SILK brings Portland aerial dancers and Mendocino College Repertory Dance Company to local stage

by Kate Marianchild

Lithe human bodies suspended from aerial silks will dance through the air during SILK, an evening of theatre arts that will electrify the Mendocino College stage over the November 20-22 weekend. The production will feature circus-style acts by Pendulum Dance Theatre of Portland, Oregon and contemporary dances on themes related to China and the "Silk Road" performed by the Mendocino College Repertory Dance Company.

The production, a visual first for Mendocino County as well as a visual feast, will open with "Shadows of the Silk Road," a medley showcasing four contemporary dances choreographed by Mendocino College dance professor Leslie Saxon West and her students. The pieces were inspired by Saxon West's three-week trip to China in April of this year. Dances by other faculty choreographers and guest performers on the Silk Road theme will round out the first set. (The term "Silk Road" refers to a network of trade routes between China and countries to the west along which Chinese silk and other goods were transported for many centuries). 

Members of Pendulum Dance Theatre of Portland, Oregon will take the stage in Act Two with "Nine," a performance that opens with dancers climbing hand over hand up colorful silk streamers hanging from the rafters. Once in the air the dancers wrap themselves in cocoons of silk, emerging to perform ballet-like acrobatics while acting out stories about upside-down lovers, insomniac contortionists, and fan dancers on roller skates. The strength and grace of the dancers combine with the shapes they create with their bodies and the silks to produce scenes of breathtaking beauty. It is unlikely that a circus-style dance performance of this quality and magnitude has ever appeared on stage in Mendocino County. 

SILK will take place at the Mendocino College Center for the Visual and Performing Arts on Friday and Saturday, November 20 & 21, 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. Advance tickets are available from Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah, the Mendocino College Bookstore, or by calling (707) 468-3079. Tickets are $10 general admission and $8 for ASB cardholders, children 12 and under, and seniors (65 and older); all tickets sold at the door will cost an additional $2.

Pendulum Dance Theater, a professional dance company directed by Suzanne Kenney, has been an innovator in theatre arts for close to a decade, mixing dance, theatre, and storytelling with contemporary circus. Pendulum offers "a window into strength, beauty, joy, and the part of the human soul that loves to take risks." According to one review, Pendulum is one of only a few companies nationwide that "deliver the intertwined disciplines of dance and theater in a state of apparent weightlessness." Sarah Hardy, a 2008 graduate of Ukiah High School, will appear with Pendulum as an apprentice. Hardy appeared in SPACE and Mendocino College performances before she left Ukiah for Portland. She is currently a Theatre Arts student at Portland State University, as well as an apprentice in Pendulum. 

Two other former Ukiah students and dancers will be contributing to this production. Lila Buckley, a graduate of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and recent recipient of a Fullbright scholarship to Oxford, has been living and working in Beijing for the past four years. Buckley took several of the photographs of Emei Shan and Le Shan, two famous Szechuan mountains that will be projected as a backdrop to Saxon West's dance meditation "Distant Green Valley." Le Shan is the home of the 223-foot Grand Buddha that will appear in the photographs.

Emily Era-McGarvey is another former student and dancer who will contribute to the production. Era-McGarvey and her mother Susan Era have choreographed two humorous dances about Chinese food and Chinese signs. Susan Era is a long-term adjunct faculty member in the college dance department.

In addition to "Distant Green Valley," Saxon West choreographed three other pieces: "Kites," a piece about the colorful kites that are seen everywhere in Beijing, "Bound," a dance about the attitudes of three generations of Chinese women toward foot-binding, and "Shadows," a collaborative piece about an art installation Saxon West saw in Beijing by contemporary Chinese artist Feng Yi Ying. 

The first set will also showcase Troupe Satya, a Ukiah-based Egyptian-fusion dance company; Lake County's Michelle Berger performing several short Romany-inspired solos; an India-inspired dance by repertory member Miriam McNamara, and pieces choreographed by Bernadette Alverio-Gray and Kirsten Turner, both members of the Mendocino College dance faculty.