Dancing Book with bare legs !

If you saw a large, oversize book with bare legs,

would you turn and look?

Would you take a few moments and read it?

A number of us visitors to the Oakland Main Library did do so, on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon, Feb 26th, 2011. That oversize book and those bare legs, belonged to Christine Germain, a choreographer and dancer in the SF/Oakland local dance scene. And like a number of our choreographers, Ms Germain composes many of her dances around social issues.

That afternoon the bare legged book scene was executed right at the very beginning of the dance. A quiet dance beginning that grabs your attention, steals your consciousness and makes you wonder, "...what's going on here." It was the strongest of any quiet/gentle dance openings I've ever seen. Sometimes art is surrounded by silence.

Ms Germain's social issue tied directly into that oversize book: one in four people in Oakland cannot functionally read or write. They cannot read a doctor's bill, nor can they read a statement from the IRS. They cannot go places that reading and writing allows so many of us to travel every day of our lives. That ability to read/write allows us to enrich our lives, to be more fully clothed when facing the world. And those who cannot, are more exposed to an unforgiving world.

Ms Germain's book, her dance, was titled, "Writhing Letters," and it was a dance that began long before that Saturday afternoon in downtown Oakland. Her long, creative process included very successful "work in progress" performances at local Bay Area book stores last year. Those same performances lead to a search of libraries where the final, larger dance piece needed to stretch out and breathe. And like any artistic process, there were road bumps and humorous moments spread out along the way. One city library refused the project because "...it is not part of our mission." (Funny) Still another city library did not want to disturb their visitors. (Road bump) But alas, a public librarian comes thru like a angel doing works of good. Oakland's Main Librarian, Kathleen DiGiovanni, was such an angel. Working closely with Ms Germain, Kathleen allowed the main library, for one afternoon anyway, to become both a dance stage and working library at the same time.

The precision dance itself swept thru the library along the main floor. It began down the long corridor just inside the main entrance right behind the information booth. The dance moved towards the rear of the library and swung around to the north side and on back towards the main entrance. More than half the main floor became a dance stage that afternoon. And on that stage it seemed like there were at least a dozen dancers involved. They danced down the open walkways, thru the stacks of books and around the tables. Everywhere the dancers moved the patrons stirred and shuffled around these moving creatures of dance. The common look on the patrons faces were, "...what the heck is this??" The dancers would pause at certain locations and perform their rituals of dance movements. At one point they were dancing with newspapers and tearing them up at the same time - signifying the experiences of many people who, when newspapers ruled the day, would purchase a paper and go through all the motions of pretending to read. That need to have people see oneself in what looks like the act of reading, was a reminder of our complicated, fragile nature.

One of my favorite movements: the dancers pounded their chests, not with two hands but with one hand only. This was not a "Tarzan" pounding of the chest. It was a strong, muted thump, that said I'm here. I'm a human being and I have pride. There was a feeling of confidence in that gesture by the dancers - enacting it for the people they came to dance about. It was repeated in the dance and it was worth the echo.

The music was not far behind. And our young choreographer had books and a typewriter wheeled along with the dancers as musical instruments - supplying a low keyed music for the dancers. Ms Germain explained that her inspiration for the music came from the "...rhythms found in Gumboot dance, which was created as a way to communicate in the mining grounds of South Africa." Our young choreographer, world traveler, merging the sounds, music of South Africa with the plight of people who, for whatever reason, can not read or write - not even about South Africa or this dance by Christine Germain and Dancers.

In the end, this was a strong quiet dance with a very strong opening. Christine Germain and Dancers did not have the luxury of going all out with noise volume and movements like typical dances. It's a serious subject and Ms Germain hopes to take excerpts from her dance to school children and maybe use their libraries as the dance stages. What a wonderful path that would be for dance and for our children.

Ms Germain can be found on Facebook at: Christine Germain & Dancers. And she has been selected to attend Residency at Dance Ground Keriac, Scott Wells. She will be choreographing on the subject of marriage and immigration. This new performance will take place the weekend of July 15, 2011

Postscript:

Something surprising happened to me with this special library dance. As Ms Germain's journey to her dance began long before it happened, her dance has continued for me long after it ended. Since that Saturday afternoon, I catch myself thinking and reflecting on what life would be like for me or others I know if we could not read or write. My thoughts even wonder back to a fellow military veteran who has no one to talk to at the place where he lives. So he recently told me he writes journals to replace the conversations that never happen. He described in detail his stacks of journals piled high. I can only imagine what it'd be like for him if he could not write or read.

Below is a well executed 3 min video of "Writhing Letters"



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