FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
in Sarah Bush Dance Project’s Spirit & Bones;
Photograph by Amal Bisharat
SARAH BUSH DANCE PROJECT ANNOUNCES
WORLD PREMIERE OF
SPIRIT & BONES
OCTOBER 26, 27 and 28, 2018
TAUBE ATRIUM THEATER
AT THE WILSEY CENTER FOR OPERA, SAN FRANCISCO
An intergenerational cast of Bay Area dance luminaries performs this evening-length work highlighting female resilience in times of darkness.
Featuring an original score performed live by Skip the Needle.
Tickets on sale at sarahbushdance.org/tickets
SAN FRANCISCO, July 17, 2018 — Sarah Bush Dance Project today announces the World Premiere of Spirit & Bones, choreographed by Artistic Director Sarah Bush with an intergenerational cast of 15 dancers ranging in age from 23 to over 70. Featuring Bay Area dance luminaries, Spirit & Bones is an evening-length production highlighting female resilience in times of darkness, the tenacity of the solo woman, and the ferocious love and strength generated by community. These performances of Spirit & Bones mark the 11th season of Sarah Bush Dance Project. Performances are Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27 at 8pm and Sunday, October 28 at 7pm.
Spirit & Bones is inspired by Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ book Women Who Run with the Wolves, national large-scale protests and the movement of wolves, birds and systems of the body. Artistic Director Sarah Bush explains, “Spirit & Bones will show the multidimensionality of women, illuminating the many stages of grace and strength.”
The cast for Spirit & Bones — dancing together for the first time — is Anne Bluethenthal, Richelle Donigan, Laura Elaine Ellis, Joanna Haigood, Dominique Hargrove, Courtney Hope, Rebecca Johnson, Courtney King, Joan Lazarus, Sue Li Jue, Elvia Marta, Priscilla Regalado, Jane Schnorrenberg, Frances Sedayao and Nina Wu.
“Spirit & Bones is a call to action, a call to join together and build loving community,” adds Bush. “The large cast demonstrates the power in numbers required for social change. The work also honors the women who have inspired and taught us. It is an opportunity to reflect on how we carry their legacies forward.”
Providing the original live score is the Bay Area-based band Skip the Needle, featuring five performers who lead other local bands: Kofy Brown (drums) of the Kofy Brown band, Katie Cash (guitar) of Dolorata and Year of the Fist, Shelley Doty (guitar) of the Shelley Doty X-tet, Vicki Randle (bass), formerly of The Tonight Show and currently backing Mavis Staples, and Julie Wolf (piano) music producer and renowned side-player.
Skip the Needle is the collective effort of these five bandleaders, each a lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, performer and songwriter. Lead singing duties rotate among the members while the others add background vocals. The songs are collectively written to showcase each member’s unique contributions, bringing together rock, funk, soul and fusion in an amalgam that rocks hard and is also musically diverse and complex; carries a strong, socially conscious message but wants everybody to party while hearing it. The band self describes: “If Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Chrissie Hynde and Chaka cloned a baby, this band would be the result. Skip the Needle is reckless, eclectic, fearless and fun, dedicated to love, and like nothing you’ve ever heard before.”
More About Skip the Needle: facebook.com/skiptheneedle/
ABOUT SARAH BUSH DANCE PROJECT
Sarah Bush Dance Project (SBDP) formed under the artistic vision of Sarah Bush in 2007 to promote innovative artistry, community interaction and feminist ideals through the creation and presentation of multimedia dance. SBDP creates dance that reminds audiences of the power and compassion in ourselves and others, bolstering a resilient hope for humanity.
SBDP has created three critically acclaimed repertory shows in the Bay Area: Home, Rocked by Women, and This Land. The Huffington Post said of the outdoor landscape series, This Land, “The drama of Bush’s highly charged movement is meant to renew our sense of self, our sense of place and community.” The SF Bay Guardian reviewed Rocked by Women, a coming of age story honoring the history of women’s music, as “A weighty yet explosive expression of the power of an indomitable spirit and embracing courage.” Most recently, a Homeward audience member reflected, “Homeward stirred memories and longings for relationship, for meaning, for home. Such a feast of choreography.”
SBDP also has a full calendar of community activism performances and workshops. In 2017 SBDP created, taught, and performed the Wonder Flashmob dance in honor of International Women’s Day and led two free, outdoor, all-ages This Land workshops through the East Bay Regional Park Department “Multicultural Wellness” Programs. SBDP is currently a company in residence at the Berkeley Art Center, using interactive performances to facilitate art appreciation.
In addition to her work with SBDP, Artistic Director Sarah Bush is a member of Krissy Keefer’s revolutionary Dance Brigade. She has danced with hip hop company New Style Motherlode and been a guest performer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She has choreographed commissions for Axis Dance Company, Destiny Arts Center, Mona Khan Company, Dance Brigade SummerFeast in Dos Rios, and The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep. Bush has been awarded the Bay Area Dance Watch LiveBlessays Award (2015) and Leader of the Month (May 2014) and is the recipient of Curve Magazine’s Dancer/ Choreographer Award (2010).
SBDP productions have received funding from the the City of Oakland, the Queer Cultural Center and the Zellerbach, Blum, and Bernstein Family Foundations. Bush’s work has been presented at Concept 23, Dance In Revolting Times (D.I.R.T.), PUSHfest, West Wave, Women On The Way, Global Women’s Rights Forum, National Women’s Music Festival, National Queer Arts Festival, Olivia Travel cruises, Summer Feast, Summer Performance Festival (SPF)9, SF Movement Arts Festival, and San Francisco International Arts Festival.
Sarah Bush Dance Project is grateful for generous support from Open Meadows Foundation, Meriama Fund, the Blum Family Foundation and many individual donors.
Company Website: sarahbushdance.org
Media Contact: Mary Carbonara
Press Kit with Photos: online here
Sarah Bush Dance Project 