As founder of Bandaloop – the West Oakland troupe that performs modern ballet on skyscrapers and other 90-degree surfaces – Amelia Rudolph was an early popularizer of the Bay Area’s “vertical dance” scene. Now she’s off doing her own thing, and that includes an intriguing performance piece that deals with the lifeblood of our planet, water.
Taking place May 7-9 at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco, “Water Moves” is an outgrowth of Rudolph’s fascination with agua – be it the windy mountain spray of Yosemite or, as it so happens here, a big ol’ plastic dispenser not too much unlike the Deer Park jug you’ll find in the office.
“This decade — my 60s — is a rebirth of sorts, and much of the work I am making relates in some way to water,” Rudolph says. “I have a mountain project with a 1,600-foot waterfall, a project in development on the Pajaro River (in California), a project in Ireland over the Atlantic, and this intimate theater work that centers around the ubiquitous five-gallon water jug used all over the world to carry and store water.”
The performance employs multiple dancers and experimental rigging – learn something new for your next mountain-climbing trip, perhaps? — to explore “how we are moved by the aqueous forces that sustain us.” With sensory boosts coming from projection artwork, a composer sampling hydrophone recordings and a “steam-punk-meets-gramophone” audio sculpture, it promises to be as powerful as the element it honors.
Details: Shows take place 6:30 p.m. May 7, 8, and 9 at 401 Alabama St., San Francisco; $35-$50 tickets at ameliarudolph.com
