When Beth Fein invited Choreographer/ Artistic Director, Deborah Slater, of Deborah Slater Dance Theater, to choreograph a Dance Anywhere piece at the San Francisco Civic Center library, Slater leapt at the chance. She was excited to choreograph for Dance Anywhere 2013 as she found the library a compelling space for her work, one that inspired new and unusual choreographic possibilities.  She says, “The beautiful staircase offered itself to me. No one would be expecting me to dance on the staircase.  The library is a public space with unexpected activity”.  

To prepare for Dance Anywhere, Slater held rehearsals in the space, where she negotiated several challenges with her dancers, Elizabeth Randall and Derek Harris. She realized that creating dance on the staircase presented significant site-line limitations, which she negotiated to ensure the visibility of her dancers to those in the library. Because of the size and bustling nature of the space, Slater feared that her dancers wouldn’t visually register in the space

     Slater found that her use of a live-singer, Rabbi Susan Leider helped to draw in the audience and added to the unexpected nature of the piece. According to Slater the rabbi’s song was “an emotionally charged Jewish hymn that echoed and enlivened the space”. Her two dancers performed in bright red attire, which stood out against the white backdrop of the library. The audience was visually drawn to the dancers. Slater says, “The moment when people started looking up and realized what was happening was magical. Suddenly people gathered around the core of the staircase. People looked like they were part of the story about people trying to find each other”.
Because of the centrality of the space in which the dancers performed, audience members often walked into the dance and then, embarrassed would leave. Slater says that anybody who entered the space would be addressed, and thus, the audience was integral to the piece. Her choreography told the story of two people trying to find each other, and the audience participated in this concept as Slater says, “the people reached for each other across the large expanse of space, drawn together through the dance”.

Untitled Duet (Excerpts) – Dance Anywhere 2013, SF Public Library from deborah slater dance theater on Vimeo.

Through this year’s Dance Anywhere, Deborah Slater discovered that she has a particular talent for working in large architectural space. By working in the library she realized the creative possibility of leaving aspects of choreography to chance. She says, “I discovered that much of the piece needed to be left to fate- It worked out beautifully”.

for more information about Deborah Slater Dance Theater www.deborahslater.org/