Each and every day, I lose myself in the immediacy of the moment, find myself in the joy of the movement. Each and every day, I learn more and more...and, within that new knowledge, realize that I have so much farther to travel.

Shallom Johnson is a contemporary dance artist, visual artist and freelance writer based in Vancouver BC. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University, and has been active in the Vancouver dance community as a choreographer, performer, and instructor since her graduation in 2004.

Shallom is interested in art in public spaces, site-specific performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community involvement. Her street-based artwork, performance and photography examines and documents who gets to make art, where it gets made, and where/how the creative process and product is viewed. In the future, she hopes to explore this theme further via new media and technologies, new methods of creation, collaboration and community engagement.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

SEIU: First Full Cast Rehearsal

Today we had our first full cast rehearsal for SEIU. It was amazing to see all those people gathered together in one room - dancers of many different ages, ethnicites, body types and backgrounds. We have been very lucky to have the opportunity to work with such a diverse group of people in putting this project together - and it was amazing to see Still Crossing performed en masse. The simple gestural choreography is surprisingly powerful when you see everyone in the group moving in unison - even the smallest gestures are poignant and beautiful.

We put as much of the production together as we could in a short period of time, trying to figure out our transitions, pathways on and offstage, and the timing of the various groups' routines. Tonight we will get a better idea of how the entire show will run, as we will be rehearsing in the performance space - the conference room at the Washington Hilton.

Random bit of trivia: it's the hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

Anyways, I have video footage of today's rehearsal, and I will try to upload it by tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow, as I'll be getting home very late tonight.

2 comments:

k.k. said...

hey lady! This is great! I'm so glad you're in this sphere. Thanks for your help today...

xo
k.k. :)

p.s. I blog a bit, too... not just dance stuff, but life stuff... feel free to check it out: reportreflectquestion.blogspot.com

shallomj said...

Isn't the blogosphere wonderful? I peeked at your blog a little and will have a look at it more throughly when I'm less exhausted. That late dress rehearsal really did me in, I didn't get home until about 12:30 last night.

I'm really happy to be here in DC, especially when I get to work with wonderful dancers (and just all-around great people) like yoursef! :)