RIDE

is an evening-length theatrical performance that explores the sensuous and archetypal bond between horse and human through a powerful mix of music, dance and aerial ballet. RIDE grows from my deepest and most abiding passions: dance and horses. It is rooted in the theme of the horse as the beloved, and inspired by this line by poet James Wright: "Yet the earth contains the horse as a remembrancer of wild arenas we avoid." Horses dance. Theirs is the language of movement, consummately perfected, because as prey animals, their lives depend upon its precision and economy. The rhythms are those of their gaits: walk, trot, canter, gallop. The sounds and feelings of those rhythms are known to us. We feel them in our blood.

The shape of RIDE is a non-linear journey of encounters between horse and human, each one complete unto itself, the sequence of scenes building to a poetic whole. Through the shared language of movement, the dance speaks to our desire for connection and the power of the human-horse bond. With dancers Ingrid Schatz, Dillon Paul, DeAnna Pellecchia, Mia Keinanen, Alisa Cardone, Harriett Jastremsky. Riders Paula Josa-Jones, Francesca Kelly, Jessica Benjamin, Lindsay Smith, Megan Smith, and Lauren Withers. Horses Goliath, Bijli, Roy Wind, Norman and Judge.

FROM THE AUDIENCE

There are few who can establish themselves as original creative artists; what Paula Josa-Jones has done is to bring each aspect of the combined arts of equitation and dance into a new and sublime focus.
Carly Simon

I am cleaning out the closets in my office as we speak and came across my copy of Ride. It has been a very long time since I watched it so I popped it into my computer - happy for the break.It is still as moving and thrilling a piece of work as it was the first time I saw it. And, after all these years I still cry whenever I watch "Norman's Dance". I remember at the Red Pony when you told me what you were planning to do ... and when I saw you and your dancers rolling around in the indoor - all I could think of was crazy, weird. I could not have been more wrong - it is a brilliant piece of work on so many levels. I will put it away for now and know that when I bring it out again it will be just as special as it was today. Brings back lots of wonderful memories - getting to witness it all come together over those many months.
 Sheila Sawyer

How can I express the majesty of your performance, the concept and the soul-drive choreography? I witnessed a miracle: the connection between horse and woman, the darkened earth beneath hooves and art. I wept when the dancer put her face to Norman's nostrils as if she were whispering to God.
Carol Dine, author of Places in the Bone: A Memoir

I cannot imagine my life without having seen it.
Sidney Morris

I watched RIDE last night and realized that my jaw did not close throughout. I gaped. The earthbound and the ethereal -- what horses are innately -- realized as movement by humans alone, in partnership with each other, and in partnership with horses. The score seemed to me to be what the horses would have chosen for themselves. I kept thinking of that great line from The Music Man: "Head in the clouds, feet on the ground." I could have watched for hours. I have never before felt movement contained in two dimensions on a screen, reach and and summon me into it, heart and all. What you are doing is simply amazing.
Meghan Coleman

For information on booking a performance:
Paula Josa-Jones

Click here to view the RIDE video.


RIDE from Paula Josa-Jones on Vimeo.




THE MAKING OF RIDE from Paula Josa-Jones on Vimeo.