Beginning to build a kit for outdoor dance classes through Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA From Blog Director Jill Randall: From 2014-2016, I was in graduate school in the Saint Mary’s College low res MFA Program. I loved my time in the program, and Linda Baumgardner’s Stage Management class... Continue reading

From Blog Director Jill Randall: In light of many college departments teaching distance courses or online courses in Fall 2020, I created a third journal option to use in a technique course this coming semester. Thank you to colleagues Adriane Fang (University of Maryland) and Nina Haft (Cal State East... Continue reading

Today's post shares perspectives from 6 members of the Dancing Around Race cohort in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please find each artist's bio at the end of the piece. Sammay Dizon. Photo by Scott Tsuchitani. If we know better, we do better By Bhumi B. Patel The Dancing Around... Continue reading

Photo: Lorelei Ghanizadeh Voorsanger Hometown: Born in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois. Raised in metro Boston. Family from NYC. Current city: Greenbrae, CA Age: 68 College and degree: B.A. Independent Learning in Psycholinguistics — Speech Perception and Language Acquisition (Indiana University, Bloomington) Graduate school and degree: M.A. Dance (University of Oregon, Eugene); M.A.... Continue reading

Photo: Matt Haber Hometown: Cleveland, OH/San Jose, CA Current city: San Francisco Age: 40ish College and degree: BFA in dance performance from SUNY Purchase Graduate school and degree: MFA in dramatic art (directing concentration) from UC Davis Website: pushdance.org How you pay the bills: Artistic Director of PUSH Dance Company... Continue reading

Hometown: Paterson, New Jersey Current city: Oakland, California Age: 29 College and degree: William Paterson University of New Jersey; B.A in Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Public Relations How you pay the bills: Arts administrator by day, writer and choreographer by night All of the dance hats... Continue reading

During the past 3 weeks, dancers throughout the country have been reading How to Land: Finding Ground in an Unstable World by Ann Cooper Albright. Please follow the Comments thread here, and please consider getting the book and diving in anytime! For today, we were aiming to read Chapter 4... Continue reading

GUSHing Stories, Joe Goode Performance Group’s Virtual Platform Experience By Garth Grimball Imagine a platform. What do you do on it? What is your body doing? Does it feel spacious? Or is it contained? Imagine a virtual platform. What do you do on it? What is your body doing? Does... Continue reading

During the past 2 weeks, dancers throughout the country have been reading How to Land: Finding Ground in an Unstable World by Ann Cooper Albright. Please follow the Comments thread here, and please consider getting the book and diving in next week as well! For today, we read Chapter 2... Continue reading

Jae Neal. Photo: Aeric Meredith-Goujon. Read Jae's Shelter-in-Place Dance Dictionary here. From Blog Director Jill Randall: It's been another long month in shelter-in-place. I hope that you and your family are safe and healthy. My heart is so heavy processing all of the recent racial injustices in our country. Thank... Continue reading

During the past week, dancers throughout the country began reading How to Land: Finding Ground in an Unstable World by Ann Cooper Albright. Please follow the Comments thread here, and please consider getting the book and diving in next week as well! For today, we read the Introduction and the... Continue reading

Photo: Liv Schaffer Hometown: Algonquin, IL (Northwest suburbs of Chicago) Current city: Oakland, CA Age: 29 College and degree: Bachelors of Fine Arts from Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California How you pay the bills: Adjunct and administrative positions with University of San Francisco and... Continue reading

Photo by Makayla Ferrick Self space: The generalized physical space that I take for granted, which is near enough to me to be mistaken for me or mine. Self space is not a term of occupation, but imagination and spirit. Where do I end? How much do I encompass/encompasses me?... Continue reading

I have wanted to read this book for a few months, and I thought that now is the time! Can you join me? We will do a few weeks of an online check-in through my blog, and then the final session might be a Zoom call to talk about the... Continue reading

Photo: Aeric Meredith-Goujon Improvisation - my life in general at the moment. Every move I make from waking up to falling asleep is a study in improvisation. How I use my desires and goals to get me through the day. All I’ve got is time and not many people, places,... Continue reading

Shelter-in-Place Dance Dictionary By Raja Feather Kelly I will preface by saying, as an artist I am not changed. Though my circumstances have, my integrity tells me I am ready, prepared, and willing to move myself through this time. These definitions are representative of my understanding. Level Changes - a... Continue reading

Shelter-in-Place Dance Dictionary by Colleen Thomas Day #49 Self-space / self spās / noun 1. the area drawn (mentally - like a force field) in a 6 foot radius around one’s body. Penetrable by young children. Teenage children sometimes need to soften before entering self-space. Husband mostly allowed if in... Continue reading

Photo: Noah Lewis Shelter-in-Place Dance Dictionary as Biography as Bibliography…. By Christy Funsch Self-space: “You are changing space. The space has never been changed quite like this before.” Deborah Hay Spatial awareness: Zaha Hadid; “Architecture is how the person places herself in the space. Fashion is about how you place... Continue reading

Movement Poem #52 A poem for May 5, 2020 by Jill Randall commitment will willing throughlines curiosities scanning the space committed to myself to this practice to another day to moving to exhaling to playing and making and diving and loving ------- Hello! Today is the last poem for this... Continue reading

Redefining Solo By Sima Belmar What: From One to Many: Six Solos Shared An online performance premiere and artist Q&A featuring six commissioned choreographers presenting brand new solos made in their homes for this time of physical distancing to the music of composer Michael Wall. Who: Works by Melecio Estrella,... Continue reading

Remembering Kites A Movement Poem for May 4, 2020 by Jill Randall all @ once fluttering suspending balancing upward seeking equilibrium agile present, and nodding it is okay, when it is time to return ------ Hello! Today's music selection is "Rainy Day" by Michael Wall, which is 8th on this... Continue reading

New Directions A Movement Poem for May 3, 2020 by Jill Randall outward upward skyward far reaching extending expanding exhaling fulfilling completing ------ Hello! Today I want to reference another project of mine, "365 Dance." From August 2014 to August 2015, I wrote down one word or phrase every day... Continue reading

In Fall 2017, Life as a Modern Dancer launched a new concept for post-performance discussion and writing. The goals are multi-fold: What are new ways to invite post-performance writing (since so few publications now print dance reviews, and there are fewer and fewer dance critics in the United States)? How... Continue reading

Imagery/Ideas A Movement Poem for May 2, 2020 by Jill Randall Zip line Slack line Hopscotch Four square What are the essential movements here? And pathways? And tempos? The tilt of the head The focus required The placement of feet Let's play! -------- Hello! Today's music selection is "3 185"... Continue reading

an entrance, moving backwards a movement poem for May 1, 2020 by Jill Randall back body back space back of the heart moving backwards is so hard vulnerability trust softening, soles of feet softening, chest, front of the heart, throat, face retreating? rewinding? reversing? no, just a different perspective and... Continue reading