2022
Desert Movement Arts participated in the National Water Dance Project 2022
on April 23rd
We had people join us for our Movement Choir:
National Water Dance is an event of “movement choirs” — in which dancers and movers across the United States including Puerto Rico, dance simultaneously with shared movement phrases to create climate awareness and social action. This live streamed event brings dance into the environmental conversation and creates a community of dancers that connect through their website and social media platforms. Dancers begin and conclude with the unison movement phrases. In between, the varied groups make their own choreography and improvisation, bringing attention to issues their community faces.
Join us and make a difference in our community!
Lack-of-Water Dance
Desert Movement Arts explored Being Water in our dry desert environment, as a somatic pleasure practice. Since we are made mostly of water, as we move, we tune into fluid and our fluidity, our sensory pleasure and enjoyment of moving in our environment. We created choreography and lots of improvisational moments and joined it with the National Water Dance phrases.
We also explored water scarcity, extreme heat, water stealing (water "entitlements") and living in an unsustainable environment.
The first two months in 2022 are the driest on record. California continues into the third year of drought.
The private-equity firm One Rock Capital Partners and investment firm Metropoulos & Co steals 58 million gallons a year from San Bernadino National Forest to be bottled and sold as "Arrowhead Water." While lawyers fight over the "water rights" that are more than 100 years old, California is in a drought.
Government agencies fight over water "entitlements" flowing from the Colorado River for farming and development. Heavily overallocated and ravaged by years of drought, the river is also strained by climate change. The US diverts so much water that often, the river does not even flow into Mexico at all, where it originally flowed through Baja to the Sea of Cortez.
2021 |
Desert Movement Arts presented "Inspirations & Interplays" with cellist Kye Marshall and interactive sculptures by Nancy Worthington on Sunday December 12th 2021 @ 2pm
An Afternoon of Movement & Music Improvisation
Nancy Worthington's interactive sculptures, the queer feminist sensibilities of Desert Movement Arts and the avant garde music of Kye Marshall combine to inspire. The artists will improvise on the spot and then share their process and discuss upcoming projects.
An Afternoon of Movement & Music Improvisation
Nancy Worthington's interactive sculptures, the queer feminist sensibilities of Desert Movement Arts and the avant garde music of Kye Marshall combine to inspire. The artists will improvise on the spot and then share their process and discuss upcoming projects.
Desert Movement Arts presented “Broad Daylight”
May 2, 2021 @10am
Location: Peace Labyrinth, Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert
72425 Vía Vail, Rancho Mirage
Date and time: Sunday May 2nd, 2021 at 10am
Desert Movement Arts presents “Broad Daylight,” a site-specific performance exploring the labyrinth as both myth and landscape.
“Broad Daylight” evolved out of the dancers’ research into the stories and journeys of labyrinthian sites, including local labyrinths in Rancho Mirage, Yucca Valley and Warner Springs.
Surrounded by desert flora and fauna, a quintet of women move through four sections of choreography and improvisation: a pilgrimage, a journey into other times and beings, duets, and a celebration of women creating community, the often invisible work that happens in broad daylight.
May 2, 2021 @10am
Location: Peace Labyrinth, Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert
72425 Vía Vail, Rancho Mirage
Date and time: Sunday May 2nd, 2021 at 10am
Desert Movement Arts presents “Broad Daylight,” a site-specific performance exploring the labyrinth as both myth and landscape.
“Broad Daylight” evolved out of the dancers’ research into the stories and journeys of labyrinthian sites, including local labyrinths in Rancho Mirage, Yucca Valley and Warner Springs.
Surrounded by desert flora and fauna, a quintet of women move through four sections of choreography and improvisation: a pilgrimage, a journey into other times and beings, duets, and a celebration of women creating community, the often invisible work that happens in broad daylight.
Photos below by Meredith Smith
Photos below by Constance Clare-Newman
2020
Gallery Kunsthaus Rozig Showed the video "Coachella Water Dance" during their exhibit "Reflections" and we participated in discussion during the opening.
https://www.facebook.com/KunsthausRoZig/
We participated in National Water Dance, but due to Covid19,
we did not do a site-specific performance as planned,
but we did create a video: Coachella Water Dance
Gallery Kunsthaus Rozig Showed the video "Coachella Water Dance" during their exhibit "Reflections" and we participated in discussion during the opening.
https://www.facebook.com/KunsthausRoZig/
We participated in National Water Dance, but due to Covid19,
we did not do a site-specific performance as planned,
but we did create a video: Coachella Water Dance
2017
Circling the Shrinking Sea
Comprised of local dancers, choreographers, somatic practitioners and dance teaching artists, Desert Movement Arts will debut Circling the Shrinking Sea at the closing reception for ‘Salton Sea: An Artistic Discussion’ on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 6:00p.m. at UCR Palm Desert.
Circling the Shrinking Sea evolved out of the dancers’ research into the many birds that live or migrate through the Salton Sea, and of seeing the many groups with disparate (or competing) interests and needs begin to come together for the greater good.
A sextet aged 8-74 respond to the outdoor space facing the gallery, including stairs, benches, and rocks as they dance bird motifs and flock as pelicans, burrowing owls and herons. As they return to human movement, they solo, pair and circle, inspired by folk dances and community dances.
Enveloping the multi-faceted performance is an evocative sound score by local dynamo MLN17, known for her eclectic mixes and provocative, multidisciplinary installations. Listen closely to the layers of the compelling composition, featuring the creative group’s field recordings of distinctive Salton Sea soundscapes.
The piece invites the audience to connect to the resilience and mutability of the moving body, while discovering the migratory birds and community rallying to repair the Salton Sea.
