Per Haaland and Friends present

an evening of experimental dance theater
ANY GESTURE USED / STORY TO TELL and other works

Choreography by:
PER HAALAND, SHARON TOOK-ZOZAYA AND RACHEL VAN DESSEL

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27- MARCH 1, 8pm
The 418 Project, 418 Front Street, Santa Cruz
Admission $12-$15, Students and seniors $10
For tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/800 838 3006
For more information: 831 479-9565

ANY GESTURE USED / STORY TO TELL and other works, an evening of experimental dance theater, features choreography by Per Haaland, Sharon Took-Zozaya and Rachel Van Dessel. Works by these choreographers have been presented locally and internationally and range in tone from fancifully humorous narratives to deeply moving explorations of inner life. This performance will include both able-bodied and disabled dancers in pieces intended to inspire, question and uplift the spirit in these uncertain times. Performances of this show will be held at the 418 Project, 418 Front Street, Santa Cruz, Friday through Sunday February 27 to March 1 at 8pm. In addition to Haaland’s medley ANY GESTURE USED / STORY TO TELL, works to be presented include Took-Zozaya’s “So Light Can Enter” and “Small Portraits II” (in collaboration with dancer Ken Williams); Rachel Van Dessel’s “Tree of Life” and “Forgiveness”; and Haaland’s “With an 800 Number and a Web Site.”

ANY GESTURE USED / STORY TO TELL is a dance theater ‘medley’ of Per Haaland’s choreographies woven together with original music and poetry. Three pieces originally created in the late 1980’s are presented here alongside three new works. A body therapist, dancer and choreographer, Haaland explores the themes of self-inquiry, therapy and healing, simultaneously visiting more shadowy realms of human experience such as apathy and alienation; relationship discord and dis-connectedness. The final two pieces move from the individual to the collective/political as the illusory unlimited monetary gains of the 1980’s are contrasted with the paralyzing, unsettled financial times of today. The fast-paced “boom time” era is over. A certain aggressiveness and drive is gone. Dystopia emerges , a broken, shattered and exhausted place, to be sure, yet with a new promise of sensuality and sensory alive-ness, and a new movement toward human connections, touch and support.

The first half of the show will open with an absurdly comical enactment of Haaland’s song “With an 800 Number and a Web Site”, a movement theatre piece depicting one geek’s odyssey to Europe and beyond, chronicling the dangers that may befall cyber-enthusiasts, and the political and personal ramifications of internet connectedness, terrorist paranoia and the thirst for sex , blood, healing and adventure. This piece is performed by Mike Dion, R.D.Bolam and Per Haaland.

The stories told by choreographer Rachel Van Dessel, in “Tree of Life” and “Forgiveness” whisper to our consciences that our quest can be achieved through healing. In ”Tree of Life”, moving images of clouds, lightning, snow, embracing trees and three dancers, form patterns of age and beauty, light and shadow, oneness and separation. Death is not the end, but an opportunity to let go of illusions, fight, desire, fantasy, and head towards “Forgiveness”, a solo performed by Rachel Van Dessel. The brevity of the dance mirrors the short amount of time we have to loosen our grip and move on.
“So Light Can Enter,” by Sharon Took-Zozaya, Artistic Director of Stamping Zebra Dance Theatre, is a joyful work celebrating the creative potentials realized as dancers with and without physical disabilities meet on common ground. Set to the elegant folk-based music of Sardinian guitarist Marino de Rosas, four physically integrated dancers explore subtle gestures and soaring momentum shaped by the circumstances in which they meet, with and without wheels. Dancers Aaron Spencer, Lupita Vasquez and Donna Von Joo-Tornell join the choreographer for this performance. “Small Portraits II”, a collaboration between Took-Zozaya and dancer Ken Williams, is the second in a series of choreographed and improvised interlocking solos, duets and trios to be performed in restricted spaces on traditional stages and/or in pedestrian areas. To original music by John Malkin and Amy Barnes, the dancers explore hiding and revealing, dancing with the architectural space which surrounds them and the tender, precarious thread of invisible energy which links them to one another.

MORE ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL PIECES and the CHOREOGRAPHERS

PER HAALAND

ANY GESTURE USED / STORY TO TELL begins with the choreo-poem “Unlike Other Bothersome Appendages,” which explores the relationship of the self to the head and its contents. Soloist Per Haaland, inspired by a rebirthing session with his psychotherapist, moves from sensual, self-sensing micro-movement gestures to a kinesthetic awareness of all that surrounds and comforts him.

The next piece, “Healing Song,” a tender women’s trio, is followed by “Welcome.” Here Per Haaland and Lisa Christensen perform a psychological study exposing each character’s fragile interior in a distorted relationship. As his eyes look past her, the wrinkles on his forehead deepen. Moments of listless, self-absorbed detachment are broken by feeble attempts to connect, as the story is told about the timeless unrelenting quest to be acknowledged, understood, and unconditionally loved.

“To the Beat of a Different Drummer” is meticulously rebuilt from its 1988 debut, using the original odd, persistent 11-count (accent on the 5) musical score. The quintet of white-collar workers look down at their wristwatches. Dancers Per Haaland, Carol Fields, Allyson Ramage, Mike Dion, and Rachel Van Dessel precisely execute of a maze of aggressive intersecting movements, as time is running out in this fast-pace, cutthroat, ever-consuming life style. Cabrillo College Reviewer Jana Marcus writes (November 14, 2008)

“.. a heartbeat-like pulse is layered with synthesized sounds, producing a stark, driven, modern big city soundscape, in which the dancers perform an edgy, angular choreography, suggestive of driven-ness, heartlessness, cold ambition, and alienation.”

Juxtaposed with “To the Beat of a Different Drummer” is the premiere of “Dystopian Awakening,” the final work in the first half of the program.” This piece contrasts the linear and literal aesthetic and dance technique of the 80’s with the introspective and released styles of today. With our financial safety net ripped, Dystopia, (not quite Utopia), emerges as the dancers consciously gather together, intermingling to comfort and support each other, ultimately to elevate the collective consciousness.

PER HAALAND earned his BA in Dance/Theater Arts at UCSC in 1986. He has performed his own work internationally and in the greater Bay Area since 1986. He toured Germany with Eva Geueke in 1992-93, and collaborated with the Norwegian experimental theater company Skuespillerkompaniet, presenting work in festivals, outdoor performances and other venues across Norway. Per was a member of Smith Grade Construction Company under the direction of Nita Little,and performed with Plan B, a local improvisational movement theater company. Per’s most recent production was” Dancers Anonymous”, an all-male modern dance musical, which he wrote and choreographed, and which toured in numerous incarnations to Santa Cruz and San Francisco over a two-year period. Per maintains a private practice as a practitioner of Rolfing Structural Integration.

RACHEL VAN DESSEL

Rachel Van Dessel has performed her choreography across the United States, Canada, and in Japan, where she was the first woman to be invited to teach and perform at the International Chi Gong Conference in Kyoto. She has directed the summer Sacred Dance Performances at Pema Osle Ling for the past 14 years.

SHARON TOOK-ZOZAYA
“Small Portraits II”, a collaboration between Sharon Took-Zozaya, Artistic Director of Stamping Zebra Dance Theatre, and Ken Williams, formerly with Tandy Beal & Co., is the second in a series of choreographed and improvised interlocking solos, duets and trios to be performed in restricted spaces on traditional stages and/or in pedestrian areas. To original music by John Malkin and Amy Barnes, the dancers explore hiding and revealing, dancing with the architectural space which surrounds them and the tender, precarious thread of invisible energy which links them to one another. The first piece in the series premiered at “Discourse Off the Walls” in June 2008 and reviewed by Maureen Davidson in the Metro Santa Cruz
“Thirty-Day Wonder ; A luminous month of cutting-edge dance closes at the Tannery”
“The low-ceilinged room is heavy with the breath of a few dozen people, close-packed on fold-out chairs on a hot night, expectantly facing the door. The door is the spotlight, the proscenium, the source of air, seen through the empty distance of another tiny connecting room. The lights darken, then rise, and all eyes are drawn to a man perched precariously on a stool. Ken Williams stretches forward an unreasonable distance to lean one hand flat against the wall, passionately. On the other end of the tight U of his torso, one foot strains across the same distance. The door reclaims attention as fingers from outside spider their way tentatively up and around the frame, curve nervously inside, followed by the whole hands, then the woman. Sharon Took-Zozaya continues to dance--with the walls, windows, door frames, floors, using the space as her very present partner, flinging herself from it, then clinging to it in an intense pas de deux… the space takes on a very corporeal presence.”

“So Light Can Enter” is a joyful work which celebrates the creative potentials realized as dancers with and without physical disabilities meet on common ground. Set to the elegant folk-based music of Sardinian guitarist Marino de Rosas, four physically integrated dancers explore subtle gestures and soaring momentum shaped by the circumstances in which they meet, with and without wheels. Invisible and visible threads weave through the space with the chance encounters between the “bound” and the “unbound”. If there are politics in this piece, they are incidental to the pleasure found in movement of all kinds and pose the question, why can’t we all just create beauty together?

Sharon Took-Zozaya, Artistic Director of Stamping Zebra Dance Theatre, has presented her choreography across Scotland, in the USA and in Mexico. In Scotland 1988-2003, her work was supported by the Scottish Arts Council, Dance Base, the Findhorn Foundation, the Dance House, and others. Took-Zozaya’s work has recently been selected for several Bay Area festivals. She has also choreographed theatrical works such as the rock opera Tommy and the Ramayana. Took-Zozaya has performed with Nita Little, Therese Adams, Atelier 5 and Sarah Wilbourne. She currently teaches at Cabrillo College and has choreographed, performed and taught here and abroad in a wide variety of professional, university, college, education and community contexts, working with both able-bodied and disabled dancers.

SantaCruzDance.com