| Notes: | Camera, Rick Wise, William Winans, John Coney.
Performers: With: Anna Halprin, Ann Hallatt, Billy C. Jackson, Casey Sonnabend, Christopher Joy, Daria Lurie, David Clark, Dennis Anderson, Jackie Durbin, Jeanne Hicks, John Hopkins, Johnny Ray McGhee, Larry Reed, Melinda West, Melvin Garrett, Nancy Peterson, Nicholas Peckham, Norma Leistiko, Odessa Cleveland, Paul Pera, Pepe Hill, Rana Schuman, Ruth Coopersmith, Sheryl Powell, Suzanne DeWilde, Wanda E. Coleman, Xavier Nash.
DVD.
|
|---|
| Summary: | "This extraordinary film documents the first days of rehearsal for the performance Ceremony of Us, a collaboration between Anna Halprin and Studio Watts, which took place at the Mark Taper Theatre in Los Angeles in 1969, and for which no final performance film exists. In 1968 Ann Halprin simultaneously developed two companies, one in San Francisco of all white dancers, and another in Watts of all black dancers. After working separately for weeks the two groups came together to develop a highly controversial and politically groundbreaking performance. In a rehearsal process that was, in the words of Janice Ross 'not so much a dance as a lived experiment' Halprin guided the two groups of dancers into experiences that both elicited and challenged racial stereotypes, creating a space where political and personal anger and despair could be expressed, and where reconciliation could be envisioned. Though it captures only fragments of this process, which included extensive group and partnering processes, utilizing movement, speech, emotional and perceptual exploration, the film goes far in capturing the spirit of the performance"--www.annahalprin.org.
|
|---|
