Photos: Pam White
Saturday and Sunday at 5 pm are the last days to see River/Body. Please join us to see this beautiful water dance that is our gift to the communities that live within the Housatonic River watershed and beyond. After all, the waters are connected and they connect us. In fact, they flow in us as well as around us!
Dancers: Aislinn MacMaster, Dillon Paul, DeAnna Pellecchia, Amy Wynn with Evangeline Johns
On Friday night we suddenly lost our beloved Sanne to a catastrophic colic. He was 21, and had been with us since he was 3. His name, Sanne (Sa-na) means Lily in Dutch. I liked to call him Sanne, the Lily of Holland.
He was/is our angel, guide, dance partner, co-therapist, fabulous ride and precious friend. Our dear friend JoAnn Eccher wrote on Facebook that she is picturing him bathed in celestial light and moving toward a speedy rebirth. What I am feeling is the ache, the waves of grief, buoyed by my love and gratitude for the blessings of his many soulful teachings.
There are so few words. But there are these images. Most taken by either his other mama Pam White or Jeff Anderson.
Thank you my beautiful, blessed boy. Thank you.
On Saturday, during one of our last rehearsals for River/Body, Cole, a young student from the Marvelwood School asked us two wonderful questions. Cole is part of a team of young videographers working with their teacher, Ben Willis to create a documentary about the making of the dance.
First, he wanted to know if we had ever considered bringing something unexpected – an object, a surprising prop – into our performance. He observed that the scarves we manipulate are wave and water-like, but wanted to know about something “outside the box”.” Dillon, one of the dancers, loved the idea and said, “Like what? A refrigerator?” We all tried to think what those unexpected things might be and how that would change the performance. Actually, I think Cole just gave us an inspiration for the next iteration of River/Body.
Secondly, he wanted to know if we had ever done any kind of ‘nature-art situation” before. So we shared with him our exprience of dancing with horses. To me, dancing the river is similar in many ways to the equine dances. We are entering and communicating with a different physicality. Riding the currents of that different body. Enngaging with the body-mind of that other being. And yes, we see and feel the river is a being.
On Sunday we had to make a firm decision about whether to perform in a river that had become so high and fast running that we could not safely dance with her. I have known horses like that. It is important to know the limits. It is disappointing not to dance in the Shepaug, but we were also happy to return to the beautiful Housatonic and know that all of our performances would be held kindly by her watery body.
August 18 & 19 and August 25 & 26 will be performed at the river access at North Kent Road, Kent, CT. We are limiting attendance to protect the site and work within the concerns of the town, so you will neeed to reserve your FREE ticket HERE.
Please join us. We have made something beautiful, something surprising, something moving.
Thank you to Housatonic Heritage, Housatonic Valley Association, Berkshire Taconic Foundation and our loving individual donors
See you at the river!
