Dancefarm presents “The Last Feather,” on June 10 at 6:30 pm at Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Green Show”, and on June 11 at 6:30 pm at the Takilma Community Building in Takilma, south of Cave Junction. This family friendly dance theatre work will birth the introduction of “The Motherline,” a band of rural mothers dancing across divisions for earth reparations.
Dancefarm’s “The Last Feather” and “The Motherline” are outcomes from their multi year “Portal Project,” which uses dance as a vessel for traveling through a healing portal, moving from an unjust culture of extraction toward a sane normal, where self and earth restoration help us realize our potential. “The Portal Project” artists use digital portals: @dancefarmportal and @dancefarmoregon to galvanize participation in an effort to rise from the metaphorical and physical ashes of collective trauma: quarantines, fires, racial transgressions, environmental trespass, and loss of rights, culminating in a live performance of “The Last Feather” on June 10 and 11, and the introduction of “The Motherline”.
Dancefarm is a sanctuary for social justice dance theatre located in Talent, Oregon. It creates work from the intersection of art and agriculture, using reparation gardening as a lens for creating enduring root systems for social justice dance theatre.
Dancefarm’s The Portal Project will cultivate consciousness and action toward a rejection of what we have come to know as ‘normal.’ The project nourishes healthy and respectful shared grieving and encourages restoration: repairing our injured ecosystems that support physical, emotional and spiritual transformation.
Dancefarm’s The Portal Project intends to bring more people consciously into the act of NOT returning to normal, but to in fact, radically transform from a world culture based on extraction and destruction to restoration, repair and creation. This transformation will be mirrored by an evolution of digital performance into a more impactful live performance. You can see these short films on Instagram @dancefarmportal. The tools of the virtual world are in service of deepening human connection. The family friendly live performance of “The Last Feather,” is a whimsical parable for our times told through dance.
This quote encapsulates the choice before our collective humanity on which “The Portal Project” is based:
“Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.” Aruhndahti Roy
Project Collaborators:
Gina Angelique (Talent, Oregon), Choreographer and Director: Gina is a mother, gardener, choreographer, dancer, and arts educator, currently directing Dancefarm’s sanctuary for social justice dance theatre. She is also the founder of RiverStars Performing Arts which brings weekly dance and theatre to generationally under resourced, rural Illinois Valley families. Her most recent work was the critically acclaimed “The (w)HOLE: Beyond Boom and Bust in Rural America.” Before settling in Oregon 15 years ago, Gina was the Artistic Director of San Diego’s Eveoke Dance Theatre.
Trina Christine (Takilma, Oregon), videographer and film director: Trina Christine Film Co. is a woman-owned Southern Oregon film production company. Trina started her artistic career by attending Oregon State University for Music Education, which brought her to a pivotal discovery of ballroom dance and life on the road with the Utah Ballroom Dance Company. Trina went on to perform Ballroom Dance at several venues while attending college to finish her B.A. degree in Psychology. In 2020, Trina began her company with photography, however, videography quickly became her chosen artistic platform to convey a collage of emotions through one portal.
Lindsey B. Jones (Cave Junction, Oregon), Artist Playing “The Human Race, or HR”: A graduate of University of Missouri-Kansas City, Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and San Francisco Circus Center Clown Conservatory, Lindsey is a founding member of RiverStars Performing Arts in Cave Junction and serves as the Executive Director for the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization. Around the community and throughout the state, she facilitates groups on a variety of community building and skill building subjects. She is a creative community builder with a knack for rallying people and integrating arts with community issues.
Isadora Millay (Ashland, Oregon), contemporary dancer, playing the “Soul of Greta”: Isadora Millay is an avid podcast creator, dancer, and student. In 2020, she envisioned a club where high quality podcasts would form the basis for effective action projects which could genuinely shape Ashland culture for the better–catalyzing the creation of the “Truth to Power” club at Ashland High School. When not producing podcasts and projects for “Truth to Power”, Isadora is a professional contemporary dancer for Dancefarm, and a 4.0 honors student at Ashland High School. She grew up in a world of dance–whether it be in rehearsals or watching her mom teach to other students. Isadora performed in the MAP funded dance theatre show “The (w)HOLE” in 2020, and previously starred in over 7 dance theatre shows with her former dance and theatre group: RiverStars Performing Arts in Josephine County. Most recently, Isadora collaborates with Mayor Julie Akins on the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), to engage young people in local policy making.
Linnea Wilhjelm (Talent, Oregon), Digital Media Director and Community Connections: Wilhjelm is an independent Arts Administrator and Digital Director working with self-represented artists and creators to achieve their goals. Her client collaborators include singer/composer Moira Smiley, Irish music legend Seamus Egan, Portland Cello Project co-founder Gideon Freudmann, and Dancefarm Oregon.
Ericka Moore (San Diego, California), Ericka Aisha Moore believes in the impact of dance to empower individuals and community. She was a founding dance artist of San Diego’s critically celebrated Eveoke Dance Theatre, and rose to become an important choreographer for the company. She created “In The Time Of The Butterflies”, which toured to the Dominican Republic. Most recently, Ericka performed in Dancefarm’s “The (w)HOLE.” She is currently the Artistic Director and Teacher at Neisha’s Dance and Music Academy in San Diego.
Community Partners for “The Portal Project ” include Dancefarm, RiverStars Performing Arts, The Illinois Valley Community Development Organization, and The Cave Junction Farmers’ Market. Funders include The Oregon Community Foundation, Juan Young Trust, The Ashland Art Center, and individual donors like you.
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