California Dancing

One of the highlights of this year's Risk/Reward is the festival's geographic expansion up (Cat Main & Jamie Nesbitt from Vancouver, B.C.) and down (Pappas & Dancers from L.A.) the West Coast. To say that Pappas is from L.A. is, in a way, to short-change the range of the company's collaborators. Joining choreographer Rebecca Pappas are CA-based dancers Genevieve Carson and Jesse Saler, plus MN composer / musician Christopher Danforth and NY lighting designer Christopher Kuhl (who's work you ought to know from just about every Hand2Mouth show over the last 5 years).

 Plans, trains, and cars aside, this weekend Portland has put out the "Welcome North" sign for CA dancers. Randy Paufve, from Oakland, is in residence at Conduit and will be performing "So I Married Abraham Lincoln" June 21-23. Keith Hennessey, up from San Francisco, is subject of a weekend-long symposium of talks, performances, and meals hosted by PICA. He's presenting Crotch for your pre-R/R arts fix. And lest you feel that all the watching isn't enough, or if all the dancing inspires you to get up and move, join Rebecca Pappas back at Conduit on July 7 teaching a master class called "Remaking the World."

So, what about the movement? Here's a little taste from the Pappas' last show to get you hyped.