Ten Tiny Dances

Backhausdance - Ten Tiny DancesWe just wrapped up a great series of performances as part of the Teny Tiny Dances which was part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Off Center Festival. I had a blast as an audience member both nights and felt that SCFTA really did well in bringing this show to Orange County

Ten Tiny Dances is an ongoing experiment in constraint. Create a 5-8 mins dance for a 4x4 foot stage. I know I'm a little biased, but Jenny turned out a spectacular piece called Margin. Four of our dancers, Amanda, Liane, Zak and Tawny performed beautifully and took a lot of risks to turn out a very high energy and beautiful performance. It's no easy feat to jump and turn with 4 people in 16 square feet. If you see any of them this week have them show you their bruises. Every rehearsal seemed to produce a new batch.

The other highlights for me were Wade Maden's simple yet beautiful and funny imaginary strip tease, I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby, and Angelle Hebert's bizarre and super interesting Splinter. The Floor of the Samueli Theatre will never be the same.

As most good art does, Ten Tiny Dances made me think. In this instance, what is "dance?" Smarter people than me have been debating what constitutes dance for a long time. For me, personally, I wouldn't call half of what I saw this weekend "dance." Performance art that involved some movement? For sure. Dance? For me, no. Does this take away from the work? I don't think so at all. Good stuff is good stuff, I just get hung up on the semantics. It was good programming, a great venue and perfect atmosphere. And it was nice to see Orange County come out to support something new and original.

Finally, here's a brief write-up that the LA Times gave. 

A big thanks to Mike Barber with TTD, and Terry Dwyer & Judy Morr with SCFTA for a great opportunity. And if you are a fan of BD and came to the shows, thanks! You're why we do this.