» Continued from pg 5 Discovering the Power and Ability to Take Action
M B O N G U I S Q U A R E F E S T I V A L December 15-22, 2019
The Ability to Take Action: I put myself on the side of a large block (24"W x 48"L x 36"H) with the firm goal of pushing it to one side of the room, and asked Shira and Sonsherée to be on the other side of that block, trying to push it to the opposite side of the room. It was similar to the action of having to hold a floating door between my home and the attacker months before, except this time with a counterbalance of trust instead of violence. Rather than feelings of being disempowered and afraid, I was able to recognize the strength and bravery it took to protect myself, my loved ones, and the lives of others. It was an act of heroism. This theme became a driving exploration in the creation of Action Potential, where we chan- nelled our inner superheroes—climbing, lift- ing, assisting, jumping, and flying in celebra- tion of movement, trust, strength, resilience, and the power to take action. MEGAN LOWE is a dancer, performer, choreographer, singer, teacher, and administrator in the San Francisco Bay Area. She creates dance works with an affinity for dynamic/kinetic movement, site-specificity/space- interaction, and contact improvisation/partnering. Megan has performed with Flyaway Productions, Scott Wells & Dancers, Lenora Lee Dance, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Epiphany Productions, Dance Brigade, and more. She is a Teaching/Choreographing Artist for Joe Goode Performance Group, Bandaloop, and Flyaway, teaches semesterly masterclasses at UC Berkeley, and has taught contact improvisation for wcciJAM, ODC, Finnish Hall, InterKinected, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and Athletic Playground. Megan would like to thank Rosemary Hannon and Stephanie Sherman for their generous feedback in the writing of this article. mlowedances.wixsite.com/meganlowe
happened to me and I am forever in debt to Megan’s bravery. It takes a special kind of person to put someone else’s safety above your own, and that is what she did for my boyfriend and me. This event took some extreme teamwork between my partner, roommate, and me. I attri- bute having healthy active bodies as a primary reason we were able to make it through this horrific moment without more damage and to help shield those in need from further harm. A deep dance practice centered in contact impro- visation and site-specific work has provided me with this potential to take action. And as I con- tinue to heal physically, financially, and emo- tionally, the process of creating dance with peo- ple I love has helped me work through some of this trauma and take steps forward. In January 2019, I embarked on a dance project with two of my closest friends/col- laborators (and phenomenal movers), Shira Yaziv and Sonsherée Giles, which we pre- sented in August 2019. At first, I tried to avoid acknowledging what had happened. I wanted to just focus on making an energetic and virtuosic site-specific dance for Athletic Playground, that artfully activated ladders, planks, bars, mats, blocks, lofts, and walls, and that centered contact improvisation and dynamic partnering. It helped to draw my attention to something productive and posi- tive. But at some point, I realized this incident was informing everything I was doing and that it was impossible to ignore. I was pro- cessing this traumatic event through the cre- ation of this dance with two of the people I trust most. Why hide it? But also, how would I share this story without overwhelming view- ers? What hopeful aspects could I highlight? How was everyone able to come out alive on the other side? How could this inspire people to move and act? I did not want to focus on narrative or reenactment, though there was one specific investigation we explored.
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November 29 - December 8 Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA odc.dance/velveteen
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in dance DEC 2019
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