Pictured: Olutola Afalayan, Michael Armstrong, Leah Curren, Tom Edler, Garth Grimball, Jennifer Kulbeck, Dana Lawton, Colin McDowell, Robin Nasatir, Vera Schwegler, Jennifer Smith, Kara Townsend
Our actions right now —mask-wearing, staying home, socially distancing — are similarly about caring.
Our actions right now – mask-wearing, staying home, socially distancing – are similarly about caring. Yes, car- ing for ourselves and those in our homes, but equally about caring for others. And it’s hard. We don’t know how long the self-isolating will last. We want to get back to our lives. To hug our friends. To venture outside with- out fear of who or what we may come into contact with. To travel. To see co-workers and colleagues in three dimensions, instead of on a screen. Little did I know, but that February day would be one of the last times I would be in a dance studio in 2020. Just a few weeks later, in mid-March, shelter-in-place would be invoked to help curb the spread of COVID- 19. So many programs and events would be cancelled,
The Farallonites being one of them. Ergo, the feature I was writing about it then would also not make it to an audience. Today, the coronavirus continues to rage on. The Farallonites , along with so many other projects, still awaits its debut. ‘Awaits’ is a key term. The Farallonites is still very much alive, though its journey has indeed been different than originally planned. Just before Thanksgiving, I caught up with Lawton (by phone) to learn more about the work’s trajectory and how she and the DLD family have been weathering a very bizarre 2020. “When it was clear that the April show was a no-go, we had a conversation about what we wanted to do,” she relays, “the dancers were incredibly committed to continuing the rehearsal process,
“In the mid-1800s, the beacon was constructed on the Farallons to protect ships from crashing into the Islands, and so a few families moved there to run the lighthouse. The conditions were so treacherous and inhospitable – supplies would only arrive every six to nine months; when outside, their children had to be tied to boulders for protection against the water, wind and fog – and yet they were willing to navigate such a reality to provide light, saving people they would never meet.” 2
overtone. Would the rigors and responsibility of their chosen life allow such revelry? Probably not. So, is this a dream? A memory? A longing? Each attendee will have to decide for themselves. 1 One can see direct parallels with our current situation. Threads of seclusion. Quarantine. Protection. Remote- ness. And underlying it all is a profound theme: indi- vidual sacrifice for the greater good. Nine months ago, Lawton explained it like this:
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
u n i f y s t r e n g t h e n amp l i f y u n i f y s t r e n g t h e n a p l i f y
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