Peter DiMuro
Performance Artist
Washington, DC
E-mail: dimurop@danceexchange.org
Web site: www.danceexchange.org/



"Open Box" performance

A highlight of the performance was "The Basketball Dance," which derived from the girls' love of basketball. Movements based on the sport were shared between girls and elders; then the senior women added to the dance, recalling the games they had played as children. Photos by Jim Fossett. All rights reserved.

Reflections on the basketball dance by Massachusetts choreographer, Dawn Lane:

In March 2000, I went to Girls, Inc of Holyoke, Massachusetts to continue a weekly class based on investigating dance and movement possibilities with 8 and 9 year olds. On this particular day I was co-teaching with Teresa Whitaker (a musician and storyteller.) The plan was to experiment with rhythms and patterns using sound, shape, and body.

We walked into the too-small room and were greeted with a group moan,

"We don't want to dance!"

"What do you want to do?" we asked.

"Play basketball!"

This is one of those moments when you reach into that invisible toolbox and pull out what you hope will be the answer... which for me is to get on the ride. I asked them to tell me what they knew about basketball. Before we knew it, we had through an accumulation process assembled a dance based on dribbling, lay-ups, passing, shooting, and circling the body with an invisible basketball. This dance phrase had its own built in patterns and rhythms.

The following week the girls were scheduled to come to Providence Place to work with some seniors there. The plan was for the girls to teach the seniors the basketball dance. Because of a mix-up the girls went swimming instead...ahhh community work!

I taught the dance to the seniors and they to my amazement told me we had left out blocking and spinning the ball on a fingertip! Of course we added this to the phrase and I shared it with the girls the following week. I was becoming an ambassador for basketball AND dance!

The girls and the residents of Providence Place did eventually come together and we experimented with performing the dance sitting, standing, and covering space, in duets, trios, and all cast. This became a trademark for the girls, and was performed at a sharing at the end of the project. I have since shared the story AND the dance with many other students and colleagues.