Loess, performances 2+3

Emily Stone (and Sheri Cohen)

First full performance weekend: installed a cliff and a grove of hanging trees/roots in the main gallery, our first ensemble of wet felters performed (more on them soon) and the local cast was joined by the devastating Emily Stone from Portland. This description of her sounds over-the-top, but it isn’t. Emily is a dancer who inhabits and reveals physical experience like no one else. Fully, exuberantly, without caution or artifice. Like watching a bird plunge out of the sky. Or a storm roll in. Like putting your head in a mountain river. Breathtaking and devastating.

These environments I’m building in Loess are designed to frame the actions of specific bodies, specific Iris Dance material. The cliff arose directly from imagery in Emily’s choreography, as well as from my desire to try to sew a loess and basalt cliff (more on that soon too). It was magical to see her enter, make this environment complete and alive.

A friend in the audience with awful childhood dance team experience was riveted by Emily. He said “she makes me want to dance again - if that’s what dancing can be.” That’s how she makes me feel every time.

Music in the video above, and for all performances, by Jason E. Anderson, videography by Eliseo Ortiz.

Emily Stone, Hannah Turner, Deena Goodgold, the wet felt ensemble and Corrie Befort. Photos: Jonah Radeke and C. Rod Bacon

Emily and I met dancing for the brilliant Seattle dancer/choreographer and Feldenkrais practitioner Sheri Cohen. Sheri fully meets my gushy descriptor too. Over several years she led a group of us through revelatory sequences of exacting movement scores that resulted in beautifully imagistic performance pieces. Her thinking and work inspires mine over and over.

Sheri also came east to see these two Loess performances! Over the weekend she reminded me and the cast that “the movement call “transform” is mostly about noticing and listening to what is already happening.”