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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > November > 20
Friday, November 20, 2009
Is EAST the SXSW of art?
Chatter surrounding this year’s East Austin Studio Tour — now extended over two weekends and sandwiching a week happenings and programs — has some calling it the SXSW of visual art.
Is it?
Not really. After all, EAST is a neighborhood-specific local-only event. SXSW is a major international affair.
But EAST does this year have that sense of occasion and community that can emerge from a festival experience. And there’s that frenzy of so many things to do and see that creates a certain kind of shared excitement.
One more weekend of EAST. And while it’s hard to choose what to see, a worthwhile starting place is with the kind of indie galleries and collaborative studio complexes that give East Austin a specific vibe — like Big Medium, Pump Project, Co-Lab and Birdhouse.
‘Two Houses’ by Dan Kaplan at Big Medium
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Tapestry Dance Company looks back
Twenty years ago, Acia Gray and Deidre Strand, both accomplished tap dancers, dreamed of merging other dance genres with the rhythm-oriented tap style. The outcome of that dream is Tapestry Dance Company, an Austin professional nonprofit dance company that has delighted audiences with its signature blend of modern, ballet and world dance all woven together by explosive tap dance. The company also maintains a busy dance academy in South Austin and has garnered a slew of local awards. In 2002, Gray was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame.
Most recently, Tapestry took its show on the national road. ‘The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American Tap Dance,’ which restages noted historic and contemporary rhythm tap dances, is currently on tour through the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces program.
This weekend, Tapestry celebrates with a retrospective show at the Long Center that features the company’s current dancers as well as alumni from seasons past.
Gray answers questions in a Q-and-A here. Below, are some of her further thoughts.
Q: Any thoughts what you’re discovered about the mixing of not just dance styles, but dancers trained in different styles and audiences accustomed to seeing certain styles?
When Deirdre and I started Tapestry in 1989, we were drawn to not only utilizing our dance training as individuals but creating a foundation of non-restriction in our creativity. At the time, Hubbard Street was the only “multi-form” dance company in the US and there was little cross-discipline choreography. We were both members of Austin On Tap and working consistently in tap dance not only locally but a broad touring schedule.
With my degree in Acting from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Deirdre’s from TCU, we were hungry to explore the possibilities of a company that could play not only with diverse dance disciplines and their shared experience but the exploration of rhythm - sharing the power of dance as a communication tool not only as a technique but a living experience for our dancers and our audiences.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), what made Tapestry different is still what distinguishes the company: tap dance. But with that, it seems that tap is what our audience really want to see. What they don’t realize is that it’s the juxtaposition of the other “styles” within the company’s work that creates a window to see that beautiful American dance form in a different way - an emotional connection that is historically new. At least 20 years ago before Tapestry. We will always be a multi-form company making that connection.
With this collaborative journey, the company’s dancers are asked to go from one extreme to another — bare feet, tap shoes, jazz shoes/ long flexible muscles against the fast twitch muscles needed for tap. Going from one form to another or asking a tap dancing body to roll on the floor and then get up and tap a mile a minute can take its toll. Injuries are definitely an ongoing issue. Finding dancers who can go to these extremes is also a challenge.
