The new aerial dance piece “Grace and Delia are Gone,” created by Jo Kreiter for her company Flyaway Productions, explores violence against women. And Kreiter’s starting point for it was unusual — murder ballads about jealousy, rage and lust, many of them inspired by sensational, ripped-from-the-headlines cases in the late 19th century.
The company’s previous production was an emotionally and logistically demanding aerial dance trilogy that focused on urban poverty. It was performed at outdoor locations in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, and Kreiter wanted a different setting for the new work.
She says, “I was really looking to get us out of the Tenderloin for a moment. The trilogy … was so challenging in terms of the environment and social setting, with the needles, prostitution and excrement. I wanted to give the dancers a break.”
The performance space for the site-specific “Grace and Delia Are Gone” will be the picturesque Firehouse at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Flyaway Productions opens its 20th season with the world premiere Sept. 22, and performances continue through Oct. 2.
But the new location doesn’t mean Kreiter is getting soft. Set at what was once a military installation, “Grace and Delia” draws connections between domestic violence and state violence, with the dance unfolding from the point of view of the women of the title.
With lighting designed by Matthew Antaky and the set and rigging designed by Sean Riley, the piece showcases the company dancers up close and personal
“I usually do large-scale works, but only 69 people can fit in the Firehouse,” Kreiter says. “It’s very intimate, with dances taking place simultaneously in three rooms. One is the size of my son’s bedroom, and only fits 23 people, with the dancers flying over them. … It’s a wonderful change for me.”
Nearly every dance Kreiter has created incorporates folk music, though the music remained largely in the background in her earlier works. In “Grace and Delia,” however, the murder ballads provide the narrative, and the songs have been boldly reimagined.
Kreiter has again turned to violinist, vocalist and composer Carla Kihlstedt, her collaborator over the past two decades, for the new work’s commissioned score.
Kihlstedt applies her dramatic sensibility to several laconic songs, including “Two Sisters,” a piece she recorded with Tom Waits on his album 2006 “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards.”
“Carla’s doing that one a cappella,” Kreiter says. “Her … use of voice and instrumentation is a great fit for these ballads. We go into the belly of the beast with these songs and examine the continuum of violence. Though they’re … very singular stories, in many ways, the violence we see today is the same.”
Performances start at 8 p.m. Sept. 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and Oct. 1; and at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 and 28, and Oct. 2. Tickets, available at http://fortmason.org, run $22-$30.
A First for Shawl-Anderson Dance Center: Founded almost six decades ago by Frank Shawl and Victor Anderson, Berkeley’s Shawl-Anderson Dance Center has long served as a vital hub for the East Bay dance scene.
In the latest torch-passing move, intended to stoke new creative conflagrations, Jill Randall has been appointed the center’s first artistic director.
Longtime executive director Rebecca Johnson continues to oversee the bustling center’s 100 weekly classes, which serve everyone from toddlers to octogenarians in genres such as modern dance, hip-hop, ballet, jazz, conditioning and creative movement.
Randall wants to expand the center’s role as an incubator and presenter of new works.
“I’m really focused on professional artists and what we can do to support them,” she says. “I want to focus on working with the companies in residence and partnering with presenters and spaces here and nationally, like Cal Performances and the American Dance Festival.”
The center was home to its own company, run by Shawl and Anderson for many years. Over the past decade, it has embraced several rising troupes as companies-in-residence, starting with Savage Jazz Dance Company.
These days, Shawl-Anderson hosts four resident companies. Randee Paufve’s Paufve|dance came on board a decade ago, followed in 2010 by Nina Haft & Company. Abigail Hosein’s ahdanco joined in 2014, and the latest addition is Dana Lawton Dances.
Randall has held several leadership positions at the center over the years, including spearheading the 50th-anniversary celebration in 2008. Now she’s tasked with expanding the center’s legacy.
“Frank and Victor have always believed in art-making,” Randall says. “People identify Shawl-Anderson as a school, but art-making has always been at the heart of the center.
“I would love to be curating and presenting more work here and in various East Bay venues. I’d love to develop a supportive dialogue between local and traveling artists. I’d love to be offering more workshops, master classes and discussions. The possibilities are so great.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
