DECAMERON video series: Excerpt 1 Frank and Christine

In 2017 and 2018, I created a series of dance works *loosely* inspired by Boccaccio’s Decameron, in which 10 people isolate themselves to escape the plague and pass the time by telling stories. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing short excerpts from this series, along with a little bit of context. You're welcome to follow along on instagram. 

Of Iron and Diamond v1, Excerpt 1:
Frank and Christine, excerpt from Of Iron and Diamonds (June 2017 at BAX). When I began rehearsing this first chapter of my Decameron series, Of Iron and Diamonds, I was pregnant, so I wanted to keep my projects simple and manageable. Because of the vulnerability I felt during this period of my life, the people that I invited into the room to work with me were folks I considered family. People I had history with, both professionally and personally. I had known both Christine Bonansea and Frank Conversano a long time. Christine was a muse and collaborator in several of my early dances in San Francisco, and Frank was a collaborator of my parents. The two of them danced together for the first time in GET DANCING, a show I had produced at Danspace in 2015 with Andy de Groat, and they had naturally gravitated toward one another in that process, so I was intrigued by the possibilities of building a duet for them. Frank is a performance veteran with Parkinsons who recently returned to the stage. Recalling movement was a struggle, but his jolly disposition in rehearsal, as well as dynamic presence as a performer made it more than worth it. Their duet is a riff on another arm duet I was building at that time with Meghan Frederick and Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal, which I will post separately.

The music in this excerpt is by Noveller, and we developed this material thanks to a residency at BAX. This full ensemble of this first chapter of my Decameron series also included Meghan Frederick, Kristopher K.Q. Pourzal, Ashley R.T. Yergens and my 8-month old son, Atlas Green.