Dancing in the Dark
I've been meaning to write about this experience, but work work work -- which I am eternally grateful for Universe! Thank you for the work!
A couple of weeks ago I was part of the Salta Dance Event in Oakland through an online request for dancers. Laura Larry Arrington sent out a call for dancers, and I heard about it through my UC Berkeley professor Amara Tabor-Smith. I volunteered to dance in the dark. My experience: the score was participatory. The dancers were scattered in the room with audience members. After a few instructions which consisted of having a tantrum (yelling at the top of our lungs!), moving in space, and closing our eyes it was time to do the final score. We dancers put our shirt over our heads as audience members settled on the ground with their eyes closed. Larry then instructed the audience to open their eyes, and after a second of them seeing us with our heads covered she switched off the lights. It took a good fifteen seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but there I was was with the others. We moved and carved through space with our upper body. My guide was the air pushed against me by the gestures of other movers. Distance was measured by our breathes. I did nothing too large for fear that I might hit someone below. But below! Oh below! Below me they slowly appeared. My eyes adjusted to the night black color and I saw them. Their eyes shinning from below. Their bellies rising from breathing in the dark, from their tantrum-yelling, from the proximity of having someone jerk and swerve above them---the sea of bellies rising up and dropping down like waves. I told Larry later in an email, It felt like dancing on water. I will forever be grateful for the experience. Thank you Laura Arrington. To learn more about Larry's work check out the link below! Also please check out Salta and Amara's site. I am surrounded by amazing art, and I want to share it with you.
Larry Arrington: http://lauraarringtondance.com
Salta: http://www.saltadance.info
Amara Tabor-Smith & Deep Waters Dance Theater: http://www.deepwatersdance.com
A couple of weeks ago I was part of the Salta Dance Event in Oakland through an online request for dancers. Laura Larry Arrington sent out a call for dancers, and I heard about it through my UC Berkeley professor Amara Tabor-Smith. I volunteered to dance in the dark. My experience: the score was participatory. The dancers were scattered in the room with audience members. After a few instructions which consisted of having a tantrum (yelling at the top of our lungs!), moving in space, and closing our eyes it was time to do the final score. We dancers put our shirt over our heads as audience members settled on the ground with their eyes closed. Larry then instructed the audience to open their eyes, and after a second of them seeing us with our heads covered she switched off the lights. It took a good fifteen seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but there I was was with the others. We moved and carved through space with our upper body. My guide was the air pushed against me by the gestures of other movers. Distance was measured by our breathes. I did nothing too large for fear that I might hit someone below. But below! Oh below! Below me they slowly appeared. My eyes adjusted to the night black color and I saw them. Their eyes shinning from below. Their bellies rising from breathing in the dark, from their tantrum-yelling, from the proximity of having someone jerk and swerve above them---the sea of bellies rising up and dropping down like waves. I told Larry later in an email, It felt like dancing on water. I will forever be grateful for the experience. Thank you Laura Arrington. To learn more about Larry's work check out the link below! Also please check out Salta and Amara's site. I am surrounded by amazing art, and I want to share it with you.
Larry Arrington: http://lauraarringtondance.com
Salta: http://www.saltadance.info
Amara Tabor-Smith & Deep Waters Dance Theater: http://www.deepwatersdance.com
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