Sara Shelton Mann
Solo Neutral / Follow Movement
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) presents Sara Shelton Mann’s 7 Excavations / at the edge of the shore and the edge of the world, an open residency and a new dance performance commissioned for the FMCAC campus for FORT MASON ART’s Summer 2022 program.
Free Workshop for Artists
Pre-registration required, suitable for artists working in all disciplines, but includes movement.
Solo Neutral Follow / Movement with Sara Shelton Mann
Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Gallery 308
This workshop introduces participants to Solo Neutral Follow (SNF), a movement score Mann has developed over 20 years and is still researching. For beginners and advanced artists alike, this workshop presents three premises for movement, including: exploration of being in one’s body with autonomy, tracing and following the peripheral vision of others’ actions and movements, and practicing neutrality through witnessing without judgment.
The workshop begins with a short introduction to SNF, followed by movement instruction, and culminates in improvisational scores led by Mann. This is a beautiful practice to participate in or watch. The aim is to become familiar with your own choices and gain access to new paths.
A master artist of extraordinary innovation and influence, San Francisco Bay Area choreographer, poet, and teacher Sara Shelton Mann brings her expansive vision to FMCAC in this 21-day activation of the campus – culminating in a summer solstice performance debut of scores in development for 20 years. Join Mann and her collaborators as they embark on an open residency in celebration of nature’s wisdom, experimental dance pedagogy, and physical gathering to find our place in the world at this unprecedented time.
Mann’s residency unfolds through an open process of experimental performance-making as an incredible team of artists – dancers jose e abad, Gabriel Christian, Abby Crain, Clarissa Dyas, Ellie Goudie-Averil, Gizeh Muniz-Vengel, Ainsley Tharp, Jesse Zaritt, and filmmaker Tori Lawrence – collaborate with Mann to develop works across the campus. As the residency progresses, choreographic chalk grids, video, sound, and art installations are constructed on the campus, providing the public with unique insight into the developmental process of making performance. Audiences are invited to witness Mann’s choreographic process via open rehearsals and have opportunities to participate in Mann’s Chi Cultivation practice, her Movement Alchemy physical training, and a writing and movement workshop. There is also a filmmaking class with Tori Lawrence.
On Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 8:00 p.m., the residency culminates in a one-night-only Summer Solstice performance featuring a score of solos, duets, and large ensemble performances created onsite at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture; including an original score by sound designer Miles Lassi in collaboration with violinist Ira Echo; and film work by Tori Lawrence. The artists perform with the setting sun, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the landscape of San Francisco’s northern waterfront as their backdrop.
FMCAC is pleased to partner with Mixed Bag Productions in presenting 7 Excavations /at the edge of the shore and the edge of the world, a unique performance experiment. Mixed Bag Productions’ residency activities with Sara Shelton Mann and her collaborators are supported in part by California Arts Council Impact Projects and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sara Shelton Mann in collaboration with
Performers: jose e abad, Gabriel Christian, Abby Crain, Clarissa Dyas, Ellie Goudie-Averil, Gizeh Muniz-Vengel, Ainsley Tharp, Jesse Zaritt
Film: Tori Lawrence
Music: Miles Lassi
Sound Design: Ira Echo, violinist
Production: Abby Crain, James Fleming
About The Artist
Sara Shelton Mann has created a substantial body of work over a 55-year career as a dancer and choreographer. From 1979 to 1996, she directed the San Francisco-based company Contraband in a series of unique, immersive performances that came to represent a Bay Area performance aesthetic.
As a process choreographer, her work is deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary with a focus on weaving stories, experiences, and provocations into improvisational movement scores with a deep commitment to experimenting with new methods and mediums for presenting dance. Like many artists who have spent a lifetime in the heart of their craft, Mann has come to believe that the exploration of dance forms a vital collective heritage that transcends the artifact of performance. Through this colorful heritage of training and dance, Mann seeks to facilitate the emergence of the next generation of Bay Area dance voices.
“My art is of a piece with my healing work and political engagement: it is meant to reveal and transmit the story of our collective humanity — our potential for excellence, our danger — in a time of global change, chaos, and paradigm shift. It is an antidote to fear, doubt, and greed as the face of who we are.” – Sara Shelton Mann
Free Admission (artist registration required)
All Fort Mason Art Programs are generously supported by San Francisco Grants for The Arts and the FMCAC Board of Directors.
Image Credits: All photos by Robbie Sweeny
