the women perform a duty, a mind numbing job. At different moments, one of them even falls down, only to get back up and rejoin the ranks of the employed.

The dancers stop swaying and come to attention and then run the back of their hands across their lipstick, completely smearing the red across their faces and wide open mouths. They look ghastly, disturbing and frightening. Only later was it explained to me, by a former Mills Theater graduate, that the smearing of lipstick can sometimes signify rape. Here it has that very look and feel.

In another scene we see the dancers all bunched together running backwards at half speed, with outstretched forward pointed arms and mouths wide open, with looks of both glee and horror on their faces. It's another silent movie image. Why aren't they going forward? Perhaps their actions, their very lives are taking them backwards. They're pleading for help!

The end is a "beauty pageant" run amok. All the dancers, while surrounding a lone female-winner, are spitting/spraying water all over her and slowly walking away. One of the caterers returns with a bouquet of flowers, handing them to her. While sopping wet and dripping, the winner stands, smiles and accepts her award, giving off a warped image of a new home coming queen or a ballerina on stage after completing her performance. Perhaps even a Miss America accepting her newly won crown. An ending that's funny and disturbing.

Good Morning, encased with it's tension filled, movie-like music, is one of the best dance/theater pieces I've seen in a long time. Some of its scene enactments capture the horror of it's subject matter more visually and artistically than most movie makers would dare hope to accomplish.

So with Ms Trottier, it may not be such a good morning after all.




POSTSCRIPT I:
I've seen dance choreographers incorporate David Lynch type scenes within their dances, but never as a whole dance, like Good Morning. Ms Trottier's dance, like movies such as Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Sunset Blvd, is a reminder that we live in California, but under all its beauty, there lives a disturbing underbelly.

POSTSCRIPT II:
I spoke with Ms Trottier at Mills College after the MFA show as I wanted to clarify one aspect of the piece with her. "Why more theater action than dance?" Her answer brought a smile inside me as it was the most perfect one. (Paraphrase) "I start out intending to choreograph dance movements, Jim. But thru the process I end up with this. And I have to be true to what's inside me."

POSTSCRIPT III:
At Mills, I kept Ms Trottier a little too long in conversation. She shooed me off with the wave of her hands and the words, "I have to get back stage Jim. Now go write!" At that moment, for me, things felt reversed again. I felt like a student being scuttled away by the teacher. Except the student was much older and the teacher very young !

...