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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