An Ekphrastic poem by Laurie Keegan

 Last week expandance co-founder Laurie Keegan undertook a workshop entitled "Writing As Choreography" with UK based dance artist Alexandrina Hemsley, hosted by Dance Ireland. What follows is one of the poems to come out of that workshop, written by Laurie. 

 

An Ekphrastic poem inspired by the experience of watching
 ‘Barely a Person’
choreographed and performed by Rachel Wynne
 

Eyes draw down fill up

Swaying

Off the roll away shadow and pause. 

Miss her.

You follow hollow curl, curl, curl

Pause.

It circles, uncurls, curls

   Interrupt. Voice remembered.

Vulnerable. Holding on scared

Shadows and light

Cry

I feel tears and then she looks away

 

Strength, texture, forms. Don't forget.

I won’t forget

I remember with you

I hear you

We all not have forgotten, I. 

 

She Baby emotes

Why can’t we.    guilt

Shame, 

Shameful, 

Shame on them, 

No more Silence.

 

Shouldertightheldbreath

Cold floor only we feel

reel

real

Reel

Need soup, sup, soupy, supping

Enough 

Not enough 

              I love you 

 

Roll through the floor

Keeping me grounded

I have the thigh and apathy it’s me

Vault of power

Power

 Power

   Pulse, prep, pulse, prep

     Rest Rachel

 

Surrounded by your weight I feel you down to me 

Lengthen 

Stretch and light, all light

 

Volume, hall it at the sing back

Strut it on to the back room

Reach grab

Hold

Grip pelvis                    Relevé 

We can’t be unshielded 

 

Eyes be light

I Love You

You are everything and more much more

 

HOLY SHIT 

HOLY SHIT             I love you.

Press for "In Their Own Voice" this week

Hi everyone,

I'm delighted to let you know we're in the Press Democrat this week and also The Bohemian. 

The piece I've been working on, "Barely A Person'', giving a voice to post partum depression, is being shown as part of "In Their Own Voice" - a virtual festival about what happens when you let a woman speak.

SCHEDULE:

May 8th / 9th / 15th / 16th @ 2pm
May 8th / 14th / 15th @ 8:30pm

$25/general tickets $12/student

Prices are per household

"In Their Own Voice" is an hour and 10-minute online theater festival composed of 5 short plays/performance pieces written by the performers. 
​
This sometimes intense, sometimes funny, always touching festival delves beneath the surface of what society thinks a woman should be and looks at individuals to hear the stories of who they actually are. Featuring an all Femme/Female-identifying/Non-binary group of Sonoma County artists from multiple ethnicities, races, sexualities, and ages this festival is a true community event that seeks to give all those who identify as women a voice.
​
Please note that this festival aims to give a voice to all aspects of what "Womanhood/Femme/Female-identifying" is.*  
​
*As such, there are adult situations and adult language used along with some triggering subjects. Viewer discretion is advised and the advisable age is 13+ with adult supervision.

Tickets available at cloverdaleperformingarts.com

After you buy a ticket, you’ll receive an email with a link for the performance of the time and date you chose. Click on the big blue button link in the email to watch the show. Or go to ShowTix4U.com/stream and use the access code provided in the email.

This festival is a co-production between Heroines, Harpies, and Harlots Theatre and Cloverdale Performing Arts Center.

 

WE DID IT! Filming is done, and editing begins

Hello lovely! I'm delighted to announce that we wrapped filming of ''Barely a Person'', my dance theatre piece giving voice to Postpartum depression, this past weekend. On our (covid safe) set were myself, Jess Headington (director), Sean Pettis (filmmaker) and Dana Hunt (lights, B camera). I was relieved that, what with it being a personal, vulnerable and emotionally taxing piece to dance, I had such a supportive group to work with. It made a huge difference.  THANK YOU so much to all of you who contributed your voices to this work. We ended up with several mother's voices from 4 different countries making up the soundtrack.  We head into editing now and the film will be available in May. More details then!  Here are some shots of our shoot, from Jess and I.    April 2021 Register for CLASS

Classes! Do you have a friend who'd like to try expandance?  Bring them to class this month and they get their first class FREE! FRIDAYS Starting Tomorrow Fri April 2nd 9:30am - 10:30am Pacific (5:30pm Ireland and UK) *** Remember to register for each class! Registering will get you an e-mail with the zoom link *** For expandance classes, you'll need: * Something to draw / write with / on * A couple of cushions and a blanket for relaxation at the end Please note: These 1 hour classes are sliding scale $10 - $25. Anything you give above $20 will help pay for someone else who can't afford that much, or for BIPOC and immigrants, who are welcome to come for free. Thank you.  See you there! RPW