On March 28th, Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco is the place to be! Several Bay Area dance companies will perform in locations throughout the gardens for dance anywhere® 2014. This urban sanctuary, nestled in the bustling downtown district of SF, offers visitors a lunchtime escape or a quiet place to lie in the grass. The gardens feature a variety of landscape design, modern architecture and local flora and fauna. Who knows what you may find beneath a fountain, on a grassy lawn or emerging from behind a tree!

Performing at Yerba Buena Gardens…

The Blind Tiger Society

Kara Gwinn Pearson

The Blind Tiger Society will perform at Jessie Square, in front of the Jewish Contemporary Museum. Directed by Bianca Cabrera, The Blind Tiger Society offers “a hedonistic palette to Bay Area dance, with the promise of pleasure, engagement, spectacle and delight”. Working mainly in Oakland, CA the company explores highly visceral, embodied and often “fierce” movement. Cabrera is excited to participate in dance anywhere® this year because “I think place is very contextual and generates a lot of history and meaning in itself that dance can draw upon…I’m always thinking, ‘Now that we’re here this piece must live here’. What does the space require of us, in order to be here fully?”

For more information on Blind Tiger Society visit their website and dance anywhere page.

ka·nei·see | collective

Tanya Chianese

Artistic Director Tanya Chianese founded ka·nei·see | collective earlier this year as part of a residency at Shawl Anderson Studio in Berkeley. The company strives to create “vitalizing, accessible contemporary movement art that employs knowledge of our humanity’s historical, cultural, and instinctual need to dance”.

Chianese, a long- time dance anywhere® participant, will explore the terrain of the gardens with several of her company members and dance colleagues who will participate in an improvisational score. “I sent out an instructional video to many of my dance contacts and company members, explaining the score. I don’t know who will show up- It will be interesting to see!” Some of Tanya’s company members may even perform on a plane, as they travel across the US! Tanya describes her piece as an exploration of the rehearsal process. “Process is just important as product in dance. I am excited to see decisions happening in the moment and to see what happens”.

Chianese continues to participate in dance anywhere® because she is inspired by the mission. “dance anywhere®‘s mission should really be the mission of all dance companies: ‘What if the world stopped to dance?’ is an amazing concept that Beth has made real and possible”.

For more information on ka·nei·see | collective visit their website or dance anywhere page

vîv

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Founded in 2013, vîv is a collective of dancers dedicated to finding new and alternative models of performance, practice and collaboration. “We want to take back our power as dance makers” said company member Alison Williams. This season the company has commissioned choreographer Kathleen Hermesdorf to set the piece Ouroboros, which they will perform segments of for dance anywhere®. “We’re showing up in a way that is really fresh”.

Alison perceives that dance anywhere® is a wonderful opportunity for the company to explore their movement style in an alternative location to the typical proscenium or studio spaces in which they have performed. “The movement lends itself to being performed outside. It will be good to see how our movement shows up in the open space”. This is vîv’s first performance for dance anywhere® and first site-specific exploration. “We’re running off excitement and energy! There are never enough opportunities to perform!”

For more information on vîv visit their website and dance anywhere page