Columbia Chasing in Waters Rising

Reviews aren't out yet but here's what one audience member said about Columbia Chasing's final performance:"...beautiful. Seamless. Evocative. Provocative. Enchanting."Thanks for your support everyone!

SFBG Pick of the week

We're the SF Bay Guardians Pick of the Week for tonight! Come check it out!http://www.sfbg.com/listing/24
"Waters Rising"When seen at last year's West Wave Festival, Brittany Ceres's "Columbia Chasing" shone with its finely articulated, fluid yet resilient choreography. She is bringing the quintet back on a mixed bill with Becca Rozell's "A Triplet Tale," inspired by the French animation comedy The Triplets of Belleville and, on a more serious note, Andrea Weber's "Synchronicity & the Sacred Space." There Weber examines the collision of perception and reality, with the help of writings by storyteller-traveler Jon Turk. Ceres knows about programming. Before turning to choreographing full-time a few years ago, she worked for West Wave. I trust her sense of what we might like to watch. (Rita Felciano)

photos by Yvonne M. Portra

Here are some of the great stills from Columbia Chasing at the 20th anniversary of the West Wave Dance Festival 2011 - at ODC Theater in San Francisco

http://troublecpc.smugmug.com/

Yvonne is amazing- check out her work!

coming up: Waters Rising

Waters Rising
choreography by dance ceres & Zell Dance with live music by rickshaw caravanD
with guest Weber dance featuring author/adventurer, jon turk

IN BRIEF: Local companies, Zell Dance and dance ceres are joined by Boston-based Weber Dance for a weekend of fluid and provocative dance in Waters Rising.

WHEN: March 9 & 10 at 8pm, March 11 at 5pm
WHERE: Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th street at Mission Street, San Francisco
TICKETS: Tickets $18 at the door/$15 pre-sale, students or seniors
For reservations: (415) 273-4633 or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217751

SAN FRANCISCO-- Please join local choreographers Rebecca Rozell of Zell Dance and Brittany
Brown Ceres of dance ceres in partnership with Boston based choreographer, Jody
Weber of Weber Dance for a fluid and provocative evening of new and recent work.

In Columbia Chasing (2010), dance ceres studies the river as it devours ravenously. It nurtures, but it does not care. It knows nothing of judgment or difference,
but simply exists in the thoroughness of movement. dance ceres embraces
the endlessness because there is no mechanism for stopping, and through the
rush, celebrates the things that profoundly surprise humans. The body knows
when it is finished grieving. It becomes lighter. It flows again. “Wash out
the human in me and let me be like the river.” Columbia Chasing was developed through the AIR program at the Garage and a commission from Stanford University’s Dance Department.

A Triplet Tale by Zell Dance takes the audience on a whimsical journey through movement, music and myth. With a combination of jazz, swing, ballet and humor, the audience
follows a pair of misfits on their quest to uncover the legend of The Triplets and bring them back to dance again. A Triplet Tale, inspired by the music from "The Triplets
of Belleville", has been described as complex, funny and engaging.

Synchronicity & the Sacred Space by Weber Dance probes the strange landscape where
scientific thought encounters the unknown, and human perception and reality are
fluid partners in an enigmatic dance. The piece incorporates the work of Jon
Turk, a storyteller and adventurer who writes nonfiction about his
expeditions by kayak. Nominated as one of the top ten explorer’s of the year by
National Geographic, Jon’s story telling shares a provocative tale of both the
tragedy of deep cultural loss and the beauty of alternative ways of
perceiving/living in the world.

Performances by Cari Delaplane, Mayuko Hosoai, Claudia Hubiak, Shannon Humphreys, Kristina Kirshner, Kristy Kuhn, Rebecca Lay, Miranda Mallard, Becca Rozell, Kate
Migmostad, & Christi Welter

With live music by Rickshaw Caravan And storytelling by Jon Turk
For additional info visit http://www.weberdance.com/current-project.html

sneak peak!

sneak peak - http://vimeo.com/36363238
Upcoming performance - March 9-11 Hope to see you there!

Chronicle Review, Columbia Chasing

"Where structure is concerned, the complex physicality of Brittany Brown Ceres' "Columbia Chasing" made it the ideal program closer. A sextet for four women and two men, set to sundry techno and minimalist scores, the work etches shifting balances of power, often in successive phrases. A man lifts a woman and somehow he ends up, vulnerable, on her back. Maybe continuity slips occasionally, but the dancers led by Yukie Fujimoto (once of ODC Dance) and Roel Seeber were palpably convincing. The piece looked as if it was assembled with a watchmaker's eye for detail." -- Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle 11/9/10
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/09/DDRU1G9CJG.DTL

great note from a audience member

Columbia Chasing- I loved every step - why I go to dance performances!!

Ms Ceres, I loved Columbia Chasing - Monday Night at Cowell. Your dance is why I attend so many dance performances. To see that, your choreography, dancers and "spot on" music selection. Am still listening to "Nurse who love me" over and over again. I'd like to write to you more about parts of your dance. (There's a tie in to your ending and Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid) If you send me your email addr I will write something up for you: jimtobin@yahoo.com. And my dance blog is: www.BayAreaDanceWatch.com. I write what I call "blog essays" about SF local dance performances. Thanks again Ms Ceres, for giving me the gift of steps and music Monday night, and another reason to keep attending dance performances! My Very Best, Jim

REPLY: Hi Jim,
First of all, pls call me brittany and second, I am very honored by your attention and thoughtfulness. I too ended up really liking the piece after several incarnations over the past nine months! The music was difficult from the beginning so im glad you enjoyed it. I had a hard time letting go my formalist/academic roots, as id cinsider some of that 'pop' music... But I finally just went with my gut and chose something I really liked-- something that pulled soulfulness and movement from me in equal portions beyond my control.
It all came together finally with the right combo of rush and pool... Like life I guess. Sometimes when you're swept away beyond your control you just have to go with it-- and you might as well respect the process, if not love every minute!