Storm: Dances of Peace, Justice, Culture, and Conflict

On Friday, April 5, 2019 at 8 PM at the Dancenter, 810 Bay Ave, Capitola, see the performance of Storm, a dance concert on a current “perfect storm” of political themes: peace, justice, culture, conflict and environment, with a special focus on the Middle East, accompanied by lively folk dances and engaging multimedia. Choreography is by Karl Schaffer. This is a studio performance, and seating is very limited, PLEASE buy tickets online in advance at BrownPaperTickets.

Mosaic will be performed at Montalvo Arts Center on Friday, April 12 at 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM. a dance concert by dance company MoveSpeakSpin about peace, justice, culture, and conflict in the Middle East. The title refers to the range of subjects that inspired the choreography, from the Palestinian/Israeli struggle to the mosaic tilings common in Middle Eastern art.

Included in both Storm and Mosaic are several dances set to Jewish Diaspora and Arabic folk songs recorded by Santa Cruz world music group Zambra. The mathematics of Islamic tiling designs will be portrayed through live “video tessellations,” or video mosaics, of dancers.

Dance works in both Storm and Mosaic include:

- “Machine Gun,” a tap dance to the rapid-fire machine gun sounds of a Jimi Hendrix song, about the relentless march of death of contemporary warfare.
- "Prisoner" - a trio about the struggle of a prisoner of conscience.
“Lamuni” – a lively folk dance inspired work set to a Tunisian song performed by Zambra.
- “The Mourning After” – a solo set to Bach depicting the loss of a child in war, performed by Maria Basile, co-director of sjDANCEco.
- “Video Tessellations” – multimedia video mosaics performed live by the dancers.
- "Bombingham" - a solo by Karl Schaffer exploring his growing up Jewish in the Deep South during the civil rights era and his connecting of these experiences to the situation in Palestine and Israel.
- "A Circle Has No Sides" - a duet about the possibilities for people to exist together no matter their differences, set to a piano score by Vi Hart.
- “Closing the Circle” – a joyous closing folk dance, to the song “Erev Shel Shoshanim,” sung by Zambra.

Video excerpts: https://tinyurl.com/MosaicExcerpts2018

Storm includes several new dances in progress on environmental and other themes.

All are welcome to attend and experience the power of dance -- to inspire peacemaking and provoke conversation.

“MOSAIC moved me, inspired me, even saddened me in unexpected ways. Rarely have I seen a performance so human, so provocative and so relevant to our times. Not only were individual performances compelling, but the whole of it spoke to the struggle, the hard and demanding struggle, of Palestinians and Israelis for lasting peace. I’m reminded all over again how essential the arts are—evoking, imagining human engagement; touching something real inside us; inviting new visions and new risks taken for peace, for justice, for our shared humanity. I was blown away by the courage it must have taken to put this together, to imagine it, and to call it out of a gifted group of musicians and dancers. Thank you!!!” - Dave Grishaw-Jones, former Senior Pastor, Peace United Church, Santa Cruz

Karl Schaffer is a dancer, choreographer, and mathematician who co-directs MoveSpeakSpin and the Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble with Erik Stern. The Ensemble has toured internationally for over 30 years and has received five National Endowment for the Arts awards for work linking dance and mathematics. Schaffer's recent concerts include The Daughters of Hypatia, celebrating women mathematicians throughout history; Pitter Pattern, exploring beautiful and enchanting patterns in dance, rhythm, and shape; a mathematical dance show The Pythagorean Trio; a food, dance, and song celebration Choreocopia. He and Stern co-authored the book Math Dance with Scott Kim and are on the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education Teaching Artist roster, teaching professional development workshops on math and dance at major arts venues around the US. Schaffer’s math and dance writing with sarah-marie belcastro was featured in Best Writing on Mathematics 2012, he has a PhD in mathematics, and teaches at De Anza College. He was a Performing Artist in Residence at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History for the year 2014-15 and a Djerassi Resident Artist in their 2015 Scientific Delirium Madness session.

Dancers performing in both concerts are:

Maria Basile, co-artistic director of sjDANCEco, has danced with Limon West, Spector Dance, and many others and teaches social dance at De Anza College. She has choreographed for Cabrillo Music Festival, San Jose Opera, and the Midsummer Mozart Festival, and was a recent Isadora Duncan Award nominee for the best dance performance in the Bay Area.

Mercedes Johnson grew up in Hawaii where she started dancing at a young age and earned her BA in dance at The University of Hawaii at Manoa. Currently she teaches and choreographs at Mount Madonna School, Tannery World Dance Cultural Center, Pacific Arts Complex, and dances with local dance companies.

Jane Real has an MA in Dance and a MS in Elementary Education, has been Rehearsal Direc­tor and performer with Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane and Co. and Director of the Dance Network of Brooklyn, NY, and teaches dance at Starlight Elementary School in Watsonville.

Lila Salhov has a B.F.A. in Dance from Boston Conservatory, has performed as a member of the Windhover Dance Company in Boston and Jessica Danser/dansfolk in New York City, has been on faculty at Ballet Hispanico and the Marymount School in Manhattan, and currently teaches at the Dancenter.

Laurel Shastri served 17 years at Ballet Tennessee in Chattanooga, as Associate Director, company dancer, and faculty. She has an MS in Geology, and is a teaching artist specializing in dance integrated curriculum based lessons, and teaches with the Arts Council Santa Cruz County, Montalvo Arts Center, and Dancenter.

Michelle Voorhees has a B.A. in studio arts, and is currently a 5th grade teacher at Watsonville Charter School of the Arts. She has been dancing for over thirty years and has taught and performed in studios and companies throughout California. As a classroom teacher, she has focused on integrating the arts into academic areas since 2004. Her interest in math and work with the Monterey Bay Area Math Project connected her to the work of Karl Schaffer and MoveSpeakSpin. She is happy to begin her first year with the company.

The concert includes music recorded by

Zambra. Based in Santa Cruz, Zambra sings global vocal music in over 15 languages. Founded in 1994, Zambra was originally a bilingual community women’s choir, but has since evolved into a smaller performing ensemble of ten accomplished singers who mostly perform a capella. Past performances include the Cabrillo Music Festival, First Night Santa Cruz, First Night Monterey, Santa Cruz Acapellafest, and “Harmonious Equations” with NPR “Math Guy” Keith Devlin and Karl Schaffer.

Storm
Date/time: Friday, April 5, 2019 at 8:00 PM.
Location: The Dancenter, 810 Bay Ave., Capitola, CA
Tickets: $10, available at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4104846
NOTE: Seating is limited, to insure a seat PLEASE purchase tickets in advance!

Mosaic
Date/time: Friday, April 12, 2019 at 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM
Location: Montalvo Arts Center, 15400 Montalvo Rd., Saratoga, CA
Tickets: http://montalvoarts.org/events/pass1819_mosaic/
More information: movespeakspin.org

Photos: Steve DiBartolomeo.

Thank you to the Dancenter and its Director Ruth Fisher!

Created in part with a grant from the Arts Council Santa Cruz County.