LEVYDance Mural

This Collaborative Mural project was the result of a call sent out by Benjamin Levy, the director and award winning choreographer of the San Francisco based contemporary dance company LEVYDance. The concept, originating with Ben and developed by myself, Ben, and the three dancers of the company, was practiced and later executed in live performance at the 7th annual patron’s gala, held at the companies large professional studio, Studio Gracias, 19 Heron St., San Francisco, on May 1, 2011. An audience of hundreds watched as the mural unfolded over the evening. The dancers initially remained still, as the painter (me) created washes of paint to establish the ground. The second stage of the process was to begin to integrate the dancer’s bodies into the wall by painting on their bodies. Each dancer would begin to move spontaneously to the touch and movement of the brush on their bodies, and the painter would trace in calligraphic lines the traces of that movement. Next, the limbs of the dancers were painted with two shades of blue, and each dancer moved up against the wall, creating and leaving improvised marks and colored gestures. The finished image is one of both formal structure and natural accident, intention and improvisation. Finally, the dancers came off the wall, slowly making their way to the center and performing a trio dance in the center of the room, to music. A successful and engaging collaboration, and one I hope to repeat again…

photos of practice: J. Zolli
photos of event: Ross Marlow
concept: Ben Levy, Director
Dancers: Luke, Scott, Bianca
date: May 1, 2011

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