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opening night

From Rebecca Solnit:
"I thought your dance last night was magnificent, entertaining and sometimes quite beautiful and moving (and occasionally hilarious) in itself but also a vehicle to think about damage and art and community in a really interesting way. That is, it was good to watch, but it's still good to think about the next day, as I write. Lots of young artists make work about suffering, but too many of them think that the fact of their suffering or of the existence of suffering is enough. This for me was a piece about what you do with it, what you make of it, and what it means to make art and good art of it.

"As I was saying in a too-noisy room last night, I came into your piece having just talked with Marina M. about a project of hers to focus on 'orphan' objects in a museum collection; I responded as soon as she told me, "California is nothing but an orphanage." That is, this is a place made out of anomalies, discontinuities, self-inventions, and more, of people who have been cut off from family, culture and past in some way, voluntarily or otherwise, and who with that freedom of the uprooted invent. That is only more true of San Francisco, where people come to reinvent themselves as poets, or gender rebels (which made having two of the men in your piece played by women very nice), or Chinese herbalists, or community organizers, or any number of other things, often eccentric or at least non-mainstream things. This is the essence of the place, the thing that makes it matter, and maybe just like everyplace else only more so. I came into the show with all this in the back of my mind, and the show helped me think further about it.

" The music in this performance was also wonderful: the contemporary pop music provoked a wonderful tension between historical characters put to the test of unfamiliar rhythms while the dancers who played them relaxed into the kind of dancing all of us might do at parties, and then came music more auditorily eerie that asked other things of them. The musical episodes felt like a series of tests or experiments, like the way scientists subject a new strain of plant or a new alloy of metal to tests, going deeper and deeper into how the characters could respond and who responded how to each round of sound as well as to each other responding.

"I was concerned at first when I heard you'd picked Emperor Norton as your subject that the piece would be about charming eccentricity, but I saw something more significant: the question of what one does with suffering and marginalization, what one can do with it, what we can bring together. The historical Norton, who fell to pieces after a financial collapse, was reborn as someone who was to some degree still delusional or mentally ill but who was performing that inability to come to terms with reality as a great festive invitational to join his delightful unreality. [...]

"And then there were just gorgeous surprises: Duncan's fifty-foot scarf was coiled up onstage from the beginning and I thought we were going to see her death, but when she wore it late in the performance perhaps she was already dead, for she just sat there with the beautiful diaphanous apricot thing streaming the whole diagonal length of the stage, and it was Norton who engaged with it, casting exquisite, disturbing shadows on it as he traveled along its length, the road it made, and then wrapping his head up in it until he became another kind of beast, a muffled creature with a great swollen blind head who lay down and died himself. Wrapped in someone else's legend.....

The way that Norton seemed to tire as the performance went on was also really moving; being historically minded, I thought of how Norton would've been an adult when Murietta was hung, and Coit would've been alive, and Duncan was born a couple of years before Norton died when Coit was in her prime; I liked the power of dance to bring all these people together more tightly. Was it an afterlife, as in the wonderful opera by William Kentridge I just saw a month earlier, in which he staged the baroque Death of Ulysses as a reverie spun from the dying Ulysses' hospital bed? Or the way we live with the dead all the time, as you dancers live with Duncan, as I live always with Orwell and Woolf, who live on in the conversations their books provoke in my head and who keep showing up in my work? These figures who accompany us after death, which is one of the powers of art, the art they make and the art others make to keep memory alive. [...]

"The piece left me with lots of ideas and questions—not about it, but about everything else, which is one of the hallmarks of a really good work of art. Ideas and questions and moods and atmospheres….

Congratulations,

Rebecca"

the end at last

It's finally the night before opening night, and I cannot believe we've made it this far. The dress went amazingly well, and the the world of Emperor Norton came to life like never before. All of the characters bristled with larger than life texture, all the details fell neatly into place, and the hard work and research was suddenly SOOOO worth it. Dave Robertson's lights are stunning, turning the little red "black box" theater of ODC into a cavernous wonderland.

San Francisco... WE ARE READY!

preview press yipee!

We are super excited to be getting some fantastic press before the show. Thanks to PR guru Liam Passmore of Shave and a Haircut, star photographer Andrea Flores, and a killer marketing team with Catherine Clambaneva at ODC Dance Commons, the local press has really helped to get the word out.

Attracting non-dancers and dancers alike is extremely important to me. I don't make dances for the dance community alone, and I try to keep different audience members' attention spans in mind. And I don't mean to pander, or make it easier to digest. I like to make work that the average person can engage with on both an intellectual and visceral level, without spelling out a specific interpretation, so that the experience becomes more 3-dimensional, physical and conceptual at the same time. I hope that the preview press about the show helps to attract a less conventional modern dance audience... because the dance community could use a little fresh blood.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:
"This weekend, ODC artist-in-residence Catherine Galasso presents "The Improbable Reign of Norton I, Emperor of the United States," a dreamlike, humorous portrait of the life and metaphorical significance of San Francisco's 19th century stranger-than-fiction eccentric."

From the San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Two years ago Catherine Galasso appeared at the WestWave Dance Festival in Gnome Trouble [...] Apparently she likes folk tales. She is back with another one..."

From Mission Local.org
"If you find yourself intrigued by your neighborhood crazy—you know, the one who sips espresso dressed as a pirate, or the 12 Galaxies guy who attends every street fair in the city holding his nonsensical picket sign—ODC’s show on Saturday and Sunday is for you. [...] 45 minutes of unconventional entertainment that will leave you wanting to know more about your city and the people within it."

trailer is finally ready

norton and the scarf

chaos ending + firing squad

slow motion facial expression

Here we explored one way of introducing the characters by isolating each one with specific facial expressions, within the context of a slow motion portrait pose. Kind of like 1800's family portrait style, the way people had to hold still for so long, their expressions sometimes became awkward and uncomfortable.

notes from the undergroud

Here are some notes I received about the second work-in-progress showing:
From Jorge De Hoyos:
"I enjoyed the subtlety of the Introductions...the slow-mo shift of attention to the one being highlighted. There was the danger though I felt of losing each character's Introductory moment because they were so close together and all still moving in slow motion. [...] I felt that each phrase/visual image was intended to add a layer or depth to each person, but I didn't experience a deeper or more specific connection with them. I guess I was looking for ACTION, for them to DO something individually. [...] I felt great potential for Andrew's relationship to the wind. I was wanting him to want something (not that he needed to know what it was, but some sense that he's curious and/or seduced or utterly taken by the wind).

"Christine, I thought was SOO beautiful how she was saying "no" when they were wrapping her up. I look to Andrew for how to read these deaths...if he doesn't care then I don't. The setup of that is sooo beautiful, and I could see the idea behind it, but I was distracted by being confused how to read it...not that I need to be spoon-fed, but that I need to see a relationship between Andrew and the person and the event.

"Why is sexuality not being addressed? Is he asexual? Are they all asexual? Because it wasn't addressed or recognized my mind fixated on what wasn't being said.

"I think that the piece has so much texture and potential and life! Your performers are great and seem trusting and wanting to go deeper and more nuanced to own their intentions and impulses. I was moved especially by any moments that were coming from the characters in a more understated way...You've set up such a rich world, and you have all the pieces there already. A suggestion would be to refine and define...duh, you probably have been thinking/hearing this already. You have it in the bag."

From Jesse Hewitt:
-the gender stuff is there from the get-go. why this man with these women. i felt LESS distracted by this than i thought i would, but its an issue and i think it should be dealt with plainly and head-on. Why THESE characters? Is the sexy discoteque bit kind of placing these folks in a modern day SF scenario?
-the diagonal still crosses with 3 or four people moving as a vignette became a recognizable structure. do you want this?
-M seems cast as murietta becasue she is the only non-white person.
-i like A's kind of state-of-the-union-address to movement. something really confused and endearingly earnest about his quality here. it really works for me.
-what the f*** is C saying! i love this! its so great that she is not only speaking in french, but mumbling softly. this bit is brilliant.
-i really enjoyed the moment where i released any notion of needing to know why they were meeting here and now. WHY NOT!?
-A is not as dominant as i thought. He has a quality of movement that is reflective of his character, whereas the others do movement and instantly morph into contemporary dancers. I really thing this could be easily fixed.
-C's death/exit is sad and really beautiful. it feels like such an awful and misunderstood way to go. it really moved me. she was upright and "normal" for the first time...and it was as a ghost, leaving a body.
-P looks like she's been spun into a cocoon or spider web with the scarf bit. its a strong image.
-strong through-line of obscurity. not necessarily insanity or eccentricity...just obscurity.
-the transitions are really clunky and it feels like a great choice.
-why does A have the relationship to the others that he does?
-M's death choreography (being dropped and caught by A again and again) is GORGEOUS!
-super wierd to have three radnom women get up and start into the piece. are they new characters? will they have names and stories?10-12 might not even be enough to establish that it is a mob/harem and not a slew of new characters...but costumes could clarify
-I dont know why C comes back. I forgot J's narrative. The end is like women helping a man walk because he's dumb and mannish? yet...i like it.
-i like C ending it. it keeps it surreal/dreamlike/subtle.
Once again...this is just the stuff that most moved me...one way or the other. bottom line: it felt like thoroughly investigated work that was surprising and off-kilter and splattered with terribly and plainly beautiful moments. i'm on board. thank you.

From Marina Fukushima: (performer)
i realized that i sometimes go in and out of the character in different sections. i feel this most in the: prep of the scarf, taking away the scarf, getting christine with fabric, after sex scene and techno dancing. i am not too clear with when and how much (intensity) i should keep the character. or how i should drop from the character. i like the image of having the group (the strangers) on stage in the end. they look like they are other crazy ghosts from history.

From Christine Bonansea: (performer)
I feel that it was a good showing! [...] You create a world, a surrealist world mixing these people.
I would say- of the piece>>for me it's all about the IMPROBABLE....the "surrealism" of the situation (like you said the Norton's dream)! So everything is possible...!8-) and I feel that this is the articulation of the piece!
When they talked about some "modern dance part", I think they actually wanted to keep the integrity of the characters during all the piece, a physicality for each of them (which it's more obvious for Norton, Isadora, and I???)! It might be a key actually for some smoother transitions...


Special thanks to Jorge, Jesse, Marina, Christine, and to all those who attended the showing and shared your feedback with me in person.

recording voice over

Today I recorded a voice over for the piece with Wade Wright at his record store near Haight Street in San Francisco. Wade has a fantastic voice, very full and story-book sounding.

Wade is not an actor but a friend of mine from Cafe Divine in North Beach. His voice struck me as having the right feel for the Norton story. I wanted him to read the voice over in his natural voice, but slower and with space between the words (so it could be easily heard in a theater). We recorded many takes of him describing Norton's history, short soundbites about the other characters, as well as some "effects" for Norton such as cackling, wimpering, and growling.

No room in the budget to rent professional recording equipment, so I used a microphone that attaches directly to the I-Pod, called a Belkin Tune-Talk. We recorded in the large quiet space of Jack's Record Cellar, located on the corner of Scott St and Page.

isadora death scene - for reference

Isadora's remarkable death was portrayed in the 1968 film, "Isadora." I must warn you that it's a little gruesome. You can watch this chilling scene below:

Special thank you to Augusta Moore who recommended that we check this out.

In-Progress Video Excerpts

This is a selection of excerpts from our work-in-progress showing on March 17th, about 1/3 through the process. Our first draft of the entire piece. These are some of my favorite moments.

cast of characters

Phoenicia Pettyjohn as Isadora Duncan










Phoenicia Pettyjohn graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She has been performing with peckpeck dance ensemble for four years. She has performed with many other Bay Area choreographers including: Christy Funsch, Brooke Broussard and Alma Esperanza Cunningham Dance. This is her second project with Catherine Galasso. She is also the Director of Bathroom Education for the ODC Dance Commons.
Isadora Duncan, the founder of modern dance, was born in San Francisco in 1877, three years before Emperor Norton’s death. From an early age, Isadora was drawn to create a new kind of dance, but she left San Francisco at the age of eighteen because the city proved “inhospitable” to her ideas, saying, “They just don’t understand.”

Marina Fukushima as Joaquin Murietta









Marina Fukushima, a native of Tokyo, Japan, came to the United States when she was fifteen years old to study dance under the direction of Bonnie Mathis in Minnesota. She received her BFA in Dance from Butler University in Indiana and continued her studies at the University of Iowa, where she received her MFA in Dance. She has danced with Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, ODC/San Francisco, and Project Agora. She is currently a member of KUNST-STOFF. Her work has been presented at the American College Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado, ODC Theater and Project Artaud Theater. In addition to performing and choreographing, she enjoys teaching Advanced Beginning Ballet at ODC/Dance Commons.
Joaquin Murietta, also known as the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a legendary figure during the California Gold Rush of the 1850’s and has come to symbolize Latino resistance against Anglo-American domination. Murietta was hunted and killed at the age of 23 by ranger Harry Love, his head preserved in a jar of brandy and exhibited to spectators for the price of $1.

Christine Bonansea as Frederick Willie Coombs









Christine Bonansea studied for 3 years at the University of La Sorbonne (France) and graduated in modern dance from a French National Dance School and two major French Choreographic Dance Centers (Regine Chopinot and Mathide Monnier). For the last 10 years she has been dancing in France, Switzerland and the USA, as well as exploring contact-improvisation, acting, clown, video, and graphics. In San Francisco since 2006, she has danced with EmSpace Dance, Huckabay Mc Allister Dance, Lisa Townsend Company, PeckPeck Dance ensemble, Paige Sorvillo/blindsight, Kim Epifano, Kelly Kemp & company and Catherine Galasso, as well as performed in the video “Green” for Dance Monks and acted for Nara Denning/ Distiller film. She is currently creating her own video dance series, and is a Dance medicine Specialist – Pilates Instructor at St Francis Memorial Hospital.
Frederick Coombs, otherwise known as George Washington the 2nd, was a phrenologist by trade, as well as an accomplished photographer, daguerreotypist, and inventor. In 1860’s San Francisco, Coombs could be seen wearing a powdered wig and carrying a banner proclaiming himself "The Great Matrimonial Candidate." He left the city and returned to his native New York after Norton issued a decree to have him sent to the Lunatic Asylum.

Andrew Wass as Joshua Norton









Andrew Wass began dancing in college, replacing the chem lab with the dance studio. Since living in the Bay Area for the past 6 years, he has had the opportunity to perform in work by Scott Wells, Jess Curtis, Nina Martin, Shelley Senter, and Mary Overlie. His dance films have been shown in film festivals in LA, Minneapolis, Rio de Janeiro, Houston, Berlin, and San Francisco. His performance work has been shown in San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Marfa, Tijuana, and New York. In 2007 he received an Izzie nomination for Music/Soundscore/Text, an artist residency at Djerassi and the Jack Loftis and Vibeke Strand, MD honorary Fellowship . He has been a member of Lower Left since 2001 and co-founded Non Fiction with Kelly Dalrymple in 2007.
Joshua Norton was a pillar of the San Francisco community during the mid 1800s and a prominent member of the business elite. In 1858 Norton lost his entire fortune in an attempt to corner the rice market, and by all accounts lost his mind as well, proclaiming himself a year later “Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.” The interesting part about Norton’s story is that the city played along – the newspapers published his proclamations, he issued his own currency, and for 20 years was a celebrated presence in San Francisco.

Julie Sheetz as Lillie Hitchcock Coit









Julie Sheetz fled Nevada for San Francisco in 2000 with an MS in Geography and extra credits from stage and independent film productions. Lacking serious dance training but not luck, she has been honored to work with Strong Current, EmSpace Dance, Huckabay McAllister Dance, Fellow Travelers Peformance Group, Company Mecanique, Lisa Townsend, Peck Peck Dance Ensemble, Hilary Bryan, Leyya Tawil, Chris Black, Hope Mohr, L. Martina Young, and Dianne Rugg.
Lillie Hitchcock Coit came to San Francisco in 1852. She had a special relationship with the city's firefighters, and was known as one of the most eccentric characters of North Beach, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so.

norton and democracy

"For in Norton, we find affirmation of every person's right to express her/himself and to be taken as an authority, to have her/himself heard in the great national debate. ... Insanity of Joshua Norton's kind may be one of our best checks against absurd government. In diversity alone, in the allowance for the mad outburst as well as the starkly sane observation, can democracy be for all the people."

Copyright 1998 by Joel GAzis-SAx