BIO/DANCE & Social Justice

[biodance-blog]

W Michelle Harris caught these screenshots of dress rehearsal tonight. I am proud of this show, and honored to be working with each and every one of the artists working on it. Only two shows, tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday. Please come! If you saw in last fall, it’s even better now. If you haven’t, it’s really a special show. Lyric Theatre, 8pm. Tix at door or online. https://lyrictheatrerochester.org/performances-listing/2019/aria-biodance https://www.instagram.com/p/BxgjCZRBIBn7oguQ3RZKX3kVzBnUCCSZTfze980/?igshid=ym22umk1uisp

[biodance-blog]

8 days away! #rocfringe18 #lyrictheatre https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnel5c6jRIh8RpAd7JzmSuM8SqjKYcKHcTnX8I0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11z6jvgrhcty

[biodance-blog]

Aria is coming to #rocfringe18 ! If you remember Anomaly and Labyrinth at the Planetarium, you should not miss this occupation of the #LyricTheatre https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/aria https://www.instagram.com/p/BnTu-lPjDolirNh5nLXnjw4Hrs4_oqpIo3SlCg0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1vypr3nusj9n3

[biodance-blog]

“Aria” premieres in #rocfringe18 9/16-17 at #lyrictheatrerochester Brought to you by @biodance1 and W. M. Harris, the team that brought you the sold out runs of Anomaly & Labyrinth!

[biodance-blog]

“Aria” at #rocfringe18 Join BIODANCE and W. Michelle Harris with guest artists Kearstin Piper Brown (yes, for real!) and fivebyfive at #lyrictheater 9/16 and 9/17 at 8pm. https://rochesterfringe.com/tickets-and-shows/aria

[biodance-blog]

This is what democracy looks like. #4

[biodance-blog]

This is what democracy looks like. #3

[biodance-blog]

This is what democracy looks like. #2

[biodance-blog]

This is what democracy looks like. 

[biodance-blog]

This is what democracy looks like.

I woke up this morning remembering a day back in November when the leaves on the trees in my neighborhood were brilliant in color.  One single tree somehow had leaves in all different shades of browns, reds, yellows, greens, oranges, all at the same time, all dancing with each other and with the wind. It was an overwhelming sight. That night, an unexpected and violent storm swept through, with howling winds that woke me from my sleep and shook me to my core. When my neighbors and I woke up the next morning, all the leaves were gone, in one fell swoop.  No one was expecting such a sudden, drastic change - no more color, no more harmony, but instead bleak empty branches, and even some of the branches had crashed to the ground.

   On January 21, 2017, my husband and two kids and I drove 7 hours down to DC for the Women's March.  Having not been to a protest on a national level, and knowing that it was taking place less than 24 hours after the inauguration, I admit I was a little nervous about having the kids in tow - there is so much we cannot seem to anticipate at this moment in history. We arrived in DC Friday afternoon, leaving our car in MD and hopping on a Metro for the last leg.  As we were purchasing our Metro tickets, a helpful African-American Metro officer helped us navigate the round trip costs to our stop. We had in tow our bags and bulky homemade signs for the march. When we finished our purchase, the officer offered us a Donald Trump button to celebrate the inauguration.  We politely declined and my husband shared his poster with a smile. The officer laughed and acknowledged we probably weren't interested in his wares and we left that friendly exchange chuckling and thanking him for his help. It was a brief but poignant exchange.  We hadn't adorned our pink and purple pussy hats yet, made by a friend who had made dozens to give away.

  The next morning we started out early, around 7:30am, and headed out on foot for about three miles towards the march.  Now we had our choice of pussy hats because we had received hand knit hats upon our arrival in DC from the mother of my brother's girlfriend, an immigrant from Peru, whom we have never met.  I knew that if I were going to have my daughter, 13, and son, 11, wear these hats, they needed to know what they stood for. So I carefully explained, without really knowing if I should be doing it, that the man who is now our president made some rude comments about women, calling us “pussies,” which was a derogatory and disrespectful name, and that this was a way to claim the name and therefore take away its power.  Education comes in many forms, and there were many more lessons coming that day for us all. There were people of all ages accumulating on the sidewalks during this three mile approach, and as we got close and the crowds thickened considerably, we passed by a white family with two small children, walking in the opposite direction, wearing inauguration pins, and looking at us uncomfortably. What a confusing world this must be for our children.

   We ended up on a block displaying a screen showing the speakers and singers there at the start of the march, voices booming and bouncing off the concrete and crowds. We quickly and somewhat suddenly become stuck in an immovable mass of thousands who were chanting and excited, and my daughter started to become anxious about the number of people, and lack of freedom in the tight spaces that remained to maneuver. The lack of freedom to move through the tight spaces that remained on Jan. 21, and still today. The people around us were not frightening in any way - in fact people were smiling, and polite and forgiving - but still overwhelming in number. To our left was a tall concrete wall, about 7 feet high, that people were starting to climb to get a better view.  I thought if got Ella over to the wall, and over to the other side, it would be less dense and she would be fine. We made our way over and I was helped up the wall first, putting my muddy shoe into the hands of a stranger (a black man) who was helping person after person get up on that wall. His hands were dirty from the task and all shapes and sizes of people were accepting his help and he just kept lending a hand. Just as I got up - the top of the wall was about six feet wide - two police officers had also made their way over to the wall and started asking people to get down. They calmly explained that they didn't want anyone to get hurt because there was no way for an emergency vehicle to get into the crowd, and that they didn't want to have to make any arrests today. It wasn't an issue of us moving to the other side of the wall, but just that they didn't want anyone falling off and getting injured. But meanwhile, I could see Ella's color draining and knew we needed to get her to the other side for air.  Here we were faced with this little decision in front of the kids, listen to authority and follow the rules, or do what we know to be the right thing given the situation. So I told them to move down the wall away from the officers and to climb up in another location with the tens of others who were still climbing. So they did, and we made it to the other side, just slightly muddy now, but with more space to navigate and rest for a moment.  

   The amazing signs people had created to speak to so so many concerns, fears and causes struck me. There were pictorial uteri with fallopian tube ends with a middle finger extended, and all sorts of textured, orange vagina-like/Trump-like images. There were photos and drawings of Muslim women, rainbows, peace signs and the earth. Signs said "Black Lives Still Matter" and "Resist" and "Love is Love" and "F#*% Pence Too" and "Diversity, Equality, Unity" and "We See Your Tiny Hands" and "Denial is Deadly" and "I wish grandmas ran the world" and "Proud Pakistani Pussy."  So so many. The chants emerged from so many of the issues - "This is What Democracy Looks Like," "Hey Hey, Ho, Ho, Donald Trump Has Got to Go," "Trans Rights are Human Rights," "What do we want? Democracy! When do we want it? Now!" "Fired Up! Ready to Go!" And everyone there was supporting everyone else there, no matter what. Despite the long, exhausting day of cramped quarters, people were kind, and still smiling. I couldn't help but notice the trash cans overflowing, but no sign of trash strewn about the ground. The respect for one another, for the earth, for the space, and for differences was profound. And when there were counter-protesters, there were shouts of of Love Trumps Hate and happy cheers, which diffused any anger. When the crowds became so large that the planned route for the expected 500,000 was found to be inadequate, we had to be diverted.  But how does that information get out? There was cooperation like none I've ever seen, and the spontaneous improvisation created an organized piece of choreography to move the crowd to where it needed to divert. A woman up in a tree had a better view so the crowds started to repeatedly chant, "You in the tree, what do you see?" and that spread through the crowd so she could point us in the right direction. There was a group on the roof of a van they had parked who started to share "To the mall and take a left, to the mall and take a left..." and that too, spread like wildfire audibly through the crowd until the movement started to shift and redirect. Where there is a will and where people work together, there is a way.

   The bottlenecks where the parallel marches finally came together took hours, but we finally made it to the White House lawn around 4pm. The kids were well spent, so we strolled past the signs being posted on the fences, left as a memorial for this moment in history, and moved along with parts of the crowd who were starting to disperse en masse. As we approached the Red Cross building to start heading north around the west side of the White House, the presidential motorcade started to pass by. No joke. You can imagine the heightened chants and renewed vigor it stirred, and for the second time that day, tears welled in my eyes. Though he would later deny it, he saw us, and heard us. It was an intense moment. A woman nearby was urging her friend to leave, afraid of this upward shift, but we joined in the chants, stayed behind the barricades and let our voices be heard. Once it past, we started to head home - my brother was letting us invade his studio apartment for the weekend. But there were so many of us, and the spill from the sidewalks to the streets was simply a necessity. But no one had a permit, nor were the roads closed now that we were off the march route. This meant police in riot gear and large white vans and police cars started rolling in. But again, there was no belligerence, just walking, cheering, chanting. A car stopped in the scene started beeping his horn to the rhythms of our chants. We stuck to the sidewalk and made our way home, stopping finally a couple miles away to grab some food.

I read later that not one arrest was made that day. I also read and watched many downplayed reports on the news, that shared a much smaller number of protesters than I witnessed that day, that did not capture the fervor and the positive experience we all shared. I did see that there were protests all over the world though, in tiny towns in America, in villages in Africa, in cities in Europe and Australia. To know the majority are people who understand the difference between right and wrong, and that love and respect is what is needed in this world, brought me hope. I was conflicted still that day however, and today, feeling buoyed but also facing the realities of each new blow to humanity and to the progress we have made. But I know that spring is coming, and that those buds are already beginning to emerge despite the bitter cold winter, and that the leaves will bloom again in all its vibrant color, even on one single branch, and even on many branches of the same tree. We simply need to keep working to understand how to live together on our one and only tree, with ancient roots, and by respecting differing opinions and different needs, even those we cannot begin to understand just yet, we can learn to trust and love and listen and share, and create a world in which we all can sustain and reside and thrive.  We have to keep respectfully speaking up, all of us, dissenting with one another or not. We also have to keep making art and music, and keep dancing together and finding the joys that make us realize we are all human. What an honor it was to walk among strangers, friends and even counter-protesters, alongside my children and my husband, wearing hats made by both a friend from my neighborhood and by an immigrant I have never met, but who shared generosity of heart and a spirit of unity that I believe in.

[biodance-blog]

What is BIO/DANCE & Social Justice?

In 2002, Missy Pfohl Smith, who is also the Director of the Program of Dance and Movement at University of Rochester, founded the contemporary modern dance company BIODANCE in NYC, and in 2004, relocated the company to Rochester, NY, where it is currently based and thriving.  BIODANCE is a non-profit that collaborates with multi-disciplinary artists and performs repertory by a roster of recognized choreographers including Missy Pfohl Smith, Heidi Latsky, Bill Evans, D. Chase Angier, Randy James, Ivy Baldwin, Jeanne Schickler Compisi, Courtney World, Kelly Johnson, Donna Davenport and more. Through the creation of dance works and community based classes, workshops and discussions, BIODANCE often explores human interaction with social, political and environmental issues through collaboration with multi-disciplinary artists and dancers.  At the beginning of 2015, BIODANCE started a BIO/DANCE & Social Justice Project that continues to evolve today.  

Photo by Ralph A. Thompson

In 2015, BIODANCE created a new work and curated a series of community showings with discussion called BIO/DANCE and Social Justice, providing a forum for dance/collaborative artists to share socially conscious artwork. The series took place at various venues including Community Place of Greater Rochester, where BIODANCE also provided 18 workshops as well as a public performance opportunity for participants from the Senior Center.  Selected work from the series also manifested in a show for the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival.

Photo by Nadine Sherman

Interdisciplinary artists with cross sections in dance were invited to submit their own work or to propose a work to be created for the performers of BIODANCE via Open Call.  Curated by BIODANCE members, the series then provided a forum for 36 artists and performers including Missy Pfohl Smith, Artistic Director of BIODANCE, to create, develop and share their work. The choreographers, a composer, a poet, and a sculptor who participated in the series included Allen C. Topolski, Joe Mangano, Missy Pfohl Smith, Donna Davenport, Kelly Johnson, Marcia Vanderlee, Jessica Moore, Kathleen Dalton, Karah Charette, Kelly Ferris Lester, Khalid Saleem, and Lev Earle.  Performers included Missy Pfohl Smith, Stuart Tsubota, Jeanne Schickler Compisi, Alaina Olivieri, Sarah Johnson, Lev Earle, Julie Schlafer Rossette, Laura Regna, Maureen Gorman, Sarah Canny, Becky Geisinger, Rachel Vinciguerra, Sonja Petermann, Kathleen Dalton, Marcia Vanderlee, Jenny Graham, Marissa Abbott, Lauren Sava, Olga Nikolayeva, Karah Charette, Phil Vanderlee, Ashley Owen, Tina Green, Isaiah Harris, Khalid Saleem, Kara Mann, Wayne Cleveland, Ashley De Los Santos, Donna Davenport, Elizabeth Strano, Kelly Johnson, Kaitley Wozer.

“Rickety-Rickshaw-See-Saw” by Allen C. Topolski

BIODANCE provided 6 free community performances and four ticketed shows with the theme of Dance & Social Justice, where dance and collaborative artists made their socially conscious artwork accessible to a diverse audience.  Feedback and open discussion were welcome as part of the ongoing creative process.  The discussions focused on the work itself and on the issues being investigated in the work such as LGBTQ homelessness, racial tension, police brutality, inequities of space, celebration of difference and caveats about indifference.  In the particularly violent and tense times we live in today, bringing dance and discussion to communities who may not normally have free access was a significant goal that was achieved in this project.  

Venues included:

1) Community Place of Greater Rochester gymnasium, 145 Parsells Ave., Rochester, NY, June 14, 2015, 12noon – Audience 38

2) Monroe Community Hospital Auditorium, 435 E. Henrietta Rd. Rochester, NY, May 29, 2015, 10:30am – Audience 168, plus the show was shown live on the televisions of all 800 rooms in the hospital.

3) Kinections dance therapy studio, 718 University Ave. Rochester, NY, Sept. 11, 2015, 7pm  -Audience 26

Photo by Jeffrey Mehr

4) University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees Library, Oct. 16, 2015, 12noon, Audience 128

5) Nu Movement Gallery, University Ave, Rochester, NY, May 2, 2015, Audience 68

6) Gallery Seventy Four, 215 Tremont, Rochester, NY, Nov. 6, 2015, 7pm, Audience 43

7) BIODANCE also provided 4 public, ticketed shows during the First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival at Geva Theatre’s Fielding Stage in September 2015. Audience 432

8) UR Diversity Conference, Memorial Art Gallery, Nov. 13, 2015 Audience 54

BIODANCE also vastly expanded its community connection to the Senior Center at Community Place by not only hosting one of the shows in the series at their facility at 145 Parsells Ave. for approximately 40 audience members, but also by providing a series of 18 free dance/movement workshops and a performance opportunity for the urban elders in a site-specific performance in December.  Approximately 30 seniors participated in the dance/movement workshops taught by Missy Pfohl Smith, and 4 participated in rehearsals and two public performances in a work in which they shared personal stories and the wisdom of their years. This performance took place as part of a show called Compartmented on Dec. 4 and 5, 2015 in the Sunday School Space at Rochester Lyric Theatre.  Documentation can be found at www.thesundayschool.space.  Compartmented was co-curated by Missy Pfohl Smith and Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge as a multi-disciplinary arts happening, and was extremely successful as well.  It was an exciting opportunity for those who chose to participate as it was framed as a work that pointed out how ignored our elders sometimes are in our culture. BIODANCE’s two works in Compartmented, and the Community Place seniors’ participation definitely was a development of the Social Justice project.  

“Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.” (Job 12:12) With gratitude to the performers Lisa Bradley, Danielle Fraenkel, Gligsobel Rivera & Mercedes Valladares. BIODANCE performers include Jeanne Schickler Compisi, Lev Earle, Maureen Gorman, Laura Regna, Julie Schlafer Rossette, Missy Pfohl Smith, Stuart Tsubota & Kaitley Wozer. Photo by Missy Pfohl Smith.

The free dance/movement workshop series for underserved community members at The Senior Center was geared for men and women over 55 years of age with varying degrees of mobility. These workshops were offered free of charge to Community Place’s diverse urban constituents, most of whom are underserved senior citizens who have a low socio-economic status, making it totally accessible and convenient for all participants. 

Our objective in 2015 for this truly community-based series was to reach a minimum of 420 audience members.  This was far surpassed in 2015, reaching 903 people directly, and hundreds of others indirectly through Compartmented and through the live TV stream at Monroe Community Hospital. 

Feedback and discussion with community members from the free performance series served to provide an important outside perspective to the creative process, contributing to the clarity of intention of the artists’ work.  But it also led to education and insight for many of us as artists and for many of the audience members, who shared stories generously of family members as slaves, or who asked questions to try to understand the complex gender identity issues that many face more openly today than ever before.  The discussions were rich and varied, and felt meaningful in terms of fostering understanding of both the artistic process and also of one another and our differences, and similarities.  

Photo of “In/Difference” choreographed by Missy Pfohl Smith and BIODANCE by Ralph A. Thompson

BIO/DANCE & Social Justice was a series that was born out of Smith’s own mix of horror, frustration, indifference and concern for the staggering injustices that seem rampant in our community, our country and our world at large. Though this collection of heart-born work from a group of generous individuals that Smith admires and who share concerns about the state of the relationships, misunderstandings and injustices that we all own, we shared some darkness and some light in hopes for a better tomorrow with more understanding. Inspiration and hope for the world came out of this work, from working together with the people of BIO/DANCE & Social Justice in the city of Rochester through our free community performance and class series with elders at Community Place of Greater Rochester, with residents of Monroe Community Hospital, with the people who joined us at Kinections, and in all the other community venues where we share this work.  It has been humbling and meaningful to witness the voices of so many artists who care deeply about humanity, about equality and about liberty for all beings, some of whom BIODANCE met through our open artist call for this series.  

Photo of Lev Earle’s “[drowning]” by Ralph A. Thompson

BIODANCE wishes to thank the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo, administered by Livingston Arts, a member supported organization, and to its many individual donors for making this work possible in both 2015 and 2016 – this dance and movement for justice and peace. We look forward to developing this work and fostering discussion in various communities, adding a new community partner in summer 2016, the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolent Communication.