It is always worthwhile to read the posts of Wheelchair Dancer.
Seeing her perform last night was a rare treat. See is a strong presence on stage. If you have the opportunity (only one more performance) take in "Fears of Your Life."
Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts includes this in its short description of the work:
"Inspired by the book by Michael Bernard Loggins, an artist with developmental disabilities at Creativity Explored, Fears of Your Life explores the serious and often humorous things that scare us from our tear ducts to our funny bone."
I would not want to have been the one assigned to reduce this captivating work to a concise description for marketing collateral. With poetry, puppets, Portuguese, projected images, popular music, and a post-performance party with the players it would take the entire alphabet just to list the diverse elements integrated into this physically demanding work.
Memorable moments included the opportunity to explore the life-sized puppets and bits of script on the stage before the performers infiltrated the theater; Wheelchair Dancer dramatizing a scene involving a careening bus; choral screams of fear; riveting choreography involving two people moving a wheelchair backwards in see-saw motion; Stephanie, in her final performance with Axis Dance Company, having her prosthetic leg snatched away repeatedly while lamenting in Portuguese, "How can you do this? Give me my leg back" as she acts out one "fear of our life."
Today is the final performance.
Posted by rollingrains at February 25, 2007 04:14 PM