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On set with lead artists Richelle Donigan & Joan Lazarus

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Richelle Donigan photo by Sue Li Jue, Joan Lazarus photo by Frances Teves Sedayao
reflections from Colleen Quen, couture costume designer for sixfootwingspan

Reflections from sixfootwingspan artists:

Spring is full and alive and we are opening. I feel the energy of returning to life like hatchlings emerging from their shells. The awkwardness of social engagement like the clumsy finding of legs before lift off. Looking to the birds as guides in adaptation, the human community is changing and has changed. This month, as SBDP is gathering more and more in person, we too are navigating this changing landscape. What feels safe? What accommodations do we need to be able to care for one another and hold each others safety and dignity in this new phase of life?

— KJ Dahlaw

Aarin Burch filming, Frances Sedayao, Sarah Bush, choreographer Richelle Donigan,
Julianna Cressman, Risa Diaz.  Photo by Sue Li Jue

I love Choreographing. I actually am just re-discovering that in this journey, this process. I haven’t created dance for any one else from my body movement since Club Q and London before that. 1990’s early 2000’s. I love the camaraderie and the excitement of discovery and getting specific. I could spend so much more time. Now that I’ve started it’s all I want to do. And the fact that I get to work with such extraordinarily talented dancers is mind boggling. I think I have found something of myself here that I had tucked away. Thank you, Sarah, for always creating the space for the discovery of self, love and authenticity. I am excited about doing more and being in the editing phase.  Or, whatever comes next. Thank you all so very much.

— Richelle Donigan

Richelle Donigan, Sue Li Jue, Frances Teves Sedayao, Julianna Cressman, videographer Aarin Burch

Richelle’s choreography was great, so HER, it lends itself perfectly to this work. I could really see that it’s not just a dance piece, it’s not just pantomiming the action of the birds, it’s so much deeper because of the studying and witnessing you all have done. I loved filming the solo bits, being with each person and their unique bird energy. I wanted to get to know each player, each character even more. This was a little taste.

It was cool to feel my own movement. I always want there to be movement when I’m filming. Every filmmaker has their own style. I like to keep it flowing — finding and following the dancers’ gestures. I love seeing delightful surprises later when looking through the footage. It was also daunting because I haven’t done any shooting for a long time. I’m a filmmaker to the bone, and I see the world that way, but I haven’t been in the technical aspect of it in a while. This felt like magic, everything came together.  It was beautiful.

— Aarin Burch

videographer Miles Lassi, dancer Joan Lazarus
Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary

To be free to throw myself into space
and not worry or consider
the landing. That was the gift of June 21st. A bird
A shoreline
A score
A pair of yellow shoes
And the feathers . . . oh, the feathers.
And the celestial artists giving me flight. What does the sand and the slope feel like? 
I haven’t been on a raked stage in a long long time.
And how much fun is it to share those discoveries in REAL TIME. How cold is the water?
I need to get into the water.
Let go, please, let go.

— Joan Lazarus

artist Frances Teves Sedayao

6/25/2021
“Oh, Egretta”
(Bird song dedicated to Joan Lazarus)

You summoned
‘may you be my companion?’
my painter of yellow
my healer
my photographer
my friend
my holder of space
my artist and anchor
The doula in me awakens
The quiet counsel
In me
in action
I, your keeper
Your friend, daughter
Your sister
Without you I am none the above
Your worn slippers
In my hands
Canvas for me to paint
You, your dance
You, my teacher and lineage
You the midwife to the
Birth of my dance
Oh, Egretta
Without you i am none the mover I am

— Frances Teves Sedayao

make-up artist Enrico Baldoviso, dancer Joan Lazarus, hair artist Prez Francisco

Balance “One of the principles of the natural law of the universe is Gender, i.e., male and female energies.  We need to use our imagination and visualization to achieve our goals and dreams, find balance within ourselves so we can learn how to fly.” 

— Prez Francisco

Enrico Baldoviso, Olivia Ting, Sarah Bush, Miles Lassi, Joan Lazarus
photo by Frances Teves Sedayao
 
The month of June:
Was a coming down from the high of KJ’s shoot (all the more exciting because it was the first, to see how everything we have talked about, bandied about, ruminated about, come together in one place, a place of gathering). It was also for some of us, the first time we have seen/met each other in real life, other than 2D video screen. There was a bit of “wow I didn’t know you were that tall…” but more importantly, it was about a coming back to a space of physicality: seeing the costumes, the cameras, the drone, and what happens to perspective as we get further or closer to one another. Having kicked off this first gathering – the second one with Joan felt like a continuation of a path materializing. More to come in the following months!

— Olivia Ting


Mud flats. Who knew at this point in my dance career that I would be yearning, scouting, wishing and hoping to find suitable mud flats for dance? Finally, I found the perfect spot in Alameda. Ground soft but not too yielding to hold my weight. Vast, shallow-ish, watery landscape behind. And, the natural home of the Black Neck Stilt—my bird, my feathered partner for this SBDP project. I am looking forward to my bare feet in the mud. The cool… What movements will come from me, from this place? How will I channel this bird with long, narrow beak? With long legs when mine are not? This is my next challenge and I accept it with anticipation.

— Sue Li Jue