In selecting a choreographer for the performance I was led by this quote of Graham’s:

When people ask me what it is that I do in my work, what they really mean is “What’s the work about?”

The work should speak for itself, though sometimes personal reading can mean entirely different things.  In general, my interests lie in the great romantic thematic subjects: concerns with physicality and sexuality, death, religion, nothingness, and so on.

In hoping to determine, somehow, what it is I believe art to be and after a lifetime’s conversation with myself and God know who else, I am reminded of Alan Watts’ question “What is God?”  Is it this or is it that?  Yes, it is this or even that, but if we believe that, then you and I will have missed the point entirely.

Not long after reading this passage, I spoke with Macklin Kowal, an Oakland-based performer and choreographer who I have seen perform in former Meridian Dance resident choreographer, Tessa Wills’, work at CounterPULSE.  The depth of his performance, the animalistic and vulnerable quality of his body in that piece, led me to want to discuss his own work in relation to Graham’s.  It was then that I learned of the many thematic parallels, familiar approaches to considering The Work of art, and his own Irish heritage.

I will let Macklin speak of his work in his own words:

Departing from my impression of Graham’s signature style of figurative representation – where bodies depicted in physical exchange lose the definition and contours of their shape, becoming amorphous while still retaining their distinctly humanoid characteristics – I will ask how changes in our bodies’ forms  may be triggered by recognizing the feelings of another in our own psycho-somatic anatomy. A study in embodied empathy, Yours and Mine pairs the vocabulary of contemporary dance with the durational quality of time-based performance art.

video still: Loren R. Robertson

photo credit: Robbie Sweeny

Macklin will begin rehearsals for Yours and Mine in February, with performances on April 6 & 7.  It will be an exciting process – hope to see you at the show(s)!  

And check back here for more updates as the work is created!

As always, capacity is limited so buy tickets NOW.

Projects explored collaborative art making and a methodology to develop participant’s skills in designing art-work/performance to be executed by several individuals.

Each day this past week during MIP workshop’s we assembled to learn choreographic games, discuss and generate our own definitions, current understandings of wealth, indulgence, and contexts of being. We generated lists of our observations and compiled our perspectives/questions about the last 100 years of San Francisco’s history and the city today.

Working with gallery staff, MIP Director Nancy, and the Interns has been a joy —– what a brilliant group.

Alexis Iammarino
Choreographer in Residence

Performances next weekend
Buy tickets now!

MIP provides approximately 34 youth each year with the opportunity to work with and learn from professional interdisciplinary artists.

In addition to experiential learning in the arts, interns receive training in all the transferable job skills of running a gallery: literacy, verbal and visual communication, computer graphic programs, publication writing, illustration design and production, gallery maintenance, and installation of monthly shows.

MIP students organize several annual events – including their own gallery show and a Holiday Coffee House performance –publish a ‘zine for about 600 city youth, and maintain a blog.  This project has been generously supported by the Mayor’s Youth Employment and Education Program (MYEEP) and the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families (DCYF).

Performances:
Friday Nov 18 7:30PM
Saturday Nov 19 7:30PM
Sunday Nov 20 2PM

Buy your tickets now!

image from Iammarino’s work at INspire Summer Institute, 2011

Below is the text, and the original article is here.  I’m heading to the gallery soon to prep, we hope to see you at 2pm today!
by Becca Klarin

If you’re interested in San Francisco history or undecided on the term “microhood,” Amy Lewis‘ dance tour of the TenderNob might be right up your alley. The Meridian Gallery‘s been quite busy over the past two months, throwing an arts and performance-filled party called “House at 100” for its building at 535 Powell Street.

Lewis’ contribution is “Tread the Tendernob,” a dance tour of the public space around the Gallery, takes attendees up Nob Hill and then down to the Clift Hotel in the Tenderloin’s theater district. Lewis graciously gave me a little more insight into her work and this one-time-only tour that explores shelter, sin, and spirituality within the neighborhoods.

Would you tell me a little bit about your collaboration with the Meridian Gallery? How did it come about?

The Meridian Gallery sent out an RFP for a choreographer-in-residence to make a piece for “House at 100,” the 100-year anniversary festival of the building in which the gallery is housed. I sent in a proposal describing a project I am currently working on that is in the beginning stages of conception. This project consists of walking tours in different San Francisco neighborhoods coupled with performances (in theaters or galleries) based on the history and architecture of the neighborhood in question. Dance Curators Michelle Lynch and Lindsay Levesque chose to work with Alexis Iammarino as a choreographer-in-residence, but asked me to create a “performed” walking tour for their festival.

Michelle Lynch is responsible for having the idea of a walking tour that is part performance-art. However, she gave me liberty to translate this idea into whatever form I chose. I have decided where the walking tour takes place, and what subjects to discuss. The Gallery has been extremely accommodating in letting me shape the tour; their only request is that it be close to sixty minutes (though I’m having a little trouble sticking to this time frame!)

Much of your work centers around everyday life. What drew you to Tenderloin/Nob Hill? And what kind of research did you undertake for the project?

I wanted the tour to be in neighborhoods that were close to the Gallery, to put the Gallery in context with the environment around it. Nob Hill and the Tenderloin are north and south of the gallery, respectively. I chose to walk in both neighborhoods because of the economic and culture difference between the two. The tour is intended to be a snapshot of San Francisco as a whole, and the cultural and economic diversity that is seen from neighborhood to neighborhood, or sometimes block to block.

I have done a fair amount of research for the project. I researched the history of both neighborhoods, the luxury hotels on California St. and who owned the land before they were built (the Big Four, James Flood, and James Fair), the SRO hotels in the Tenderloin (when they were built and who runs them now), San Francisco city policy on massage parlors, and a small amount of research on Grace Cathedral, the Fifth Church of Christ Scientist, and Glide. The research took the form of books, video, websites, and information at San Francisco History Center. The main focus of the research was to find out how people lived downtown (apartments, flats, single-family homes, hotels), both in the late 1800′s and now.

Dancing in public–not on stage, per se, but in spaces normally not thought of as movement space–Does it change the way you create or shape your work? How does public dance differ from dance on a “traditional” stage?

To be honest, this is my first site-specific work. Site-specific work as not been the focus of my career, but I am inspired by this piece and its challenges. That said, I have created work for galleries, warehouses, and small and large stages. The space always shapes the work; in my case, small space veers the work towards intimacy, and large space provides room for expansive movement. Unfortunately, I can’t answer your question on public dance, as this is my first experience with it. In addition, there is not much dancey dance on the tour, more moving figures.

What should tour attendees (are they tourists?) expect on the walk? How does this whole dance-performance-walking tour thing work?

I know for sure that some of the attendees will be friends of the Meridian, myself, and the performers. I also anticipate that several people from the dance community will attend, both fellow artists and dance-lovers. I am hoping that actual tourists will attend, but at this point I’m not sure. Meridian Gallery may have more of an idea about whether or not tourists may come. I do know Michelle is hoping that people in the street will join the tour, if only for a few blocks.

I have had to decide how an actual performance walking tour works, as I don’t know of any others! Without giving too much away, I will tell you that the tour consists of a host (myself) delivering historical and present information on specific buildings of interest. The performers are placed throughout the tour, and they reference several of the subjects that I speak about. Some of the performers speak, but most merely move. AXIS dancersRodney Bell and Sonsheree Giles show up in the Tenderloin, and are not to be missed.

And is this a solo dance or a group work?

This is a group work with 13 performers.

Will this weekend’s tour of “Tread the Tendernob” be a one-time-only performance? Or could it possibly encore at a later date?

This is a one-time only performance. I don’t anticipate an encore, but you never know!

I paid a visit to choreographer Amy Lewis‘ rehearsal today for Tread the Tendernob, a walking tour taking place next weekend in and around Meridian Gallery.  She has really dove into the rich and complex history of the contrasting neighborhoods of the Tenderloin and Nob Hill.  Amy’s performance tour will explore the stark contrast of class – then and now – as part of Meridian’s House at 100 festival, celebrating our gallery’s centennial.  Being the last standing single family home in the Union Square area, Meridian is an architectural landmark.  That the home was built for one of San Francisco’s more notorious madame’s make Amy’s tour of shelter, sin, and spirituality all the more perfect.

Sunday, October 30
2pm
FREE

The tour begins at the gallery at 535 Powell Street.  A reception will follow the performance.  It is a walking tour, and we’re not afraid of hills, so wear appropriate footwear!

The challenge offered by artists since the 1960s has been to use the gallery itself as a site of production, taking architecture, history, location or viewer as subject and object.  The commissioning of site-specific works is a high risk venture. What evolves may be successful; it may be a spectacular disaster.  It is an act of faith that can both challenge and expose practitioners.  It also positions the curator in the role of production assistant, researching and sourcing materials, negotiating permissions, working out the technicalities.  It’s exciting to enter the creative process and mirror theatre or cinema where a production is a group enterprise.

-Iwona Blazwick 

This very-much parallels my experience as Curator of Meridian Dance.  We are in the “business” of taking risks: inviting artists whose past work shows extraordinary insight and skill to create something new.  To make themselves at home in our gallery, and to see what comes of it, using the inspiration offered by the architecture as well as the work on the walls.  And to facilitate the myriad technical hurdles that must be leapt over to bring performance to a live audience.

Alexis Iammarino, Meridian’s latest Choreographer-in-Residency will be in San Francisco beginning on November 7th.  Stop by during the day (gallery hours are 10-5) to catch a glimpse of the process!

-Michelle

“The practitioner/researcher cannot take for granted whether or not she/he has an independent objective reality.  Instead, I presuppose that there are and will be differing and shifting conceptual frameworks that evolve alongside the encounters I have with individuals and groups in community.

 Individuals in partnership may represent their own individualism of or in correspondence with a/the community in which they belong.

I am, my art is, a project of empowerment.”  –Alexis Iammarino

Alexis will be working closely with Meridian Gallery’s teen interns this November to create evening length performances addressing themes of the Barbary Coast’s colorful history.  Buy tickets online now!

Friday, November 18th, 7:30
Saturday, November 19th, 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 20th, 2pm

Choreography as Community Engagement: World Premiere by Meridian Dance Choreographer-in-Residence Alexis Iammarino created and performed in collaboration with teens from the Meridian Intern Program.  Part of Meridian Gallery’s festival “House at 100 as a Container”, a grand celebration of the 100th anniversary of its beautiful home, the Perine Mansion, on Powell Street.

Choreographed by: Alexis Iammarino in collaboration with Meridian Gallery Interns
Curated by: Lindsay Levesque and Michelle Lynch

________________________________________

(San Francisco, CA – Nov 18-20)  Meridian Gallery teams up with Baltimore based community artist/dancer, Alexis Iammarino as part of “House at 100 as a Container”, a two month long interdisciplinary arts festival (September 24th- November 26th, 2011). The festival celebrates the 100th anniversary of the home of Meridian Gallery through film, scholarly discourse, avant-garde dance, theatre, sound and some early 20th Century fun.

Community artist/dancer Alexis Iammarino calls herself a facilitator. As such, her primary goal is to impart that, “no body exists outside of its relationship to other bodies. ” By guiding people through cooperative art making, Iammarino has a truly effective way of setting a space for participants to discover themselves and each other as valuable resources. She will be in residence at Meridian Gallery for three weeks during which she will engage with and empower Meridian’s teen interns past and present as well as other at-risk youth.

Iammarino is a community artist based in Baltimore City.  She is an artist/educator with Bright StARTs Art Program at School 33 Art Center, staff at The Club at Collington Square and works with artists of Dance Exchange on projects with Baltimore City youth.  Her work addresses the interaction of multiple contexts of ‘being’ in the communities and individuals with whom she collaborates. Iammarino, is a recent graduate of the Master of Art in Community Arts (MACA) program at The Maryland Institute College Art  (MICA). She is a featured artist in the upcoming exhibition “The Hand Your Dealt” at New Image Gallery at James Madison University.

Meridian Interns Program (MIP) is a paid internship for low-income teens aged 14-18 that integrates art-making with training in job-related skills at Meridian Gallery.  Each year, MIP provides roughly 30 youth with the opportunity to work with and learn from professional interdisciplinary artists.  MIP students organize several annual events (including their own gallery show and a Holiday Coffee House performance), publish a ‘zine for a readership of 600 youth, and maintain a blog.  MIP is supported by the Mayor’s Youth Employment and Education Program, a program that provides wages to youth as they create their own diverse working community in a safe environment while they learn art-making skills from a team of professional artist instructors.

Together, Iammarino and the participating teens will develop an evening length performance addressing themes of the 100 year-old mansion’s colorful history – including being a private residence to the famed Madam, Tessie Wall – before it became an art space. To start the conversation, Iammarino says, “I want to know from the youth, about their opinions of ‘wealth and opulence’ and the philosophical frameworks that uphold those opinions.  I’m curious about the historic Barbary Coast and how it may relate to contemporary vice industries in the same geography.”

The Meridian Gallery is a non-profit performance and exhibition space committed to increasing social, philosophical and spiritual change among previously isolated individuals and communities. The gallery assumes a tangible responsibility to explore issues and make spaces where youth and adults can access experientially a widening of the possible. The Meridian Gallery has been curating and hosting visual art, music, film, poetry, and dance events since 1989.

Meridian Dance is curated by Lindsay Levesque and Michelle Lynch, both San Francisco based choreographers and performers. They will host a discussion with Iammarino and performers following each performance.

dance@meridiangallery.org
Tickets: $10 to $20 sliding scale suggested donation
Box Office: (415) 398-7229
Buy tickets online now!

A former San Franciscan and Meridian Intern Program mentor, Alexis is currently based in Baltimore where she does wonderfully creative and enriching work with Baltimore youth.  We are so excited for her 3-week return to San Francisco this November!

Alexis Iammarino is a native of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

My love of movement, drawing, painting, history and photography has afforded me the opportunity to pursue many life enriching artistic partnerships. Being an interdisciplinary artist is what connects me to others.

My training as a performing artist in modern dance, ballet, choreography and performance art has informed my own studio practice as a visual artist and vice versa. Work at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival with international companies, Bates College, The Merce Cunningham Studios, The Yard, Built on Stilts Dance Festival, and the faculty, artists in residence and peers at the Dance Department of Goucher College have lead me to experience as many creative processes as individuals and groups that I have encountered.

In the years since I graduated from Goucher I continued to work with a group of women with whom I established a collaborative relationship. Together we formed a choreography collective in San Francisco. The rehearsal process of choreography and collective efforts that make possible the mounting of a performance, has offered invaluable learning and inspiration to me.

This year as a Master of Arts in Community Arts candidate at MICA, I served as a community artist-in-residence in East Baltimore at Patterson High School and Dr. Rayner Browne Academy and in partnership with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and The Y of Central Maryland.

As a facilitator, I hope to impart that no body exists outside of its relationship to other bodies.

The Meridian Gallery is located in a narrow, elegantly designed Victorian at Powell and Sutter streets in San Francisco. Not simply a gallery, the lively Meridian also houses a student intern arts program, a musical concert series and a dance series. This past weekend, members of the Taipei-based dance group, 8213 Physical Dance Theater, presented a series of short choreographies as a world premiere titled “Hello, My Name is Joe.”

Based on a children’s song, in which the players push, pull and turn buttons as directed by the “boss”, the program choreographed by Casey Avaunt and Jack Sun is described as “an investigation of the overt and subtle ways humans and their bodies confront power structures. In a highly physical and emotional battle, the dancers negotiate their freedom in a site-specific work.”

True, but not really the whole story.

With three excellent dancers and choreographers, this mini group—part of a larger company in Taiwan—paces through short recognizable narratives of contemporary worker-drone life. In “It’s not too late” two workers mirror each other in repeating patterns of wiping their brows, taking notes on their palms, and diving toward bells they ring to switch on revolving lights. During short interludes, an increasingly thuggish-looking man in a suit distributes oversized bills to the exhausted, post-frantic workers. In a second sketch, “Conversation Doesn’t Work,” a couple revels in competitive parodies while engaged in short meaningless “conversations”—the wife speaking English, the husband Chinese.

Nevertheless, all the sketches are done with such absurdist humor and wry light-heartedness, that the political pill is easy to swallow. The result is less a critique of the small and large cruelties of our capitalist world than a sly nudging and a rueful glance at the limitations of our lives, a sort of we’re-all-in-this-together session of sympathizing.

This sense of mutuality is underlined by the group’s interaction with the audience, which is frequent and frequently comic. The dancers pass out playground items, from tennis balls to soccer balls, to unsuspecting audience members. Avaunt wanders through the audience trying out various articles of clothing, this time taken from those bemused audience members: a purse—“doesn’t this look good on me,” she asks—or a jacket, which she redistributes to someone else in the audience—“this would look good on you too,” she adds. Or she sits on an audience member’s lap, only to burst into tears on the woman’s shoulder. Following close behind her is Colin Epstein, who hands out money and apologies left and right.

It wasn’t all just comedy though. These are talented and skilled dancers, and each took the opportunity to display their technique: Avaunt with a percussive dance that was more reminiscent of break dancing than modern dance though it partook of both; Epstein, whose acrobatic movements were remarkably fluid and athletic; and Jack Sun with some extraordinarily graceful Chinese operatic movements that morphed into the repetitive anxieties of exercises like jump-roping.

The choreography was done in response to the print show, “In Extremis,” now on view at the gallery, with work from familiar local artists, such as Jos Sances, Doug Minckler and Rik Olson. Exquisite small etchings filled the rooms of the second floor. Black and white spit-bite aquatints by Jessica Dunne showed shadowy images of bicycles and cars on freeways, and Sarah Newton’s multi-plate color aquatints presented flashes of cityscapes at night, reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.” David Avery’s etchings added a piquant touch of the whimsical and the ironic.

—Jaime Robles

“In Extremis” continues through July 30, at the Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell St., 
San Francisco. 
For information, call 415-398-7