Venture Dance Project, “counter (tops) & parts”

Kristin Damrow is a performer and choreographer in the San Francisco Bay Area. A year ago she started the Venture Dance Project, a project-based company that focuses on collaboration with dance artists and musicians. Kristin has never performed in dance anywhere®, but you may see her photo on our website. Kristin participated in a dance anywhere photo shoot earlier this year. She will be dancing on March 30th at the Berkeley Art Museum.

What made you decide to form your own company and how was that process?

I have danced with a lot of independent choreographers and sometimes I feel you can’t have your own voice within someone else’s choreography. I did do a lot of collaboration where I created movement, but I wanted to get my own movement out there and feel that satisfaction of moving the way I wanted to, and then seeing how dancers could translate that. I have always been really interested in choreography, so I just decided to start this project. Now we are a year in and there is a lot more that needs to happen until we are fully established. It’s a long road. We are a project-based company, so I work with a slightly different group for each project. It is really important to me that my dancers are enjoying the work. I think it is really important as artists for us to feel some connection to what we are doing, so I leave it up to my dancers. If they are not feeling a particular topic we are working on they aren’t contracted to be a part of it. I am really open about people coming and going. It gives new insight in every work to have new people coming and going and I find that really beneficial. When I have dancers that stay longer for multiple projects, it is really awesome to see how they interact with new dancers and I always get something new out of them.

How have you come to identify your company?

The whole idea behind my work is the collaboration aspect. I really feel that there is a connection between the music and my movement. My movement is really physical and demanding of my dancers. I really enjoy seeing that kind of work presented. Finding a musician that is able to translate that into music is awesome. In my last show we collaborated with a group of musicians that performed live, which was a really powerful experience for the audience and for the dancers, especially with a piece composed specifically for the work. I have also done the opposite where I create the work and the musicians put something totally opposite making a whole different aesthetic. It’s really just music and dance being created at the same time.

Do you work with the same musician?

It is different for each project. In my last project, counter (tops) & parts there were three different musicians: Robert Shelton, Geneva Harrison, and Jack Nochimow.

What are you showing for dance anywhere?

For dance anywhere we are still very much at the point of work-in-progress. We are taking it into an outside venue, which we aren’t planning on doing for the final showing. The music won’t be a part of this one yet. The dance anywhere performance will be more an investigation to see how the audience reacts.

Have you done it outside before?

No. It will be an interesting experience for everyone. I am really interested in seeing how the audience reacts. I am working with the idea of self-boundaries and want to do a mini feedback session afterwards to see if that translates. It is always nice to get random audience members in there. It’s not your usual dance crowd. That’s something that’s nice about doing outdoor performances. It’s a more general public that may happen to stop by. You can get some really wonderful insights.

Venture Dance Project, “counter (tops) & parts”

How does an outdoor performance differ from a more formal theater experience?

It definitely has an influence because people see us and say “ooh performance in outdoor space!” When someone stops to watch and see what you are doing there is an unawareness that is really genuine. They’re not coming in with a preconceived notion that they might have when sitting down to watch a dance show. They are thrown into the element, which creates a more genuine influence on their thoughts because it’s more in the moment.

Which relates to your topic of self-boundary…

Exactly, because we’re stepping into the boundaries of a public place – everyone is walking by, doing their own thing, and that’s almost stepping into people’s own zone also and affecting their daily routine, which they may or may not accept.

In researching this new piece, where are you in exploring “self-boundary”?

I have presented it to my dancers, mostly through my own personal reflection on what that means to me, and now they are still in the process of figuring it out. That’s something I am totally into, because we all have these different ideas of what those boundaries are and how different parts of ourselves can take over at different times or just in general our body can take over. So they’re in the process of exploring it. I am curious to see what happens when we take it outside. It will be a totally different space where they can find their own. Some of the performance will be improv-based with the phrase material I have already given them, but they can take it more on their own and hopefully this will be more of an exploration this Friday.

Have you participated in dance anywhere before?

No, this is my first year! I remember last year I went and saw a number of independent artists performing here and there but wasn’t officially part of the event, but more a viewer. I got into it this year when Tammy [Cheney] approached me in class and asked if I wanted to be more involved. Any option to support an event like this where anyone can express the joy of dance is a wonderful opportunity.

Sounds like you are a dance anywhere fan!

Totally. It was interesting when we were doing the photo shoot, people were just walking by and you could tell everyone was so curious. One guy came up and asked us what we were doing and if we were having a performance and Beth [Fein, artistic director] said it was for dance anywhere – anyone can participate and dance. Dance is such an expressive art form I think sometimes people shy away from it because you do have to expose yourself to put yourself out there. When you feel the sense of community and also worldly, it opens doors up to people who might be more timid with dance. It generalizes it more that it is something everyone can do – you don’t have to be a company, you don’t have to be taking a specific class, you can just be in your backyard and know that at that same time everyone is dancing. It’s a really powerful thing.

Venture Dance Project will be performing in front of the UC Berkeley Art Museum in the sculpture garden on March 30, 2012 at noon. They will be presenting a new work-in-progress called “Holding,” which explores the boundaries within ourselves – how we choose to break through them or let them affect our lives. Visit Venture Dance Project’s website or find them on facebook.