October workshop and a new show

 

October: the birthday month 

Hey friendlios!

October is "Birthday Month" in our household, (yep, we're ALL October babies!) ...and as such, October is a busy one. What with birthday planning, working on writing expandance curriculum and choreographing for a show at Cinnabar Theatre, I'm only teaching expandance *just once* this month, on zoom.

So if you're wanting some expandance, this is the class to come to 
It's 1.5 hours, so we can dance more, draw for longer, and delve deep into our restorative practice. MmmMmmMmm, AmIRight? #bliss 

Tuesday October 19th
10am-11:30am Pacific
(That's 1pm East Coast and 6pm Ireland / UK)

REGISTER HERE! 

~~~ Find or reconnect to your intuition
~~~ Have a bit of a boogie
~~~ Calm your nervous system

When you walk into an expandance class, you’re saying yes to an invitation to come home to yourself. This practice lives at the intersection of creative expression and somatic healing.

expandance is about spaciousness, permission, and connection.
expandance is a creative space.
It’s also a healing space.
… Which makes it a sacred space. But, don’t worry, we make sure not to take ourselves too seriously...

Because really, expandance is a playful space.

When you give yourself permission to come into this space, you get to welcome all the disparate parts of yourself home. You get to show up exactly as you are and be curious about what you’ll discover.

Let me know if you've any questions at all by simply replying to this e-mail; I'm happy to answer even the smallest questions. 


REGISTER HERE

And PAY HERE

expandance classes are FREE for BIPOC and undocumented immigrants, wherever you reside.

Hey, Sonoma County! Come see what I've been working on:

Dancing Lessons

by Mark St. Germain

Dates
October 15, 16 & 17, 2021
October 22, 23 & 24, 2021
October 29, 30 & 31, 2021
Special Streaming Video on Demand Oct 29-31, 2021

Director: John Browning
Stage Manager: Ross Tiffany Brown
Set Designer: Wayne Hovey
Costume Designer: Donnie Frank
Choreographer: Rachel Wynne

Cast
Jessica Headington as Senga Quinn
Trevor L. Hoffmann as Ever Montgomery

Entertaining and charming! We meet two highly offbeat characters, a Broadway dancer and a science professor coping with physical and emotional challenges as they forge an unexpected friendship in this heartfelt play. Filled with laughs and the intricacies of the human condition, we witness their journey of discovery and personal triumph as they come to realize that sometimes the most profound experiences can occur when least expected.

TICKETS HERE

 

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

Your voice is needed!

Hi friends,

I'm creating a solo dance theatre piece for a women's theatre festival in April. It'll be performed virtually at the end of April.

I'm exploring post-partum depression through this piece - not just my own but I also want to hear from other mums around the world who have experienced PPD. Part of the ''soundtrack'' to this piece will be moms voices sharing their experiences - mostly short snippets.

If you or someone you know experienced PPD (or PP anxiety, or PP rage) and feel secure and safe enough in yourself at this stage to share a little in an audio file, I would be grateful for just two minutes of your time answering a couple of questions on a voice memo that can be used in the soundtrack. All you need to do is talk into your phone.

The intention with this piece is to highlight a part of early motherhood that is not talked about enough, and is often (in my opinion) the direct result of us all living in a white supremacist, individualistic patriarchy. To that end I want to make sure I amplify BIPOC voices - please let me know how you identify when you send me your mp3 / mp4 file. Answers do not need to be in English.

All the voices on the track would be listed as anonymous, so you can be as real and honest as you want. (Swearing / random noises are ok - whatever comes out). We may not use snippets from all files we receive, (for example, if there's too much background noise or we just receive a lot) but hope to use as many as possible to give voice to this.

Thank you, dear ones, for helping me create this pretty vulnerable piece of art. Thank you for sharing with friends.

If you are interested:

* Please record yourself on your phone or computer - you can use the ''voice memo'' app, or just video the floor while you answer and I can extract the audio

* Answer any or all of the questions you feel you can

* e-mail mp3 or mp4 file to me at rachel@expandance.com, letting me know how you identify

* it would help the sound engineer if everything ended up being less than 2 minutes total

We are looking to collect all these voices by the end of this week Sunday March 7th 2021

Thank you, so much,

Rachel

The questions:

(If you're currently experiencing PPD, feel free to answer in the present tense)

1. If you remember it, what was your lowest point? 

"My lowest point was..." 

2. If your thoughts had a voice back then what were they saying? 

"My thoughts were / are saying..."

3. How did you feel about those thoughts?

4. What were the main, overriding feelings during the first year or two of parenthood for you?

5. If there was something that ultimately got you through / helped you, what was it? 

"What turned things around for me was..."or "What has helped me is..."

Bay Area Women's Theatre Festival

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to be performing in the Bay Area Women's Theatre Festival.

I'll be onstage for Women at Large and Women at Home, and I hope to see you at one (or two) of the shows. We have some incredible talent, and all female-identifying playwrights, actors, producer and directors.

Tickets here. 

Photos from Fairy Worlds!

Fairy Worlds! 

a Midsummer Night's Dream adaptation 

Just 3 performances left at the Cannery urban ruins, downtown Santa Rosa, California

Thursday Aug 31

Friday Sept 1st 

Saturday Sept 2nd

Direction by Jared Sakren / Choreography by Rachel Wynne 

Tickets here. 

It's visually stunning, magical, hilarious, and I've heard several audience members comment ''that was the first Shakespeare play where I've understood the whole thing!"

All photos here by the wonderful Zohar Zaied

"FairyWorlds! captures the enchantment of Shakespeare’s play with a dreamscape atmosphere. It’s exciting lighting design and enthusiastic cast weave an entertaining evening in the unique cannery ruins venue." - review here. 

Last performance of Wicked Frozen!

Our last performance of Wicked Frozen is tomorrow (ok, today, technically!) - we've had the most wonderful response from audiences so far and we hope you can join us for the last show at the West Village Musical Theatre Festival.

WICKED FROZEN

A musical parody mashup of "Wicked" and "Frozen"

Written by two people who have never seen "Wicked" or "Frozen"

Players Theatre, MacDougal Street (near West 4th), New York

Sunday June 29th 2014 2pm

Here's our Facebook page. 

Here's the link to TICKETS!

Here's the thing about us on broadwayworld.com!

And here are some photos I took over the last couple of weeks!

Enjoy - and see you tomorrow!

- Rachel