She is Guan Yin, protector and compassionate saint. She is Frieda Kahlo, fierce and courageous artist. She is Medussa, beauty whose vanity orchestrated her own demise. These are some of the images used by choreographer Paris Wages to express the many facets of womanhood in her new production, Google Woman.

www://sfexaminer.com/entertainment/music/2011/5/paris-wages-google-woman-explores-feminine-mystique

Smuin Ballet Keeps the Momentum Going

Choo San Goh, the late choreographer (and a casualty of the AIDS virus) was known as one of the brightest lights in the late 20th century's ballet world. Astonishingly, his work has never been seen by San Francisco audiences - until now.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/5/smuin-ballet-keeps-the-momentum-going-spring-program

Oh, Inverted World

Choreographer Trey McIntyre debuts his new piece for Smuin Ballet, appearing at the Palace of Fine Arts through Octobr 10th. Here's my convozine interview with him:

http://convozine.com/conversations/7370

Former Kirov soloist Yuri Zhukov presents Shared and Divided at the Cowell theater:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/lifestyle/Zhukov-Dance-Theater-offers-up-simple-gifts-102577584.html

Two for the Road

Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith at the Palace of Fine Arts

What do you get when you combine classical Indian dance and American tap? A jubilant explosion of sound.
On Saturday, Indian Kathak dance master Pandit Chitresh Das and American tap dance phenom Jason Samuels Smith team up to present “India Jazz Suites,” part of the Chitresh Das Dance Company’s 30th anniversary celebration gala.
The performance heralds a collaboration that, since their first match-up in 2005, has received wildly enthusiastic response from audiences here and abroad.Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/Two-for-the-road-87625457.html#ixzz0l1dQJ5np

Performing Diaspora

Diaspora: A body of people dispersed from their homelands. That pretty much describes the Bay Area population in a nutshell. Beginning on November 5, CounterPULSE, the SOMA artists’ collective, presents Performing Diaspora, a series of works-in-progress culminating in three weekends of dance, music and drama featuring a baker's dozen of artists whose fresh and experimental work is rooted in cultural traditions from such diverse parts of the world as Indonesia, Serbia, the Carribean Japan and Africa.

CounterPULSE director Jessica Robinson Love says “The Bay Area has had support for artists who practice traditional forms of dance and that’s very important, especially for recent immigrants. On the other hand we have a vibrant contemporary performance community. What we were lacking was a middle ground - artists based in traditional forms who want to divert from that.”

http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/Diaspora-dances-around-the-world-67446812.html

Avant garde dance comes to San Francisco this weekend:

Taking it to the Edge
An Evening of Avant Garde Dance at ODC
By Andrea Pflaumer

To someone of lesser mettle than dancer Sara Shelton Mann, broken bones and ripped tendons might have sent them into retirement long ago. But for Mann they only served to drive her deeper into her creative well, garnering an impressive number of accolades along the way, including four Isadora Duncan awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Mann, one of the world’s foremost figures in avant garde dance, presents her newest production, Shapeshifter, in a concert entitled Shared Legacies on October 3 and 4 at ODC. Joining her on the bill is her former principal dancer and protégé Kathleen Hermesdorf, whose company La Alternativa (formerly MOTIONLAB) performs their piece entitled the other edge of there is here. “I’m very honored to share a show with Sara,” Hermesdorf says. “She always attracts great collaborators and has fabulous dancers.” [Mann’s lead dancer, Maria Scaroni, created quite a stir this year with an NEA-sponsored performance of a piece by Jess Curtis that had her appearing in the nude.]

(See page 16)

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=Gb519N0eZd60&EID=1dfcbb42-fcde-4678-92c3-f2b3a4bb8140&skip=true

Joyride Art Show Review

Published in the San Francisco Weekly on-line blog "All Shook Down"

by Andrea Pflaumer

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2009/07/last_night_joyride_art_show_at.php

Richmond-based band Iwori - new release

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/blogs/richmond_s_iwori_at_the_rockit_room_tonight/Content?oid=773709

Review of four East Bay shops

http://www.themonthly.com/shop-talk-06-08.html

Arts and Crafts Fare: East Bay Monthly

http://www.themonthly.com/shopping-06-08.html

Shop Talk: Four new shops in the East Bay:

http://www.themonthly.com/shop-talk-11-07.html

Profile of Dancer Carmen Carnes: Pacific Sun Newsweekly

http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=683

Another Shopping Around: dancing, interior design, artist (the first four pieces are mine)

http://www.themonthly.com/shop-talk06-06.html

The Painter and the Poet: Profile of Dr. Gerson and Judith Goldhaber and their new book, Sonnets from Aesop (listing only - html to come)

http://www.themonthly.com/previous/2005/08-05.html