Valley Dances is a series of free outdoor dance performances created by Terre Parker with a non-traditional, intergenerational cast and performed in Pioneer Valley cities in the Spring, Summer and Fall of 2013.

Valley Dances Performance Series:

• Friday, May 10th at benches outside Forbes Library, Northampton (During Arts Night Out)
• Saturday, June 8th in alleyways along Cottage Street, Easthampton (During Art Hampton/Art Walk)
• Late August at the sculpture garden at Park Hill Orchard, Easthampton (During Art in the Orchard)
• Friday, September 13th along Main Street in Northampton (During Arts Night Out)
• Thursday, October 3rd along South and East Pleasant Streets in Amherst (During Art Walk)

This project is unique because of the method employed in making the dances, the people doing the dances, and the places the dances are performed.

Photo: Open/Close at Easthampton Art Walk 2012 (by Jim Coleman)

Snapshot:

Imagine you come into Northampton to get a frozen yogurt and walking from your car you happen upon three women sitting on a bench. Their eyes are closed and expressions peaceful as if they are listening. They slowly reach up and open to the sky, then retract and curve over to embrace themselves. Each in turn reaches and curls, sometimes overlapping arms and then cradling each other. It is a bit odd to see this happening among the bustle of commerce on Main Street, but it is also a nice surprise. You stop to watch and find yourself looking up at the sky with the dancers. Your breath slows to the rhythm of the dancers breath. When you continue walking on, you feel different. You notice more of the activity around you. You notice the sky touching the tops of the buildings. You notice your breath as you cross the street. Your imagination plays with memory of three women on a bench reaching and cradling.

Method:

Terre Parker has been creating site-specific and intergenerational performances for indoor and outdoor environments since 1997. In the footsteps of her mentor Anna Halprin, Terre employs an approach to dance that is non-stylized (It does not value one quality over another or conform to a physical style like ballet, jazz, etc.). Instead, movement is developed out of each dancers exploration of the way their particular body moves and dancers' physical limitations are met with creative exploration. This opens the artistic process to any one, with any type of body, who develops the awareness and creative tools to explore, compose, and express physically. In a society which values stylized beauty and conformity so highly, this approach to dance offers healing for performers and witnesses. It provides an opportunity to reconnect with the wisdom of the body and celebrate each person's unique creative capacity.

Photo: Workshop for audience at The Honey Land installation Northampton Center for the Arts 2012 (by Veronika Hellmer)

People:

Dancers will include students from Terre Parker's classes as well as veteran performers who have worked with Terre on previous projects. Dancers range in age from 20s to 70s. Some are new to dance, but are practiced in another art forms. Some don't look like a "typical dancer." Profiles of a few dancers are included below.

It is ongoing goal for Terre to collaborate with dancers who are diverse in age, ability, cultural heritage and race, gender identification, and experience in order to make dance as accessible as possible and give the broadest possible image of what and who a dancer can be. Rehearsals will include ongoing facilitated dialogue in which dancers can share their subjective experiences in the performances, in the group, and in the creative process. Terre will draw on her experience working with Urban Bush Women to facilitate dialogue around difference and power as it relates to the dance experience.Photo: Passersby witness Blindfold Experiment at Goddard College, VT 2011 (by John Borstel)

Places:

Valley Dances will take place in public locations (benches, sidewalks, staircases, and parks) in order to inspire passersby to see these cities in a different way.

Dancers demonstrate the possibility of a nourishing, aesthetic relationship to the natural and built environments we inhabit every day. They slightly disrupt the conventional use of public spaces in order to expand the range of how we interact with each other and the world around us.Photo: Post-performance snapshot at Busker's Ball sponsored by C3 Northampton 2011

Context:

Terre Parker returned to the Pioneer Valley in 2010, after seven years studying and performing with postmodern dance pioneer Anna Halprin in Northern California. Terre found the Valley to be an ideal home for her work because of the rich somatic and improvisational dance communities, and the regional focus on local commerce and environmental awareness. Terre offers a unique set of skills that complement the Valley's existing resources; she is the only veteran performer and certified teacher of Halprin's approach in Western Massachussets. Valley Dances builds off of the pioneering work of the Dance Generators, bringing intergenerational dance to public attention in the Valley, and expands it. Valley Dances uses dance to promote awareness of the environment (both natural and built) and awareness of the body as an avenue for meaningful connection with each other and the earth.

Photo: Terre Parker (by Iu-Hui Chua)

Costs

This microgrant will enable Terre to effectively produce the Valley Dances series. Money will be used for costumes, promotional materials, artist fees for musical accompaniment (at select performances), and replacement of lost wages for the choreographer. 

Promotion:

Valley Dances are scheduled to occur during city arts events (i.e. Art Walks) to maximize exposure for the performances. Performances will be marketed through listings on the appropriate city and chamber of commerce websites, paper flyers, the Valley Arts Newsletter email, the Valley Art Share website, the Earthdance Monthly Score email, the Dance Spree email list, press releases to local radio stations and newspapers, free listings in the Hampshire Life section of the Gazette, verbal announcements by the dancers at community events, and through Terre Parker's email list and website.

Photo: Witnesses explore The Honey Land installation, Vermont 2012 (by John Borstel)

The Artists:

Terre Unité Parker is an experimental dance artist who creates intergenerational performance for indoor and outdoor environments and participatory dance video installations. From 2003 - 2010, Parker was a member of postmodern dance pioneer Anna Halprin’s dance company and performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and abroad. Parker’s classes, participatory community events, written dance scores, performances, and dance videos serve to bring audiences and participants into close, intimate contact with the environment and provide a joyful experience of collective creativity. Parker’s collaborative work has recently been presented at the Midsummer Serenade Festival (Sequerciani, Tuscany, Italy 2012) and named a Finalist at Videoholica Festival (Varna, Bulgaria 2012). Parker has also taught and performed original work nationally and internationally in Bali, Java, Romania, and China. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (B.A. Magna Cum Laude 2002) and Goddard College (MFA Interdisciplinary Arts 2012). She teaches community classes in the Pioneer Valley (MA). www.terreparkerdance.net

Sample Performer Bios:

• Grace LeClair (pictured above with daughter Terre) is a writer, fiber artist, feminist activist, teacher, non-profit consultant, and mother of two. She began studying dance and performing at age 61.
  
• Sky Halm (above in Busker's Ball 2011) is an improvisational theater director, performer, and teacher who has performed with Terre Parker since 2008.
• Sakura Shimada (above in The Honey Land 2012) is a dancer and teacher of improvisational dance who lives in Brattleboro, VT and has performed with Terre since 2008.

Thank you for your consideration of this project!