This is the moment.
Can you hear it? A brush of feathers stirring the air.
Can you feel it? The energy gathering like a storm.
Join us on social media this Friday and Saturday as we live-stream a virtual journey through the landscape of the Richardson Bay (unceded Coastal Miwok) environment. The language of birds, a symphony of the senses, the interconnection of all life. Through the artistry of dance we invite tuning-in, with attention and intention, to birds, to care for self, each other, for all life on this planet.
MURMUR is an experiment in access and multiple perspectives, an art murmuration riding the live-streaming waves, currents of connection, migrating nearly instantly across the flyway of digital distance.
For nearly two years I and this incredible collective of artists have been in deep study — researching the movements, lives and language of birds. This work and connection, along with your support, has sustained all of us during this challenging time. We know how much this project feeds, inspires and connects us, and MURMUR is a way we can bring it full circle and share this valuable experience with you.
The sixfootwingspan artists have finally flocked to the grounds of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary after a year and a half of zooming-in and getting zoomed-out. Oh, how good it is to feel fully alive again, to experience the palpable joy that bubbles up in the company of other artists! To be in shared physical and energetic multidimensional space! Reinvigorated in our purpose, in the power and importance of our work. What balm, what nourishment it is to relish in restorative birdsits on the beaches and in the woods, resting and generating amongst the honey-sage native plants, dancing with the bees as we build. This is the art of collaboration, of hands-on assistance, helping each other weave nests from the gathered sticks of what we’ve lost, and mould eggs of hope from the mud of our fears. In this being together we are reminded that with more minds and hands, we magnify and delight in each other’s brilliance, we breathe laughter and life and gasps of wonder into the wings of each other’s ideas and marvel side by side as we see them take flight.
Thank you dear friends, fans, donors, family, for all the ways YOU are a part of this art and community and have made this moment possible. Your support and connection through this time has given us life. Please join us in this expression of grief and gratitude, of love and language, of birds and beauty, this exploration of embodied presence and freedom.
Let’s ride the airwaves together, weaving our way through this world-wide web!
With love, gratitude, and butterflies,
and the 2021 sixfootwingspan artists:
Frances Teves Sedayao, Joan Lazarus, Sue Li Jue, Richelle Donigan, Risa Ofelia Diaz, KJ Dahlaw, Julianna Cressman, Colleen Quen, Olivia Ting, Miles Lassi, Lindsay Gauthier, and Molly Tsongas. Welcoming Oscar Trujillo, Lisa Bush Finn, Sarah Cabigas and Kasia Krzykawska into the flock for MURMUR.
A special thank you to the staff at Richardson Bay Audubon:
Casey Arndt, Haymar Lim, and Paige Fernandez for opening their home to us.
And to the Meriama Fund for their longstanding and generous support of SBDP.
Image credits:
- Pictured: Aarin Burch and Richelle Donigan. Collage art by Julianna Cressman.
- Pictured: Julianna Cressman and Richelle Donigan. Collage art by Julianna Cressman.
- Pictured: KJ Dahlaw, Sarah Bush, Richelle Donigan, Frances Sedayao, Julianna Cressman. Photo: Olivia Ting. Costumes: Colleen Quen. Make-up: Enrico Baldoviso & Hazel Rojas Davila. on unceded Ohlone land.
Sarah Bush Dance Project 