I wanted to post about the Ponderosa Tanzland Festival in Germany because it has been such a profound influence. Every year dancers from across Europe and beyond migrate to Stolzenhagen for this festival which is in parts a performance extravaganza, a training ground, an experiment in community living and a shamanic immersion. The creative child of Steph Maher, Uli Kaiser and their team the festival hosts a programme which runs throughout July combining a range of workshops covering improvisation, choreography and somatics with numerous performance events.
Last year I was invited to participate in Mary Pearsons 10 day Failure Lab part two and I finished my stay with Keith Hennessy’s workshop, “Ritual Performance”. The death ritual I underwent in that workshop was an extraordinary experience.
There is too much to say and too few words to describe Ponderosa so a few images…
PONDEROSA 2012
porch monsoons
frog basking in the solar shower
“these are my bunny rabbits”
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
umbilical black stiletto marking time
snake skin on the path to Stolpe
lunchtime dolls
softly drunk night-time harmonies
speak american australian speak
falling, falling, failing
“to kill the death in me”
2 am chocolate cake
mud caked early morning bodies
punk song – “hate the shamen, love the shamen”
amniotic peace, gasping awake
Turbulence
THE boy band
chakra swatting on the slack wire
the awesome Core reunion
beautiful communion
a quickening
…greeting the rising sun at the end of the day
FB Ponderosa – Movement and Discovery
