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

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

photo by Frank Revi

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. 

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!

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

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

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:

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

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.

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!