Moment's Notice

A Sunday Evening in December

2011-12-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

Our next Moment's Notice is on SUNDAY, December 18th at 7pm.

That's a new night and time, but the location is the still Western Sky Studio in the Sawtooth Building at 2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA.

Tickets are sliding scale, $8-$20, available at the door.

We have some great performers this December.

Emily Fox is a physical theater performer who especially delights in improvisation. With her body, voice and presence (and possibly a prop or two), Emily becomes a conduit for characters and images that arise, as worlds form to be explored.

In 1999, Emily performed the solo improvisation Right this Way Into the Fire for the San Francisco Fringe Festival; her solo clown show, One or Two Things won Best of San Francisco Fringe in 2001. Her many ensemble performances over the years have included countless improvisational shows and Heaven’s Radio, with Shinichi lova-Koga’s inkBoat, in 2003. She is a graduate of the Dell Arte School of Physical Theater and has studied, practiced, and taught Action Theater.

Emily retired from theater eight years ago. This performance marks an unexpected return and a coming home.

Katarina Eriksson

Katarina Eriksson has been involved with improvisational dance since 1989, collaborating with Julyen Hamilton, Ray Chung, Cathie Caraker and others, teaching in Europe and the US, and co-curating Moments Notice, which she co-founded.

Recent performance endeavors include: Artist in Residency at CounterPULSE, touring in Sweden and Germany with improvising folk dance troupe Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri, directing multi-disciplinary performances at Earthdance, Massachusetts and Movement Research at Judson Church, New York, and co-creating the site-specific performance piece A Perfectly Safe Hideout in Beirut, Lebanon.

For this show, she’s performing with Shree Shyam Das who she had the pleasure to work with in the E/merge Festival in Massachusetts a couple of years ago. They think of their piece as an audio-visual contact duet and calls it: Flying Bones.

Shree Shyam Das

Shree Shyam Das is a percussionist, bassist, and drummer who has worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, world-music pioneer Jai Uttal, beatbox/loop phenom Kid Beyond, the New Pickle Circus, Polish reggae band Village of Peace, Indian hip-pop diva Shakti, and world-renowned tabla artist Suphala, among others. His music is on the web at www.thatshyamguy.bandcamp.com and

Gray as Superhero X

Gray draws from an eclectic background of improv theater, dance, gymnastics, linguistics, Zen Buddhism and Corporate America to explore the intersections of identity, culture and spirituality.

Fresh from recent shows in Santa Fe and New York, Gray’s Superhero X continues her search for Who She Is by trying on her next identity: a performance artist. Audience becomes props, stage becomes performer, X becomes Who? Superhero X and the cast of Self-ish come to Moment's Notice to ask the audience Who are You? and what follows is... who knows, it's improv!

Find out more at www.GrayPerforms.com.

Cathie Caraker is an independent dance artist and teacher who has been developing her approach to movement research, improvisation and performance for donkey's years. Her performance work has been presented at theaters including Dance Theater Workshop, Judson Church and Danspace at St Mark's in NYC, Nestheaters in Amsterdam and CounterPULSE in San Francisco. She has also taught at institutes across Europe, North and South America. She currently lives in San Francisco, where she is a frequent collaborator with Katarina Eriksson, Rosemary Hannon and other local luminaries.

Kim Criswell performs improvised physical theater. Her performances often concern the poignant absurdity of being human, poking fun at habits of the mind (especially her own.) Kim occasionally leads workshops in the Bay Area and in Singapore, and she co-produces Moment’s Notice. Her website is www.awarenessarts.com.

This being Moment's Notice, a show all about experimental, wildly creative improvisation, we'll probably have a few surprises, as well. Hope to see you there!

Save the date: we're doing a show on Sunday, Dec. 18th

2011-11-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

Moment's Notice is back - with a new night & time:

SUNDAY, December 18th

7pm

Western Sky Studio

2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA

Sliding Scale: $8-$20 (Tickets will be available at the door on a pay what you will basis.)

As always, Moment's Notice will feature a variety of improvised performances, each lasting around 10-15 minutes. December's performers include:

Katarina Eriksson & Shree Shyam Das (dance & music)
Gray (theater)
Emily Fox (theater)
Kim Criswell (theater)
Cathie Caraker (dance)

Summer Time!

2011-08-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Moment's Notice is on summer break. Our next show will probably be in October. If you're looking for an improv show this weekend, though, there's an Action Theater performance in Pt. Reyes. All of the performers (including me!) have performed many times over many years at Moment's Notice.

Here's who's performing at our June 18th show (8pm @ Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA):

2011-06-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Cathie Caraker & Henry Kaiser: dance & music
Katarina Eriksson & Matt Shyka: dance
Cameron Kelly: dance
Shay Nichols: music
Owen Walker: theater

photo by Frank Revi

Henry Kaiser (according to Wikipedia) is an American guitarist and composer. Recording and performing prolifically in many styles of music, Kaiser is a fixture on the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He is considered a member of the "first generation" of American free improvisers. Seriously: it's an honor to have Henry perform in an intimate venue like Moment's Notice. Check out the Wikipedia bio, or better yet, Google him!

Katarina Eriksson has been involved with improvisational dance since 1989, collaborating with Julyen Hamilton, Ray Chung, Cathie Caraker and others, teaching in Europe and the US, and co-curating Moments Notice, which she co-founded. Recent performance endeavors include: Artist in Residency at CounterPULSE, touring in Sweden and Germany with Hoppalappa, and directing multi-disciplinary performances at Earthdance, Massachusetts and Movement Research at Judson Church, New York. In July, she'll be leading a workshop on "Accidental Excellence" at the annual WCCIRF (West Coast Contact Improv Research Forum.)

Cameron Kelly is interested in authentic humor and low-grade embarrassment. She's also curious about borrowing language from traditional Chinese medicine (the five elements, organ meridians, and heaven and earth, for example) to think about improvised movement practice and peformance. Infusing imagination and fantasy into sensation-based impulses, a layered and sometimes contradictory experience of "now" emerges.

Owen Walker is an actor who improvises. He teaches and performs in the Bay Area and nationally. His work draws heavily from Action Theater, a performance practice which integrates movement, voice and language. Owen uses physical improvisation to explore the terrain of human experience, from the mystical to the mundane, and from the animal to the urbane. He enters the performance space empty, without any preconceived structure or plan, and then builds a world based on the emerging action.
www.ActionTheaterBayArea.com

Shay Nichols, a singer and vocal improviser from the Bay area, loves creating music for the moment. Inspired by nature and vocal traditions around the world, she sings in imaginary languages that are a bridge from the primal to the sublime. Shay completed the CIIS Voice/Sound Healing certificate program in 2007 and is certified as a Sound Practitioner through the Open Ear Center. Her work combines the freedom of improvisation with the wisdom of sound healing traditions to encourage well being and transformation. She has been leading workshops and teaching privately since 2007.

So, come to our show!

Saturday, June 18, 8:00 pm.

Tickets sliding scale at door: $8-15

Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th Street (@Dwight), in Berkeley.

June will be a very good month!

2011-05-22T00:36:00.000-07:00

Our next Moment's Notice is coming up:

Saturday, June 18, 2011, 8:00 p.m.

Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA 94710

$8 - $15 (Sliding scale.)

Featuring: Cammie Kelly ... Cathie Caraker ... Henry Kaiser ... Owen Walker ... Shay Nichols ... and more. We'll update this site with more detail soon.

But first:

Do you remember past Moment's Notice shows when our co-curators/co-producers Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon danced joyously to David Bowie music? Wasn't it fun? Didn't you want to see MORE, a LOT more? Good, because the first weekend in June, you can:

Moment's Notice dance segment

2011-03-06T01:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a delicious, bite-sized slice of the February Moment's Notice show!

Dance: Cathie Caraker, Rosemary Hannon, Ronja Ver
Music: Peter Whitehead
'Goldilocks' improvisation score created by Katarina Eriksson
Performed 26 February, 2011 at Moment's Notice, Western Sky Studio, Berkeley CA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRxiM6vZmZ0&feature=player_embedded

(Click over to YouTube to see a larger, full-screen version.)

If it's February, it must be time for Moment's Notice

2011-01-30T21:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of the Rabbit! We're celebrating with a brand new Moment's Notice show.

Moment's Notice
Saturday, February 26, 2011
8:00 pm

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA

$8-$15 sliding scale

featuring:

Claire Peaslee : theater
Hana Lee Erdman : dance
Philip Gelb : music
Cathie Caraker, Kristen Greco, Rosemary Hannon, Ronja Ver &Vitali Kononov: dance
Wolves at the Door (Ben Yates & Michael Davenport) : theater

and Katarina Eriksson as MC.

As always with Moment's Notice, there may also be surprise special guests!

Claire Peaslee lives in greater Point Reyes and has regular conversations with birds and shrubs and the weather. She considers Action Theater, taught by Ruth Zaporah, a sort of life practice: improvisation of presence, indeed! Isn't that the essence of a fun existence? With her rather ridiculous range of activities in nature-laughter, Claire invites you to keep in touch via the worldwide web -- at clairepeaslee.net.

Claire invites fellow improvisers to join her in Berkeley on April 8-10 in a workshop taught by Action Theater great Ruth Zaporah. Learn more here.

Philip Gelb is a shakuhachi player who teaches and performs all over the United States, Japan, Europe and Canada at major festivals and venues as well as alternative art spaces, galleries and other venues. He has an active freelance career as an improvisor and runs one of the largest shakuhachi teaching organizations outside of Japan!

Philip has collaborated with choreographers, composers and ensembles too numerous to mention; to find out more (prepare to be impressed) visit www.philipgelb.com

Wolves at the Door (Ben Yates & Michael Davenport) improvise dramatic scenes with comedic elements. Their work is based on creating strong character and relationships, often with an absurdist twist. You can see videos Wolves at the Door at magicjestertheater.com

Cathie Caraker, a native San Franciscan who's spent most of her adult dancing life in Amsterdam and western MA, has been involved with Contact Improvisation for almost 30 years and still considers herself a beginner.

Katarina Eriksson is co-founder and co-curator of Moment's Notice, teaches Contact Improvisation (currently at CounterPULSE, San Francisco), and has lately taken an interest in directing improv-based multi-disciplinary performances.

Kristen Greco loves playing in the snow, walking on the beach, making dances, and being quiet.

Vitali Kononov is a movement artist, bodyworker and somatic movement educator, working with improvisation as a performance discipline, therapeutic tool and a contemplative practice.

Ronja Ver is a working artist. http://soluja.blogspot.com

Moment's Notice is back for one show this season:

2010-10-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday, November 13
8pm
$8-15 sliding scale

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA 94710

featuring:

Gray de Young & Andy Water Schmeder : theater
Jon Raskin, Gino Robair, Meghan Ballog, & Tania Llambelis : music & dance
Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon : dance
Lilli & Henry Misner : theater & music
Owen Walker : theater

Here's a hint of what you'll see:

Gray de Young is just back from New Mexico, where she performed a one-woman show, Burst! For Moment's Notice, she and Andy Water Schmeder will do "Full Disclosure(tm) brand improv", which she describes as "a quick little improv-ditty where we moment-to-moment take no prisoners, not even (and especially not) ourselves. Info about Gray, including videos of past performances, are at http://www.grayperforms.com/

Jon Raskin returns to Moment's Notice for a musical duet with Gino Robair. Jon is a founding member of Rova Saxaphone Quartet and his accomplishments are too great to list -- check out http://www.jonraskin.com/ for details. Every time Jon performs at Moment's Notice, everyone is happy!

Gino Robair owns Rastascan Records and is an associate editor for Electronic Musician magazine. Besides collaborating with Jon in the Rova Saxaphone Quartet and the Jon Raskin Quartent, he has performed and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, John Butcher, LaDonna Smith, Otomo Yoshihide, Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Myra Melford, The Club Foot Orchestra, and he is a founding member of the Splatter Trio. Read more about him & find videos here: http://www.bayimproviser.com/

Nuyorican performer Tania Llambelis lives in Oakland, CA and teaches at ASCEND School. She enjoys clowning, multi-lingual vocal improvisation, as well as dancing tango and samba. Her curiosity about the intersection between dance and theatre began during her time as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University. Recent venues where Ms. Llambelis has performed include: Fresno Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and SomArts Cultural Center.

Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon will perform another of their experiments towards their envisioned improvisation-based "dansical". They call tonight's duet I'm Only Dancing 4. Rosemary co-produces Moment's Notice, teaches Contact improvisation and performs with Nono Dance (http://www.artsomatic.org/nono/company/rosemary-hannon). Katarina co-founded Moment's Notice way back in 2000. Her latest performance endeavours include touring with Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri in Sweden and Germany, and directing a multi-disciplinary improv ensemble piece at Earthdance, Massachusetts.

Lilli Misner has studied clowning, dance, theatre and improvisation and creates solo and ensemble works combining her interests in creative writing, music making, movement, dance and theatre. Some of these pieces have been performed in and around San Francisco. Other works, she says, "are still yet to be born!" Lilli is "most happy while digging her hands in soil, watching flowers grow and grow, writing, playing with children, dancing, jumping, banging on pots and pans, making art with others, and imagining Great Things."

Henry Misner began exploring music at the age 16 with the electric guitar and has not stopped ever since. Eventually learning bass, drums and keyboards, he records and performs under the moniker Toba, a blend of psychadelic rock and melodic electronica with vocals. He has performed with bands such as Creatura, Misner and Smith, and is currently playing bass with Magic Leaves. One of his newest ventures is composing music for different visual media. His music can be heard at reverbnation.com/#!/tobamusic.

Owen Walker returns to Moment's Notice with another Action Theater solo. Last time he joined us, this improv genius managed to weave fatherhood, domesticity, a squirrel, life, death, and things that can/cannot be put off into a tight funny story. Owen is a superb teacher too btw. His web site is:

www.actiontheaterbayarea.com

Kim Criswell, Moment's Notice's other co-curator and co-producer, will MC. Her website is www.awarenessarts.com

See you at Western Sky!

PS: You're always welcome to comment below about how you much you've enjoyed any of these performers at past shows!

Summer vacation

2010-07-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's summertime, and Moment's Notice is taking a break. We'll be back in the fall, after improvising in far off places. Wishing you all a glorious season of sun.

2010-05-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 5, 2010

8:00 p.m.

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710

$8 - $15 sliding scale admission, tickets available at the door.

Performances by:

Cathie Caraker : dance

Katarina Eriksson : dance

Imaginary Friends (Abhay Ghiara, Kim Criswell, Krista Gullickson) : theater

Valerie Smith & Stuart Phillips : dance

Titter (Aurora Josephson, Tony Dryer, Jacob Felix Heule, Kanko Nishi) : music

Tumbleheart (Evan Specter, Jonathan Walker, George Carver) : theater

...And probably a surprise or two...

Here's a little more detail:

Cathie Caraker is an international dance artist and teacher. Her solo performance work has been presented in NYC by Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, University Settlement House and the New York Improvisation Festival, and elsewhere in N. America, Europe, Argentina and Brazil. She was recently Artist-in-Residence at CounterPULSE in San Francisco, where she premiered a new work in collaboration with Katarina Eriksson. (Photo by Frank Revi.)

Katarina Eriksson, back again from Sweden and from the EarthDance E/merge Festival, will be dancing. Katarina coproduces and is cofounder of Moment's Notice. She also teaches dance and improvisation, tours with Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri in Sweden, and performed at the SF Fringe Festival with Rowena Richie's LandEscape, a dance theater piece based on Michael Pollan’s texts.

Katarina and Cathie never fail to mesmerize. Often, they collaborate (like when they teamed up for a residency at CounterPulse to produce ANIMoid.) This time, they're each dancing solo... unless another inspiration strikes. In any case, this is going to be good!

Imaginary Friends (Kim Criswell, Abhay Ghiara & Krista Gullickson) has been working together as a physical theater improv trio for over ten years, mostly experimenting in its own private Imaginary Friends Improv Lab. Someone once said they were like "Butoh meets the Marx Brothers." However, Imaginary Friends performs neither Butoh nor vaudevillian comedy. They just like madcap minimalism.

Valerie Smith & Stuart Phillips will perform "Love As Is". This duet bridges the gap between thinking and acting, responding immediately to chosen stimuli in an out of control matter to resolve inner issues through feminine release, the outcome being more life, resolve and questions answered with more evolved vibrancy and refreshing charge.

Stuart Phillips has been pruning and performing improvisation for 28 years and contact improv for 22 years, investigating everything real through contact mode.

Val Smith is dance artist who engages with movement education, performance, and somatic research. Her performance work explores collaboration, creative practice, and composition. Inspired by the intrinsic social politics of Contact Improvisation, Val is currently working with the relational experience of self in dance; how we come to know and identify with ‘self’ and ‘other’, and how does language along with our assumptions and beliefs affect our dance interactions? Val moved to Eugene, Oregon from New Zealand in 2008 and founded Humdance, a proposition for somatic research, practice and performance.

Titter is a music ensemble featuring Tony Dryer (double bass), Jacob Felix Heule (drums), Kanko Nishi (Koto), and Aurora Josephson (voice).

Evan Specter, Jonathan Walker and George Carver are founding members of Tumbleheart, a 3 year old ensemble that transforms recent, memorable life experiences into story, in real-time. They compose spontaneous memoir-scapes, co-written in the moment with one or more members of the ensemble. The memoirs emerge and take shape (in physical movement, with spoken or sung narrative) on the stage in a manner that reveals the deep streams of meaning and emotion that lay within everyday experiences. Tumbleheart’s work is based on ten years studying Motion Theater with the pioneers of this style of theater-making, Nina Wise and Corey Fischer. For more about Motion Theater, visit ninawise.com. Check out www.Tumbleheart.org for more about Evan, Jonathan and George.

And... of course, it's improv, and it's Moment's Notice, so there are always surprises.

See you there!

Moment's Notice returns!

2010-04-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 5, 2010

8:00 p.m.

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710

$8 - $15 sliding scale admission

Performances by:

Aurora Josephson & friends : music

Cathie Caraker : dance

Evan Specter & friends : theater

Katarina Eriksson : dance

~~Eric Glick Rieman~~ : music

~~Sten Rudstrom~~ : theater

Valerie Smith & Stuart Phillips : dance

...And perhaps a surprise or two...

Here's a little more detail:

(May 11 update: Eric & Sten cancelled. But there's good news: Evan Specter & friends will perform Motion Theater, a form created by Nina Wise. We've also got other another musician lined up; more info to come.)

~~Bay Area music improv legend Eric Glick Reiman will be playing prepared rhodes piano... (Click on his name: it links to his MySpace page with YouTube video & music samples.)~~

Katarina Eriksson, back again from Sweden and from the EarthDance E/merge Festival, will be dancing. Katarina coproduces and is cofounder of Moment's Notice. She also teaches dance and improvisation, tours with Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri in Sweden, and performed at the SF Fringe Festival with Rowena Richie's LandEscape, a dance theater piece based on Michael Pollan’s texts.

Cathie Caraker is an international dance artist and teacher. Her solo performance work has been presented in NYC by Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, University Settlement House and the New York Improvisation Festival, and elsewhere in N. America, Europe, Argentina and Brazil. She was recently Artist-in-Residence at CounterPULSE in San Francisco, where she premiered a new work in collaboration with Katarina Eriksson. (Photo by Frank Revi.)

Katarina and Cathie never fail to mesmerize. Often, they collaborate (like when they teamed up for a residency at CounterPulse to produce ANIMoid.) This time, they're each dancing solo... unless another inspiration strikes. In any case, this is going to be good!

Also dancing for us: Valerie Smith & Stuart Phillips.

~~Sten Rudstrom~~ lives in Berlin now, teaching and performing Action Theater, a form of physical theater improvisation. So, this is a rare chance to see him. His work is edgy and often exquisite. Maybe you've seen him on past visits, or when he was a Bay Area resident; before he moved to Europe, he did many solo shows, collaborated with Cassie Terman at Moment's Notice and elsewhere, and also performed with InkBoat.

And... of course, it's improv, and it's Moment's Notice, so there are always surprises.

See you there!

Moment's Notice in March

2010-03-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

March 20, 2010

Showtime: 8:00 pm
Tickets: $8-15

Western Sky Studio 2525 8th Street, Berkeley

Performers include:
Claire Peaslee - Theater
Kim Criswell - Theater
Diana Lara & Bonner Odell - Dance
Nicki Koethner & Diahna Fortuna - Dance
Rae Shao-Lan Blum - Dance
Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov - Dance
Shay Nichols & Green Huse - Music

Tickets available at door.

For reservations call 510-992-6295 or email MomentsNoticeInfo (at) gmail.com

About the performers:

Claire Peaslee is a citizen of Point Reyes and has a life practice in Action Theater. She wanders in, beholds, and converses with the living world in a field of inquiry known as nature-laughter. Her newest experiment, with kindred improvisers, involves taking instruction from the Earth -- Listening To Gaia. For this equinox Moments Notice, Claire is solo and plans nothing, thank you.

Kim Criswell never does solos, because she loves collaboration. So tonight, she's doing a solo. Like Claire Peaslee, Kim is a long time Action Theater improviser. She's also a former dancer who likes Butoh, performance art, certain cirque-y clown stuff... She has a masters' degree in Transformational Art, so she hopes she can successfully (and artistically) transform herself from Moment's Notice co-producer into... well... we'll just have to find out, won't we? Her work often playfully pokes fun at the catastrophe of being human.

Diana Lara is a choreographer and dancer from Honduras. She graduated from the Choreography Program of the Center for Research and Choreography at the Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts (2003) and from the Somatic Research and Participatory Arts program offered by Moving-on-Center in Oakland, California (2007). She has worked as a dancer and choreographer for contemporary dance groups in México (Caída Libre and Luna Roja) and Honduras (Danza Libre), participating in festivals in Mexico and Central America. At this time, she works as an independent artist developing projects based in the exploration of somatic elements and improvisation.

For Moment’s Notice, Diana will present a structured, improvised piece about our relationships with ourselves, others, space, and time. The piece was developed in collaboration with Bay Area dancer and choreographer Bonner Odell. The music is from Ariel Guzik and was edited by John Rodgers.

Rae Shao-Lan Blum will perform an experimental dance and music improvisation, with a friend who will play music. Rae is the recipient of a Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange (CHIME) Grant 2008 with mentor, Simone Forti. Creating performances for stage, film and site specific locations since 1999, Blum's work spans literary, installation and performance. Blum began her early dance training in New York City in the studios of Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon and Movement Research. In addition to performing, choreographing and directing, she teaches classes and workshops in dance technique, composition and improvisation.

nono dance (Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov) : dance

Nono Dance is a performance collective dedicated to conceptually, visually, and aurally framed improvisation. Formed by Rosemary Hannon and Vitali Kononov in 2007, Nono Dance investigates the somatic realms of dance performance. Nono’s improvisational work explores expanded awareness through non-doing. This authenticity in performance elicits a shared experiential field with the audience, offering somatic resonance and rich imagined non-linear narratives. (nonodance.info)

Free Roaming Chicks (Diahna Fortuna and Nicki Koethner) will perform Syncopated Dreams, a structured, improvised piece about relationship dynamics including spoken word and movement. Syncopated Dreams explores the dynamics integral with bisexual identity. Two dancers explore each other. They are in the moment. They respond. They react. They enable a world of possibility within any relationship.

Diahna Fortuna is founder of Fortuna Life Bodywork & Movement, teaching ways to embody creative power and enrich mind-body connection. In private practice since 1994, Diahna draws on an extensive repertoire of techniques and her BA in dance. She has been performing in theater and dance since she was four years old and has been teaching Essential Motion classes & groups throughout the Bay Area since 2000. She's studied with Karen Roeper, founder of Essential Motion, since 1997 and continues to assist Karen's trainings and groups in the U.S. Diahna enjoys inspiring her clients, students, and audience members in becoming more enlivened, relaxed, and joyful in their bodies. http://fortunalife.com and http://www.essential-motion.com/

Nicki Koethner is a multimedia artist, Marriage and Family Therapist and Expressive Art Therapist, specializing in spirituality, creativity, sexuality, attachment, trauma and parenting. She has given Expressive Arts workshops and performances in NY, the Bay Area and in Germany. Her performance work is inspired by her practice of Body Tales and Authentic Movement. She is a passionate advocate of the Expressive Arts for healing trauma as well as celebrating our aliveness and common humanity in sustainability. She is the Executive Co-Chair of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association and is on the Board of Body Tales. She is a bisexual modern-day mystic who is curious about how the psyche expresses itself in the here and now and loves to explore consciousness and touch others through embodied experience.

A singer and vocal improviser from the Bay area, Shay Nichols loves creating music for the moment. Inspired by vocal traditions from around the world, she sings in imaginary languages that are a bridge from the primal to the sublime. Shay recently completed the CIIS Voice/Sound Healing certificate program and is certified as a Sound Practitioner through the Open Ear Center. Her work combines the freedom of improvisation with the wisdom of sound healing traditions to encourage well being and transformation.

Green Huse is a songwriter with an unforgettable voice and a warm performance style. She loves to write songs; she loves to sing them. She takes the listener on a journey through her most recent incarnations of life. Departing from an insecure innocence, traveling to deep jungles and dreams within her heart, she reaches a humble, ecstatic destination.

Last night's show raised $370 for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières!

2010-01-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Moment's Notice audience & performers, we were able to make two donations today, this one and another, totaling $370.

The performers were amazing, too.

Dance, narrative theater, and music, all masterful and each referencing or evoking nature. But don't take my word for it. Here's an email we received:

Doesn't everyone think last night was about the best MoNo ever? I was enthralled from start to finish -- and wowed by the high level, diversity, and gorgeous execution of the performances. THANK you all for producing this thing (and for considering the Haitian sorrow...)

If you weren't there, here's what you missed:

Margit Galanter opened the show with a solo dance. She transformed the space with a few simple props, including large paper circles on the wall and floor. Then she transformed herself, again and again. After the show, she gave away gift certificates for her Physical Intelligence body work sessions, which combine acupressure and Feldenkrais. She teaches, too. Contemplative Dance, Tuning… Definitely worth checking out: http://physicalintelligence.org/)

Owen Walker followed, doing an Action Theater solo about fatherhood, domesticity, a squirrel, life, death, and things that can/cannot be put off. He wove these themes into a tight, funny story. Owen is a superb teacher, too, btw. He leads a weekly class and he's teaming up with Linda Rodeck -- you might remember her from our 11/7/09 Moment's Notice -- to offer a workshop on Jan. 30-31: http://www.actiontheaterbayarea.com

Anka Draugelates & Cheryl Leonard played music on instruments made of reeds, stones, water, wood -- mostly things collected in nature. It was ethereal, moody, fascinating -- and hard to take our eyes off them. But, we did, because they were joined by surprise guests: exquisite dancers from Capacitor (Jody Lomask, Mayuko Hosoai, Marvin Vergara and Ashley Johnson). They're collaborating on a series of workshops and dances to raise awareness and funds for marine sanctuary, The Ocean Project: http://capacitor.org/

Olivia Corson gave us an engaging Body Tales narrative about motherhood, bats, and environmental crisis. It was personal in a way that made the political come alive, and vice versa (If you define ecological issues as political, that is. Anyway, I went home and Googled "bats dying"; now I want to do a fundraiser for them, too. Go ahead and Google it yourself. I dare you to. ) Olivia teaches her way of blending dance with storytelling, and she's gifted at creating a nurturing environment for risk-taking; here's her website: http://www.bodytales.com/

The evening ended with Rajendra Serber and Kristen Greco dancing gorgeously to another set of Anka's and Cheryl's exquisite nature-inspired music. Rajendra is just so fun, and he'll be teaching contact improv at Counterpulse in February: http://counterpulse.org/calendar/classes-and-workshops/

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this evening so satisfying! We "heart" you!

Raising funds for Haiti

2010-01-15T17:48:00.001-08:00

We've decided to donate funds (after expenses) for the January 16 show to Doctors Without Borders, to help them help survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. We hope to see you there! (Show details are in the post below.)

Come see us on January 16!

2010-01-04T11:54:00.001-08:00

Our next show is shaping up to be another good one. Here are details, bios, & links to more info:

Moment's Notice

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710

8pm, Saturday, Jan. 16
Tickets sliding scale, $8-$15

Featuring improvised performances by:

Anka Draugelates & Cheryl Leonard - music/sound art
Margit Galanter - dance
Olivia Corson - body tales
Owen Walker - action theater
Rajendra Serber - dance

..and inevitable surprises...

Anka Draugelates & Cheryl Leonard are doing a piece called "winterstillness."

Anka Draugelates was born in Munich, Germany. She is an improvisational voice artist and musician who composes both experimental and classical pieces. Draugelates studied music therapy in the Netherlands at hoogeschool nijmegen and received her diploma in 1996. Draugelates has participated in solo and group shows throughout Germany, Europe and San Francisco. She enjoys working collaboratively, and has worked extensively with diverse artists, including filmmakers, visual artists, dancers and musicians.

Cheryl Leonard is a composer, performer, improviser and instrument builder. Over the last decade she has focused on investigating sounds, structures, and objects from the natural world. Leonard’s works cultivate stones, leaves, wood, water, sand, shells, feathers, and bones as musical instruments in compositions that reveal the unique voices hidden within these materials. Leonard’s music has been performed worldwide and featured in several television and video documentaries. She has received grants from ASCAP, the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, American Composers Forum and Meet the Composer, and awarded residencies at Djerassi, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Villa Montalvo and Engine 27. www.allwaysnorth.com

Margit Galanter is a movement artisan and collaborative investigator. Her fascination regarding the construction and value of movement has led her to improvising for many years. Margit’s practices span forms such as the Feldenkrais Method®, Wild Goose Qigong, tuning scores, acupressure, and improvisational dance/research/performance, coalescing. She lives in Oakland, where she practices Physical Intelligence and co-curates the SEEDS Festival. To learn more about her biz, check here: www.physicalintelligence.org and for art matters, www.margitg.wordpress.com.   For Moment’s Notice, Margit will present a chapter of Y, a long term project that investigates the androgyne and the beginning of the word.

Olivia Corson is a spirited and inspiring San Francisco Bay Area movement theater artist, noted for her powerful and transformative teaching and performance work. She skillfully interweaves movement and story, feeling and thought, the sacred and the ordinary, with humor and compassion. Corson has performed hundreds of evenings of improvised narrative dance pieces and been a much-loved teacher for over 30 years. She has also created — written, choreographed and directed — many movement theater pieces over many years, (including her pivotal one woman eco-theater show, "Third Stone From the Sun." For more info: www.bodytales.com

Owen Walker teaches and performs improvisation in the Bay Area. Originally a visual artist, he gave up brushes and paint for a more immediate medium - the expressive body. As a performance artist and dancer, Owen was captivated by Ruth Zaporah's work (www.actiontheater.com); he began studying with her intensively in the early nineties. Owen's training also includes vocal work with the Roy Hart Theater, Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation and modern dance. Owen is a member of the International Action Theater Ensemble. For seven years he was a member of Mobius Artists Group in Boston. Owen also co-founded Four Goats and a Virgin, an improvisational theater ensemble. He has performed throughout New England, New York, the Bay Area, and in France.

Rajendra Serber was a 2008 recipient of the Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange award. He directed and performed in his own multimedia group, The RK Corral, supported by grants form the Zellerbach Family Fund, had residencies at The LAB and 848 Community Space, and was nominated for multiple Isadora Duncan Awards and Lester Horton Dance Awards. From 1996 to 1997 he was the Associate Producer of House of Dance, which was broadcast bimonthly on San Francisco’s public access channel. As a dancer, Rajendra has had the privilege of collaborating with many wonderful artists: The Residents, Scott Wells, Sara Shelton Mann, Ilaan Egeland, Jon Weaver, Kimiko Guthrie and Eric Kupers of Dandelion Dancetheater.

The last show... the next show... Happy Holidays!

2009-12-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

The last Moment's Notice show was so fun. It was full of surprises, just like we'd promised!

A couple of pieces were surprisingly short -- around 2 minutes! -- which definitely lived up to the old showbiz adage, "always leave 'em wanting more". In a good way, of course.

For example, Jen Marie stood on a chair doing a simple accumulation piece, walking her hands down and up her legs while reciting text by Gertrude Stein. It was "a dance about work, about women working; a whisper and a declaration..." (according to our program notes.) The audience dictated her speed. This might sound academic, but I'm telling you: it was FUN!

Speaking of short & fun, Evan Specter did a moving, edgy, 2-minute narrative solo. He was one of our un-advertised performer surprises -- although, if you visited the blog before the show, you knew he was on the roster.

Kim Criswell (or should I say, "I") was also an un-advertised surprise performer, appearing incognito (in a wig!) doing a duet with Linda Rodeck. It took a few minutes for some people to recognize her (er, me).

Linda Rodeck also did a Depth Improv solo. She lives in Albuquerque and seems to carry the New Mexican desert & wind in her work. (That sounds very serious, and it can be, but Linda is darned clever & knows her way around comic relief.)

Of course, it was no surprise at all that Jon Raskin and Lisa Mezzacappa gave us a superb musical improv, and Cathie Caraker did another dance solo that evoked nature & space. Fun & fresh, yet polished & sophisticated. I wish we'd recorded it all.

Luckily, Evan Specter sent us these photos of the rousing, fun suite of dances that closed the show. Set to David Bowie, it featured around nine - NINE! - dancers. An installment of Rosemary Hannon's & Katarina Eriksson's "dansical", it included Cathie Caraker, Jen Marie, Rajendra Serber, Kristen Greco, Cody Straus and, of course, Rosemary and Katarina.

Our next show is on Saturday, January 16, 2010. Performers include Anka Draugletes (music/sound art), Cathleen Daly (theater), Margit Galanter (dance), Owen Walker (theater), & Rajendra Serber (dance).

Mark your calendars & come help us start the new year right!

Until then, we wish you happy, peaceful, joy-and-improvisation-filled holidays!

2009-12-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

Next Moment's Notice Show January 16, 2010!

Hope to see you on Nov. 7!

2009-10-28T14:41:00.001-07:00

Details about our Nov. 7 show: scroll down for performers' bios!

Moment’s Notice

A performance series devoted to
improvised music, dance, & theater

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Showtime: 8:00 pm

Tickets: $8-15 sliding scale. Available at door.

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

Featuring:

Cathie Caraker : dance

Cathie Caraker is an international dance artist and teacher. Her solo performance work has been presented in NYC by Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, University Settlement House and the New York Improvisation Festival, and elsewhere in N. America, Europe, Argentina and Brazil. She was recently Artist-in-Residence at CounterPULSE in San Francisco, where she premiered a new work in collaboration with Katarina Eriksson.

Cathie will show the second in a series of solo improvisations to music by Aaron Zimm. (Photo by Frank Revi)

Jon Raskin & Lisa Mezzacappa : music

Jon Raskin (sax) and Lisa Mezzacappa (bass) are both composers and improvisers who look far afield on there perspective instruments for inspiration. This duo will delve into a wide range of sonorities and melodic invention. For more information, visit http://www.lisamezzacappa.com/, www.jonraskin.com and www.rova.org (The image at the top of this blog post is one of Jon's compositions -- see it on his website!)

Linda Rodeck : action theater / depth improv

Linda Rodeck is a performance artist, writer, and teacher. She improvises nationally and internationally in solo and collaboration. For the past ten years, she has studied and performed with master improviser, Ruth Zaporah and the International Action Theater Ensemble. Linda regularly teaches the techniques of Depth Improvisation and Action Theater in New Mexico and is a resident teacher at the Harwood Arts Center in Albuquerque. She is available to teach your weekend, five day, or two week workshop throughout the United States and Internationally. http://depthimprovisation.com

Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon : dance

Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon have decided that they will make a “dansical” one day. This improvisation is a study/etude/experiment/piece of research toward it. They call it I’m Only Dancing 3. Rosemary Hannon co-produces Moment's Notice, teaches Contact Improvisation and performs with Nono Dance. Katarina Eriksson co-founded Moments Notice, way back in 2000! Katarina’s latest performance endeavours include touring with Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri in Sweden, and shows at the SF Fringe Festival with Rowena Richie's LandEscape, a dance theater piece based on Michael Pollan’s texts.

Jen Marie & Daniel Fleischer : dance / voice

...itself in the rich avalanche of heavy words...

Jen Marie’s collaboration with Daniel Fleischer, …itself in the rich avalanche of heavy words..., is a dance structured around the grammar, rhythm, and word play within James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake. (The title comes from Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector) Operating under the mindset of stream-of-consciousness, the dance provides an arena for movements that flow into and out of one another, where the start of phrases are waylaid, diverted, or startled into other starts of phrases, references to self and culture, and re-combinations that evoke the last which becomes a new start of … and then the next. Etc. This dance is a found object, a relic of human cognition.

An Oakland-based dance artist, Jen Marie works primarily with movement and writing. She holds a BA in Dance and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, and has performed with local artists Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts and Shannon Preto, as well as in her own work in the Bay Area and abroad. She is excited and honored to be a part of this season's Moment's Notice!

Evan Specter : motion theater

Evan Specter is a founding member of Tumbleheart, a 7-person ensemble that composes autobiographical memoir-scapes in real time, culling the recent past for moments alive enough to fire up some mirror neurons. His background includes 10 years in the physical narrative technique called Motion Theater, which harnesses physical impulses to activate images and memories, and then weaves the emerging threads into a coherent narrative. He also has a solo show about overeating at the spiritual smorgasbord (http://therebedragons.weebly.com/). He recently joined 2 friends in preparing a 40-course French-inspired meal in Seattle to celebrate their 40th birthdays (http://bit.ly/fTCju). He savors life in Berkeley with a dog, a cat, a hen, a wife, a Legoboy & a Bollywood dancergirl.

...& who knows what surprises...

Anatomy of Presence

2009-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Moment’s Notice and NONOdance present:

Anatomy Of Presence

(a performance evening of improvised works)

Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:30-10pm

Benno Voorham (Sweden), Katarina Eriksson (Sweden/USA), Ray Chung (USA), Rosemary Hannon (USA) and Vitali Kononov (Russia/USA)

A crosspolination of contact improvisation, dance and theater, Anatomy of Presence reveals the hidden currents of human attention and it’s manifestation in space and time. At the intersection of funny and serious, deep and shallow, physical and psychic performers locate their presence and share it with the audience.

Part one: Bones. Performed by Ray Chung, Vitali Kononov and Benno Voorham.

Part two: Skin. Performed by Benno Voorham and Katarina Eriksson.

Part three: Blood. Performed by Katarina Eriksson and Rosemary Hannon.

Part four: Muscules. Performed by Rosemary Hannon, Katarina Eriksson, Ray Chung, Vitali Kononov and Benno Voorham.

Part five: Heart. Performed by Benno Voorham.

Sawtooth Building, 8th Street Studio, 2525 8th St., Berkeley, CA 94710

Donation: $8-15 encouraged but not forced

For reservations call 510-703-1085 or email nono at artsomatic.org

Next Show: November 7!

2009-10-06T23:36:00.001-07:00

Hello, friends of Moment's Notice!

Our next show is coming up... The extraordinary Jon Raskin & Lisa Mezzacaa will bring us music. Linda Rodeck is flying out from Albuquerque to perform for us; she is a superb improviser of Action Theater and Depth Improv. We'll also have dances by Jen Marie, Cathie Caraker, Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon. We will even have a surprise or two in store...

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Showtime: 8:00 pm

Tickets: $8-15 sliding scale

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

Featuring:

Cathie Caraker : dance (http://www.caraker.com)

Jen Marie : dance (http://www.youtube.com/user/jeminthesky)

Jon Raskin & Lisa Mezzacaa : music (http://www.jonraskin.com/)

Linda Rodeck : action theater / depth improv (http://depthimprovisation.com)

Katarina Eriksson & Rosemary Hannon : dance (http://nonodance.info)

...& possibly a surprise or two...

Tickets available at door. For more info, email MomentsNoticeInfo (at) gmail.com

Next Show: August 29, 2009

2009-08-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hey, friends of Moment's Notice!

Our next show is coming up -- it will be a sweet, intimate gathering of old friends, finding our way to magical moments through improvisation.

We'll be welcoming back Moment's Notice co-founder Katerina Eriksson, fresh from her latest performance tour in Sweden -- yay!

This month’s performers are:

Antyne : music

Victoria Pizzinat Joy : Action Theater

Himma (Christine Cali, Amy Helmstetter, & Sarah Sass) : dance

Rosemary Hannon & Katarina Eriksson : dance

Imaginary Friends (Abhay Ghiara, Kim Criswell & Krista Gullickson) : physical theater

NoNo (Vitali Kononov & Rosemary Hannon) : dance

Saturday, August 29, 2009
8pm
$8-$15 sliding scale; tickets available at door

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710

Antyne is a musician and artist who, at a very young age, was told often that her mouth was running too much and that it needed to be controlled. Today, though she still makes mistakes, she is learning to run her mouth appropriate amounts, and control her mouth, masterfully, all the while striving to keep the wild alive.

For this Moment's Notice, she will perform improvisational vocal "paths" or "ways", as the Temiar shamans of the Malaysian rainforest refer to them.

Victoria Pizzinat Joy last performed at Moment's Notice with a group of singers... I always find her theater work sensually dramatic and edgy. She's also an artist who makes gorgeous jewelry: http://www.vittajoy.com/

Himma is a new movement research group that practices and performs spontaneouschoreography. The group members Christine Cali, Amy Helmstetter and Sarah Sass are interested in uncovering layers of presence for performance, accessing archetypes from the unconscious, and consciously shifting space, time and energy to create form.

Rosemary Hannon co-produces & co-curates Moment's Notice, teaches Contact Improv and performs with Nono Dance: nonodance.info.

Katarina Eriksson co-founded Moments Notice, way back in the ‘90s! She has been involved with improvisational dance since 1989, collaborating with artists such asJulyen Hamilton, Ray Chung and Cathie Caraker. She teaches CI and other improvisational forms in Europe, US, and Canada. Katarina's traditional dance background includes The Gothenburg State Theater and Opera. She has only just returned from several months of performing and teaching in Sweden; earlier this year she was an Artist in Residence atCounterpulse, San Francisco.

Katarina's focus in her teaching and performance work is communication and play, plus the challenges and joys of collective instantaneous composition.

(That's Katarina in the photo at the top of the page. But, you probably already knew that.)

Someone recently said that Imaginary Friends' comic physical theater is like "The Marx Brothers meet Butoh". We like that description. "We" being me (Moment's Notice co-producer Kim Criswell), Abhay Ghiara, and Krista Gullickson.

Vitali Kononov is another frequent Moment's Notice performer. He co-founded Nono Dance, teaches weekly Contact Improv classes, and does the most amazing sound scores for his dances.

Ruth Zaporah & Bob Ernst in About Time

2009-07-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

The reservation list for tonight's show is FULL!!!

If you haven't made a reservation and do want to see the show, we'll do our best to squeeze you in, but can't guarantee it. There are always a few no-shows, we're looking for more chairs, and there will be some opportunities for standing room or sitting on the floor. (I know, right: standing room; SUCH an opportunity! But Ruth & Bob so rarely perform together these days, and they're so consistently amazing, that it'll probably be worth it.

Hope to see you there tonight!

A Moment's Notice special event: Ruth Zaporah & Bob Ernst!

2009-06-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, friends of Moment's Notice --

Thanks so much to everyone who came to last Saturday's show. We've got the best audiences -- it's so fun. Of course, it helped that we had amazing performers. Diana Lara opened, dancing to sounds of traffic and ocean waves. Vitali's sound scores for NoNo Dance always make me want to MOVE -- this time, he and Rosemary did a witty dance that introduced the "iBox"; they were joined by a violinist who added a touch of intrigue. Andrew Wass's & his group's creativity never fails to amaze; Claire Peaslee's physicality and humor are always surprising: Catherine Debon was so, so French and we so, so related to her solo about bravely facing life's pains. At least, I did! The Brine's music was fresh and quirky.

Our next "regular" Moment's Notice will be on Saturday, August 29.

Before that, though, we have a special event:

Ruth & Bob are Bay Area performance art / improvisation legends -- they're written up in books about improvisation -- real masters of the art.

Ruth co-founded Moment's Notice's home, Western Sky Studio, where she honed & taught her own personal style of improv, Action Theater. She lives in Santa Fe now, so this is a rare chance to see her perform.

Bob was a co-founder of the Blake Street Hawkeyes, the experimental theater ensemble that's famous for being Whoopie Goldberg's old stomping ground, as well as John O'Keefe's, George Coates', and other local luminaries'. He's performed on virtually all the major local stages, as well as on TV & film. He's in the Guinness Book of World Records for a 24+ hour improvisation he did for the Hawkeyes' Actualist's Convention. Insane? Well, maybe insanely wonderful. The July 11 show will be much shorter than that, we promise.

More info is here: http://momentsnoticeimprov.wordpress.com/

Usually we have tickets available at the door, but this time, reservations are advised!

Hope to see you there!

Details about our June 13th show

2009-06-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Showtime: 8:00 pm

Tickets: $8-$15 sliding scale

Location: Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th Street, Berkeley (in the Sawtooth Studios building, between Dwight Way & Parker St.)

Andrew Wass and Kelly Dalrymple-Wass : dance

Andrew Wass and Kelly Dalrymple-Wass founded Non Fiction in 2007. They have been working together for the past 8 years teaching/performing in festivals, universities, and studios in the States and abroad. The Non Fiction website is still under construction so until then, check out www.andrewwass.com and www.lowerleft.org They’re performing “Anything Is Permitted to Us”, an adaptation of a solo body score for ensemble performance.

The Brine (Andy Strain, trombone; Jason Hoopes, bass; Noah Phillips, Guitar) : music

Formed in the East Bay Area in Spring 2008, The Brine is a free improvisation trio that blends elements of accessible tonality and popular music sensibilities with an avant-garde emphasis on texture. The Brine has developed a unique and recognizable sound and is currently putting the finishing touches on their 1st recorded work. (http://www.myspace.com/thebrinetrio)

Claire Peaslee & Kim Criswell : action theater

Claire and Kim will be exploring solos – alternating, interrupting, and perhaps overlapping - in shared space.

Claire Peaslee has a life practice in Action Theater and finds that "improvisation of presence" is actually happening most of the time when life is good. This is why she performs, teaches and studies the form. Claire lives in Point Reyes and subsists as a writer/editor and naturalist. Tonight's improvisation is offered in celebration of possibility and imagination.

Kim Criswell recently returned from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she participated in a gathering of Action Theater teachers and advanced practitioners from around the world. She co-produces Moment’s Notice.

Diana Lara : dance

Diana Lara is a choreographer and dancer from Honduras. She graduated from the Choreography Program of the Center for Research and Choreography at the Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) in 2003. In 2006, she received a scholarship to study at the program in Somatic Research and Participatory Arts offered by the Moving-on-Center School in Oakland, California. She has worked as a dancer and choreographer for contemporary dance groups in México (Caída Libre and Luna Roja) and Honduras (Danza Libre), participating in festivals in Mexico and Central America. She has training in ballet, Humphrey-Limon and somatic techniques. She was a professor of Humphrey-Limon technique at Centro Cultural Los Talleres in Mexico City for seven years. Diana currently lives in San Francisco and works as an independent artist developing projects based in the exploration of somatic elements.(http://www.escenica7.com/lunaroja/). For Moment’s Notice, she will dance to music by Paul Lansky and John Rodgers.

Catherine Debon : theater

Catherine Debon has been creating performance pieces since the mid 80's – most recently as part of the improv duo, “Radio Brunettes”. These days she only has time to create theater on the spot. In keeping with her fashionable cultural heritage (she’s French!), Catherine is planning nothing but her costume, and hopes for nothing more than hanging in the unknown. Experience tells us this is likely to work out perfectly.

nono dance (Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov) : dance

Our last show, our next show...

2009-05-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, friends of Moment's Notice!

For those of you who missed it, our last show was great: Corey Fisher was a surprise guest, doing a Motion Theater duet with Evan Specter. Cathie Caraker gave us a mesmerizing, witty dance in which she transformed from a space-alien-like creature into a hot babe in red high heels... Cathleen Daly cracked us all up with a theater solo about being called "barren" because she's childless... (Yeah, right!) We also had a beautiful dance from Kristen Greco, cool experimental music from Ed Schocker & friends, and I can still hear Sara Kraft singing "It will be all right" over a cacophony of digitally played-back worries.

Our next show should be fun, too. Here's the info:

Moment’s Notice
A performance series devoted to
improvised music, dance, & theater

June 13, 2009
Showtime: 8:00 pm Tickets: $8-15

Western Sky Studio 2525 8th Street, Berkeley

Andrew Wass & Kelly Dalrymple-Wass: dance
Claire Peaslee & Kim Criswell : action theater
Diana Lara : dance
Catherine Debon : action theater
"NoNo Dance" (Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov) : dance
"The Brine" (Andy Strain, trombone; Jason Hoopes, bass; Noah Phillips, Guitar) : music

And Brian Myers will be back as our fabulously funny MC.

Tickets available at door.
For more info, email MomentsNoticeInfo at gmail.com

Come to Moment's Notice on April 18!

2009-03-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hello, Friends!

We've got the studio and performers lined up for our next show -- and it's going to be another great one. Hope you can join us.

Moment’s Notice
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Showtime: 8:00 pm
Tickets: $8-15
Western Sky Studio 2525 8^th Street, Berkeley, 94710

Featuring:

Cathie Caraker : dance
Cathleen Daly : theater
Kristen Greco : dance
Sara Kraft : intermedia performance
Edward Schocker, Dylan Bolles, and Zachary Watkins : music
Evan Specter & musical guest : motion theater

Tickets available at door. For more info, email MomentsNoticeInfo (at) gmail.com

Biographies

Cathie Caraker is a dance-maker, performer and teacher based in San Francisco. Her work has been presented at theaters including Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St Mark's Church and the New York Improvisation Festival, Amsterdam's Nestheaters and CounterPULSE. She recently completed the Artist-In-Residence program at CounterPULSE, where she created a new work in collaboration with Katarina Eriksson. Cathie has also collaborated with artists including Danial Lepkoff, David Beadle, Felice Wolfzahn and Gonnie Heggen. She says she's happy to be back at Moment's Notice.

Cathleen Daly writes poetry and fiction and performs now and then.

Kristen Greco is a SF bay- area based choreographer who investigates the layers of the body and psyche through somatics, improvisational movement, contemporary dance technique, and physical theater. Kristen has directed, performed, and taught internationally with The Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater since 2000. She is a graduate of Moving on Center (2002) and teaches contact improvisation at festivals, studios, and universities. Kristen is currently serving as guest faculty at USF in San Francisco, CA.

Sara Kraft is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, director, writer, composer/vocalist and teacher who creates original work drawing from her eclectic background in theatre, dance, performance art, film/video, music, installation and site specific work. Her award winning work has gained acclaim for its integration of interactive media and live performance, fusing form and content in groundbreaking ways, weaving disparate non-linear narratives into evening length works, and often directly questioning our relationship to technology and the nature of live performance itself. In addition to making her own work, Kraft was one half of acclaimed multimedia performance collaborative Kraft + Purver (creators of REMOTE and WOODS FOR THE TREES). Her work has been presented in numerous venues and festivals including YBCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), the HERE American Living Room Festival (NYC) and the SF International Arts Festival. Her next evening length work has been commissioned by YBCA, where it will premiere in March 2010.

Edward Schocker is a composer who works mainly with made/found materials and alternate tuning systems. He holds an M.A. in composition from Mills College, where he studied with Pauline Oliveros, Alvin Curran, and independently with Lou Harrison. At Mills, Edward founded The Music For People & Thingamajigs Concert, the only annual event in The Bay Area devoted to music for made/found instruments and alternate tuning systems -- now in its eleventh year. His works are performed throughout the world. Many of his scores are available through Wolf Music Publications Ltd, and can be found in libraries in New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. Edward was recently awarded The NEA/Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Fellowship to research Japanese musical instruments and tuning systems. For samples of his work, visit http://www.myspace.com/edwardschocker

Like final drops of water, Dylan Bolles, Zachary Watkins and Edward Schocker explore the boundaries of slowness where the mind starts and stops to recognize rhythm.

Evan Specter performs at what he calls "the intersection of unflinching yet unsentimental memoir, authentic physical impulse, and the demands of creating an engaging theatrical atmosphere while practicing conscious embodiment." He says that "Motion Theater, pioneered by the Bay Area's own Nina Wise, offers a narrow road to this Deep North of the Soul. When it's really working, you are there with me, tasting the bite of the apple and the squish of the worm." Evan, a ten year veteran of this improvised, physical form of autobiography, is a founding member of Tumbleheart, an ensemble that is performing on Solstice weekend. (See www.Tumbleheart.org for details.) His recent solo piece, 'There Be Dragons', received a parade of adulation at The Marsh.

Here are details about our next show:

2009-01-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

Moment’s Notice

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Showtime: 8:00 pm
Tickets: $8-$15 (sliding scale)

Western Sky Studio

2525 8^th Street, Berkeley

Featuring:

Brian Myers - emcee

Cheryl Leonard & Anka Draugelates – music

Kira Kirsch– dance

Kim Criswell & Krista Gullickson – physical theater

Divisidero Research Company (Lizz Roman, Ilka Szilagyi, Laura Stokes, Maica Folch, Nita Little, Aaron Jessup, Vitali Kononov, Xedex Olivas and Matthew Shyka) – dance

Rhonda Morton & Andy Strain – Music / physical theater

Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov – dance

Brian Myers is a wonderfully quirky improviser who often emcee's and volunteers for Moment's Notice.

Cheryl Leonard and Anka Draugelates will perform on viola, voice, water and found natural objects. Anka is an improvising vocalist/musician who is visiting from Regensberg, Bavaria. Cheryl is a composer, performer, and improviser of music and interdisciplinary works. Her interests include finding and building instruments, working with natural materials, collaboration across artistic disciplines, and site-specific work. Many of her pieces explore very quiet phenomena and the intricacies of sounds not generally considered musical. She has been awarded grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum; and artist residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Engine 27, and Villa Montalvo. Recordings of her music are available from Great Hoary Marmot Records, Pax Recordings, 23five Incorporated, Apraxia Records, Old Gold Records and the Lab. She's joining us fresh from a sound-collecting trip to Antarctica. Her website tells more: http://www.allwaysnorth.com

Kira Kirsch was born in East-Berlin and studied modern dance and pedagogy at the conservatory of Vienna. She was granted scholarships from t a n z p o o l and the Austrian Arts Council to deepen and further her movement studies and artistic activities. She studied with Frey Faust for seven years and is a certified Axis Syllabus instructor. Since 2004 Kira has led workshops in dance technique and contact improv througout Europe and California. Most recently she performed in works by Sara Shelton Mann(US), AVY K./Erika Tsimbrovsky(RUS), Pipaluk Supernova/Half Machine(DK), PARTS and Frey Faust's ABCD Collective(EU). This year she began collaborating with Hana Erdman. Dedicated to deconstructing aesthetics, critical movement research and finding through-and-through embodiment, they've presented their experiments at the 418 project in Santa Cruz and here at Moments Notice. (corpiliquidi.com)

Kim Criswell & Krista Gullickson are 2/3 of Imaginary Friends (the other 1/3 being Abhay Ghiara, whose participation in this performance is dependent on his ability to bend the time-space continuum while traveling in India this February. He's good, but he might not be that good...yet.) They have been practicing and performing improvised physical theater together for about a decade. Lately they've been experimenting with micro-performances: sequences of 1-5 minute improvised segments that build into a large, abstract, whole.

Divisidero Research Company: Under the direction of choreographer Nita Little, Divisidero Research Company (Lizz Roman, Ilka Szilagyi, Laura Stokes, Maica Folch, Nita Little, Aaron Jessup, Vitali Kononov, Xedex Olivas and Matthew Shyka) is an improvisational collective engaged in an overt practice of performance as research. They focus on building resonant webs of awareness derived from movement scores that direct and modulate attention. DRC is in its initial stage of development, investigating the embodied experience by which we know ourselves, one another, and the dance.

Rhonda Morton is a poet, performance artist, dancer and singer with a particular interest in improvisation in all those roles. Equally at home working as a soloist, as an ensemble member, or as a producer/performer, Rhonda uses the transformational power of creativity-in-the-moment, often integrating the audience and/or the site into performances. In 2005, she formed Alligator Mouth Improv, a multi-disciplinary improvisational collective based in Corning, NY. Browse their website for more information and videos: www.rhondamorton.com/alligator.html

Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov: Nono Dance is a performance collective dedicated to conceptually, visually, and aurally framed improvisation. Formed by Rosemary Hannon and Vitali Kononov in 2007, Nono Dance investigates the somatic realms of dance performance. Nono’s improvisational work explores expanded awareness through non-doing. This authenticity in performance elicits a shared experiential field with the audience, offering somatic resonance and rich imagined non-linear narratives. (nonodance.info)

Welcome, Rosemary!

2009-01-18T21:14:00.000-08:00

Rosemary Hannon is joining Katarina Eriksson and Kim Criswell as co-curator and co-producer of Moment's Notice -- after performing and helping out at many, many shows. Welcome, Rosemary.

We've booked Western Sky Studio for a Moment's Notice show on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009 -- so save the date! We will announce the line-up of performers soon.

We're looking forward to bringing you another fun evening of mixed-genre improvisation!

We're taking a break...

2008-11-02T14:47:00.000-08:00

Moment's Notice is on hiatus for the time being.

We'll be back... probably after the holidays...

In the meantime, here are some photos from past Moment's Notice shows.

(Photographers: Ira Fabricant for the first, of Owen Walker & Kim Criswell; Steelee for the audience shot...)

If you have any photos of Moment's Notice performances you'd like to add, try submitting jpgs or links to photos / videos as comments... and if that doesn't work, email them to us -- moments notice info at gmail dot com -- and we'll try to post 'em.

We're back!

2008-08-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Moment's Notice has been on a summer hiatus -- but we'll be back on Saturday, August 30. Same time, same place, same price as usual:

8/30/08
8pm
Western Sky Studio, in the Sawtooth Building, 2525 8th St., Berkeley
$8-$15 (sliding scale; tickets available at the door)

August performers:

Liz Boubion --dance
Edward Schocker & Suki O'Kane - music
Imaginary Friends (Abhay Ghiara, Krista Gullickson & Kim Criswell, in collaboration with Edward Schocker) -- physical theater
Nicole Richter & Pamela Marsh - dance with poetry & music
The Olimpias (Petra Kuppers and friends)- dance, etc.

About the performers:

Liz Boubion is a dance-theater artist who has performed locally doing both solo improvisation and collaborative work with choreographers Erick Kupers, Dawn Frank, Rowena Ritchie, Tara Brandell, Jez Lee, Ali Woolwich and Niel Marcus. In 1997 and 1998, Liz danced internationally with Frankfurt-based Vivienne Newport of TanzTheater, Pina Bausch, Estelle Clareton of Canada's Vertigo Danse, Petra Leher of TanzCo-Lab and with the Frankfurt Opera's Movement Chorus.

Edward Schocker creates music with found objects & made instruments. As a composer, his work spans genres and has been performed in Asia, Europe and North America. Google him and you'll be amazed... or just click here: http://www.composersforum.org/member_profile.cfm?oid=2915

Suki O'Kane is one of the founding members of the lo-fi sampling ensemble The Noodles (with Michael Zelner), plays percussion withMoe! Staiano's Moe!kestra! and Dan Plonsey. She works in partnership with House of Zoka, a live recording project that has documented over ten years of creative new music in the Bay Area, is an inveterate phonographer and since 2003 has been curating performances of live music and film, such as The Illuminated Corridor, a nomadic public art project that creates streetscapes of live experimental music and performative projection.

Abhay Ghiara, Krista Gullickson & Kim Criswell have been performing together as Imaginary Friends, a physical theater improv trio, for around a decade. Their work is influenced by Abhay's and Krista's experience with Goat Island and other Chicago theater groups, as well as by intensives with Ruth Zaporah, Cassie Terman and others. Abhay recently collaborated with Edward Schocker in Bamboo Alley, a site-specific piece.

The Olimpias (Petra Kuppers and friends): Burning. Disability Culture Work in Progress. Petra's website describes this as a "performance / drama / movement / visual art / collaborative project."

Nicole Richter & Pamela Marsh will do a dance piece set to poetry by Pamela Marsh and music by Anoymous 4. You might remember Nicole from the many years she served as Axis Dance Company's co-artistic director and education director. As a dancer with Axis, she originated roles in commissioned pieces by Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Joe Goode, Joanna Haigood and Sonya Delwaide. She's been nominated for Izzy awards and been the recipient of several California Arts Council Grants.

April 26 show

2008-03-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

Moment's Notice performers on April 26 will be:

Annah., Hanna Erdman & Kira Kirsch: Dance & live music
Catherine Baumgartner: Dance
Katarina Eriksson (AKA Dr. Eugenia Frank): Dance theater
Evan Specter: Theater
Brian P Myers: Theater

Same logistics as usual:

Showtime: 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 sliding scale

(We're funded 100% by ticket sales, so your contribution helps us pay for our performance space rental, flyers, programs... and if there's enough left over, performers!)

Location:
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street (between Dwight Way & Parker St.)
Berkeley, CA

Reservations usually aren't necessary -- we can always add chairs!

Bios:

Catherine Baumgartner is originally from Minneapolis, MN where she danced on bridges, barges, and buildings with site-specific choreographer Marylee Hardenbergh and explored dance's deeper roots in celebration and intergenerational community as a performer and workshop facilitator with Kairos Dance Theatre. Since moving to the hiker's paradise of West Marin in 2007, Catherine has become a student of Mt. Tamalpais, learning new ways to think about "time" and "space" and the many ways one can cultivate a kinesthetic relationship with the landscape. She also just started the MA program in Transformative Arts at John F. Kennedy University, hoping to focus on movement as a contemplative practice and to explore the nature (literal and figurative) of creative inspiration. Catherine is very interested in connecting with artists who would be open to deep diving into the collaborative process to create multidisciplinary performances and other events.

Lately, dancer Katarina Eriksson has been haunted by the character Dr Eugenia Frank. In this piece, she explores the story of Ms Frank through the form of solo improvisation, and to music by Asa Chung & Junray

Kira Kirsch, born in Berlin, studied modern dance and pedagogy at the conservatory of Vienna. She was granted with scholarships of tanzpool and the Austrian Arts Council to deepen and furthering her movement studies and artistic development. She studied with Frey Faust for seven years and is a certified Axis Syllabus instructor. She gets invited to lead wksps and classes in both dance technique and contact improv all around Europe and California and among others has worked with Half Machine(DK), Frey Faust's ABCD Collective(EU), PARTS(B) and Cie Anna Tenta(A). She is currently dancing with the choreographer Erika Tsimbrovsky and the visual artist Vadim Puyandaev in San Francisco.

Hana Erdman studied contemporary dance and contact improvisation at UCLA and in San Francisco. She dances and performs in the bay area and in Europe. She has had the pleasure of working with Jess Curtiss, Smith/Wymore productions, Half Machine, The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, as well as in her own work. She currently trains with and dances for Sara Shelton Mann in San Francisco. Most recently she has become obsessed with circus aerial performance and trains at the circus center in San Francisco. Hana also plays music with her experimental band project in Berlin called drowning daisies.

Annah Wilson is a Bay Area, Accoustic-Experimental artist/musician, and the writer of
the zine Resisting Palindromes. myspace.com/annahantipalindrome

Evan Specter is a founding member of Tumbleheart, and he is also developing a solo show about eating too much at the spiritual smorgasbord (please visit http://DragonTree.weebly.com). He has been singing and making theater since grade school in New York, and was introduced to autobiographical improvisation through a chance meeting at a mountaintop monastery. Evan has been studying movement, writing and improvisation with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher for ten years.

Next show is on March 22

2008-03-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here's info on our next Moment's Notice show. Logistics are the usual:

Saturday, March 22 @ 8pm
Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley

This month's performers are:

Action Theater: Deanna Anderson, Kim Criswell, Catherine Debon, Hana Hammer, Hank Obermayer, Claire Peaslee, Molly Sullivan, & Owen Walker

It's been a while since we've had a large group of people improvising together at Moment's Notice. This large group has practiced together and worked with Ruth Zaporah for many years. Most teach Action Theater as well as perform.

Dance: Rosemary Hannon

Over the years, Rosemary has performed many times at Moment's Notice, and she's always fabulous.

Music: Wayne Grim & Aurora Josephson

You'll have to come to the show to find out about these two! ;-)

Moment's Notice Feb. 23: Performer's bios!

2008-02-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

The next Moment's Notice is this weekend:

Saturday, February 23 @ 8pm
Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley

featuring:

Harmony Gates & TraceyJoy Miller - InterPlay
Cheryl E Leonard - Music
Rhonda Morton - Voice & Movement
Andy Strain & Andrew Wass - Music & Dance
TumbleHeart - Motion Theater

for info & reservations: email momentsnoticeinfo@gmail.com

More information about this month's performers:

Cheryl E. Leonard will present musical improvisations with pendulums, water, and natural objects from the sea. Cheryl is a composer, performer, and improviser of music and interdisciplinary works. Her interests include finding and building instruments, working with natural materials, collaboration across artistic disciplines, and site-specific work. Many of her pieces explore very quiet phenomena and the intricacies of sounds not generally considered musical. Cheryl received a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College. She has been awarded grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum; and artist residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Engine 27, and Villa Montalvo. Recordings of her music are available from Great Hoary Marmot Records, Pax Recordings, 23five Incorporated, Apraxia Records, Old Gold Records and the Lab. When not playing with sound, she might be found climbing in the mountains, studying aikido or collecting pinecones with handles. http://www.allwaysnorth.com

Harmony Gates & Tracey Joy Miller will draw on their life experience and body wisdom to create improvisational storytelling and movement. Harmony is a pioneer exploring the correlation between how our bodies move and how we relate to life and to each other. She is a seasoned contact dancer, body worker and movement collaborator. She teaches Body-centered self-awareness and relationship skills, most recently working with individuals facing the challenge of dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD or Autism. Tracey Joy Miller is an improvisational healer, facilitating body-centered approaches to Spirit. A long-time Interplayer.

Rhonda Morton is a poet, performance artist, dancer and singer with a particular interest in improvisation in all those roles. Equally at home working as a soloist, as an ensemble member, or as a producer/performer, Rhonda uses the transformational power of creativity-in-the-moment, often integrating the audience and/or the site into performances. In 2005, she formed Alligator Mouth Improv, a multi-disciplinary improvisational collective based in Corning, NY. Browse their website for more information and videos: www.rhondamorton.com/alligator.html For the Moment’s Notice performance, Rhonda will either do solo work or perhaps invite some friends to play!

Andrew Wass has danced in work by Scott Wells, Shelley Senter, and Jess Curtis. His performance work has been shown in San Diego, New York, Tijuana, San Francisco and Marfa, Tx. (http://www.andrewwass.com.) For Moment’s Notice, he’ll be collaborating with trombonist Andrew Strain (http://www.myspace.com/andrewstrain.)

Tumbleheart is a 2 yr-old improvisational autobiographical improv ensemble in the Motion Theater style.

Beth Sperry is founding member. She's performed as actor and dancer in Michigan, New York and Los Angeles, and began studying Motion Theater with Nina Wise five years ago. She says, "Autobiographical improv has liberated me in a way scripted and choreographed work never did. It's an artistic and spiritual practice that will be with me for the rest of my life. And Tumbleheart is a creative collaboration I never dreamt I'd have."

Evan Specter is also a founding member of Tumbleheart, and he is also developing a solo show about eating too much at the spiritual smorgasbord (please visit http://DragonTree.weebly.com). He has been singing and making theater since grade school in New York, and was introduced to autobiographical improvisation through a chance meeting at a mountaintop monastery. Evan has been studying movement, writing and improvisation with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher for ten years.

Jonathan Walker is the third founding member of Tumbleheart who will be performing at Moment’s Notice. For the past six years he has been studying Motion Theater, with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher. In high school, he found his first love for theatrical performance as Bottom in Midsummer’s Night Dream and as Tom in Tom Jones. Several years ago, he was asked to invent a male character and costume for the Mayday festivities for his 11-year old daughter’s Waldorf School. He now embodies the Greenman whenever he can, which is a role of gleeful exuberance and playful mischief that he enjoys very much.

Our next show is on Feb. 23 -- and it'll be great!

2008-02-03T18:06:00.000-08:00

Logistics for the next Moment's Notice are the same as usual:

Saturday, February 23 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley (between Dwight Way & Parker)

This month's perfomers are:

Harmony Gates & TraceyJoy Miller - InterPlay

Cheryl E Leonard - Music
Cheryl is a sound artist -- check out her website: www.allwaysnorth.com

Rhonda Morton - Voice & Movement
Rhonda is visiting us again from the East Coast. She's a multi-disciplinary improv artist: http://www.rhondamorton.com

Andy Strain & Andrew Wass - Music & Dance
Andrew Wass's performances are always memorable. This time he'll be performing with Andy Strain on trombone. For more info on Andrew, check out http://www.andrewwass.com

TumbleHeart - Theater - Improv in the style of Nina Wise: http://www.tumbleheart.org

for more info & reservations: momentsnoticeinfo@gmail.com

Program, January 19 2008

2008-01-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

Program, January 19, 2008

Catherine Debon has created and produced dance and theater pieces since 1983. She has enjoyed improvising Action Theater with others, and tonight will do her first solo playing with the form. She's also a drama therapist who leads yoga groups for adults and teenagers. She'll give a lecture later this month on teaching yoga to at-risk youth and will be teaching at JFK university March 1st.

“Not More than 21 Facts about this Dance”performed by NoNo Dance Unit music by Alvo Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto with soundscore by NoNo Dance UnitRosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov have been dancing together for 5 years and have come to the point in their dance relationship in which they are giving birth to a performance collective. Their child was born in 2007. The birth was delayed, dramatic and challenging. The name of their child is NoNo Dance Unit. According to Astrology and Tarot readings it will be a talented and healthy baby with lots of creativity and success.

Melissa Margolis has been tinkering with sound since childhood. A classically trained pianist, she spent her early adulthood studying indigenous instruments of various countries while traveling abroad, such as Indonesian gamelan. She has collaborated with the local eclectic noise group Big City Orchestra for the past four years. She has also performed as an Odissi dancer, the classical temple dance form of eastern India. This is her first solo improv performance on the accordion.

INTERMISSION

Lately, dancer Katarina Eriksson has been haunted by the character Dr Eugenia Frank. Tonight she explores the story of Ms Frank through the form of solo improvisation, and to music by Kamtakta College of Percussion.

Claire Peaslee will perform an Action Theater solo as part of an on-going celebration of nature and laughter. Having first encountered Ruth Zaporah in performance about 26 years ago - instantly becoming a student of the form, and of Ruth - Claire considers Action Theater a life practice. She is a naturalist and writer/editor whose home is greater Point Reyes, and Claire invites you out to beautiful West Marin on Saturday, February 16th, for an Action Theater matinee that will also feature Deanna Anderson. Fliers are in the lobby and details at dancepalace.org.

Rosemary, Vitali and Katarina join forces in a trio to music by Psychic TV.

Details about the January 19 Moment's Notice

2008-01-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

Moment's Notice
- a monthly performance series
devoted to improvised music, dance & theater -

Saturday, January 19 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)

Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley

This month's performers:

Catherine Debon - Action Theater
Katarina Eriksson, Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov - Dance
Melissa Margolis - Music
Claire Peaslee - Action Theater

January's show will include three dance pieces:

a solo improv by Katarina Ericksson,
Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov in a dance duet,
and all three together in a dance trio.

January, February & March...

2008-01-03T17:29:00.001-08:00

It's official -- here are the dates for the next three Moment's Notice shows:

January 19, 2008
February 23, 2008
March 22, 2008

As usual, the shows will combine improvised music, theater and dance at Western Sky Studio in West Berkeley, Saturday nights at 8pm.

We hope you can come!

No Nov Mo No

2007-11-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!

There's no Moment's Notice in November. We're taking time off to travel, rehearse, see shows, etc. Moment's Notice will be back in December with a new ensemble experiment:

Moment's Notice
- a monthly performance series devoted to improvised music, dance & theater -

Saturday, December 15 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley

THe Moment's Notice Ensemble:
Kim Criswell, Cathleen Daly, Katarina Eriksson, Andrew Marine, Owen Walker & Rajendra Serber

An evening-length improvisation combining performers from a variety of disciplines - a mix of dance, music, theater and collaborative experimentation.

for info & reservations email MomentsNoticeInfo@gmail.com

Our next show is Halloween weekend - come in costume!

2007-10-15T01:37:00.000-07:00

Moment's Notice

Saturday, October 27 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)

Western Sky Studio

2525 8th Street, Berkeley

Performers:

Abhay Ghiara & Kim Criswell & Krista Gullickson - Physical Theater
Andrej Hostynek - Vocals
Deanna Anderson - Action Theater
Katarina Eriksson & Cathie Caraker - Dance
&
You?!*

(*Anyone who comes in costume will be invited to perform in a group score at the end of the night. You don't have to choose between seeing a show vs. going to a Halloween party - you can do both! Costumes and participation are both optional. We'll provide a simple score that will be fun to do or to watch.)

Welcome to our new Moment's Notice blog!

2007-10-15T01:31:00.000-07:00

Moment’s Notice is a monthly performance series devoted to improvised music, dance and theater. It offers an intimate, casual, consistent venue for experiencing improvisation as an alternative and experimental form of performing art.

Most shows feature four to six separate performances, with a balance between solos and groups and a mix of music, dance, and theater. Performers often cross boundaries between styles and genres. For example, recent shows combined dance with action painting, live and/or projected video, etc. Some make music using home-made instruments or found objects. Others invite audience participation.

The thread that ties together all Moment’s Notice performances is improvisation. Performers might arrive with a general idea or “score”, but each performance includes an element of chance -- the fresh authenticity of improvisation.

When we can (i.e., when there is enough left over to cover expenses) Moment’s Notice shares box office income with performers. We’d like to see – and help create – a world in which all artists are paid for their work. Even in the United States, in times such as these. Even those working in new, risky, or unconventional forms.

Moment’s Notice was started six years ago by Katarina Eriksson, a dancer, and Cassie Terman, an improviser of physical theater. After Cassie moved to New York, Lysa Castro began co-producing and co-curating. Lysa is a performer and instructor of BodyTales and Authentic Movement. Kim Criswell (another physical theater improviser) began helping Lysa produce and curate the series in August, 2006, while Katarina took a sabbatical to perform in Europe. Now, Kim and Katarina are the series’ producers and curators.

Katarina Eriksson has been involved with improvisational dance since 1989, collaborating with artists such as Julyen Hamilton, Ray Chung and Cathie Caraker, and teaching CI and other improvisational forms to children, adults, and professional dancers and actors since 1991. Katarina's traditional dance background includes The Gothenburg State Theater and Opera, Sweden.

Katarina's focus in her teaching and performance work is communication, play, and the challenges and joys of collective instantaneous composition. On January 12, 19 & 26 she will be teaching the pre-jam Contact Improvisation classes in Berkeley (1.30pm-3.30pm at 8th Street Studio, 2525 8th St @ Dwight).

Long, long ago, Kim Criswell danced with the Komenka Ethnic Dance Ensemble in New Orleans and the Khadra International Folk Ballet in San Francisco. Now, she collaborates with the Imaginary Friends physical theater improv trio (Abhay Ghiara & Krista Gullickson), Action Theater maestro Owen Walker, and others. Kim is in the final weeks of completing her MA in Transformative Arts at JFK University, and she occasionally offers workshops in Action Theater™: The Improvisation of Presence.