We are about to embark on an artistic voyage through the obstacles of the pandemic: a multi-sensory live outdoor event we affectionately refer to as “Pluot Season” (like the fruit). We need your financial support in making this dream a reality.
Our Team and Process
We have handpicked six artists to work with us on creating this vision together. This performance art piece has yet to be written! We have sent the performer/collaborators an inspiration packet, filled with references to movies, plays, and images, to create a broth from which our minds will align. This broth has notes of butoh, tibetan rituals, and a dreamy poetic approach.
The vision is that each of us will offer up our strengths and find ways to intertwine sound, movement, color, texture, word, etc. during our rigorous workshops which will happen in May. Fenner is bringing their bold directorial visioning. Kat is enthusiastic about creating one-of-a-kind costumes for the cast. Our team has skills ranging from wordsmithing, dancing, to music making, and creating unforgettable theatrical experiences.
Timeline
Three rehearsal workshops in May and the performance night is Sunday, June 6, 2021.
Donations
We are seeking to raise $2,000 in addition to our own contributions. Your support will be used to purchase materials for costumes, set pieces, props, and compensate the performers and crew. If you wish to contribute, venmo directly to @Katarina-Countiss.
donation levels and perks:
Friend ($1-$25) receives a commemorative postcard and recognition as a supporter in the printed program of the production.
Lover ($25-$100): receives a commemorative postcard, recognition as a supporter in the printed program of the production, and a signed copy of the script of the production.
Dynamo ($100-$500): receives a commemorative postcard, recognition as a supporter in the printed program of the production, a signed copy of the script of the production. For those who cannot attend this premiere, we will send a small personalized video with a scene performed just for you!
About The Producers
Fenner is primarily a Devised Theater maker, actor, and creative facilitator, also skilled in directing, music, improvisation, writing, dramaturgy, props and lighting. They are interested in guiding the unfolding of this piece and balancing the absurd with the universal.
Katarina Countiss is an interdisciplinary/multimedia artist based in Oakland, California. She has experience in theatre production, facilitating workshops, improvisation, music, directing, writing, performance, and theatre tech.
Please join us! With your support, we’re one step closer to producing our wondrous vision!
One day I was scrolling instagram when I saw Miranda July’s post. It struck me that there could be some kind of collaboration between choreographer and dancer over zoom. I was thinking a bit about how to make the work I’ve made in the past in my dance pieces happen with less people and more process. Part of this inspiration came from local theatre-maker, Evan Johnson who had recently talked to me about his process in making his works where he reached out to collaborators, a sound designer and a director. This idea of making with a team of three seemed really doable.
Process
I reached out to Kevin Corcoran (a percussionist) and Hannah Ayasse (dance artist). I have worked with these people in a few ways before this project. Both of them have had collaborated with me on psychobotany at different iterations.
In separate phone calls, I described the idea about meeting on zoom for five sessions to see what we’d create in a devised work process.
Here’s the brief that I sent out prior to our first meeting.
UnNamed Project 1
Choreographer: Hannah Ayasse
Musician: Kevin Corcoran
Performer/Producer: Katarina Countiss
Stipend for each person $100, deliverable by venmo after the fourth meeting.
Meetings: Each meeting will be about 60-80 minutes through Zoom, Kat will provide the link to the meetings.
Each meeting will have an agenda 1) check in 2) go over the agenda 3) review old business 4) attend to the new topics 5) closing statements
Meeting 1- checking in
Goals: scheduling out the meetings, defining what we want the end product to look like, getting to know each other, understanding where we are at and what we envision for our collaboration, what we want to explore, questions we want to ask, etc.
Meeting 2- workshop 1
Goals: collaboration experiments, discussions, etc.
Meeting 3- workshop 2
Goals: collaboration experiments, discussions, etc.
Meeting 4- finalizing deliverables
Goals: deciding if we want any kind of live show or premier or internet event to commemorate the birth of a piece
(between meeting 4 and 5, the deliverables will manifest itself into a dance video or some other kind of product if we decide on some other format or execution)
Meeting 5- reflection
Goals: reviewing the process and the product, getting each other’s feedback, what went well, what we would do differently, special acknowledgements and conclusion
It pretty much went like that. We ended up having three workshops, and the fifth meeting was essentially another workshop, but the zoom meeting was recorded. And we decided against having “deliverables.” We both agreed that the improvisational and feedback process in our experimentation worked best as a live collaboration and felt more stifled with preloaded ideas for how the “cycles” were going to go.
The “press-go cycles” were timed containers for entering into a experimental space. Hannah administered narrative prompts for choreography, Kevin provided a soundscape, and I did movement and also lighting.
The layering, I think was crucial to a smooth initiation into our collaboration. Our first press-go cycle was just me and Hannah, (no music and no lighting). Then the next cycle had music. Then the next cycle had lighting, but it was one look. Then the next cycle, lighting could happen at any time. The next cycle had prerecorded sound. The cycle after that had prerecorded sound with improvised precussion on top of it. The next cycle had the idea of a resolution for the narrative prompts instead of a hard-stop.
More about the lighting. I bought an overhead projector (5-088 Manufactured by 3M) for use in the first psychobotany. I had technical difficulties with using prerecorded projections with a computer and a video projector in performances and when I saw someone using an “old-school” projector in a play, I was very much hooked on the accessibility of its tactile approach. I knew I wanted to have this element in our devised work. I chose some light looks. In past works, I’m not the mover, and so I can choose and change lighting more flexibly because that’s all I’m doing. In our cycles, being the mover as well, it was interesting to be dropping into the narrative and then feeling some moments where the environment felt ready for a change and then stopping movement for some lighting readjustments and then continuing to move. I think this is fairly innovative. I have not seen a dancer in control of the light before. It is a lot of fun working with the stage environment in this way.
More about the “stage environment,” this was my living room at 8am. I cleared some furniture and added blackout curtains to prepare for our sessions.
I really enjoyed all of our discussions and reflections. We met for five sundays, every other sunday. Starting from Dec 27 and Ending Feb 7. It was quite a time and having the meetings spaced out like that was good. There was a lot of energy about the holidays, the new year, the inaguration, the pandemic. It felt nice to take something slow.
At the end of our collaboration, we reflected on what we worked on and how we felt about it in some way like a primer, an exercise about devised work, still fresh and exploratory on the last day, and it was a nice place to leave it. We talked about what happens next. I’m planning on cutting the recordings into two pieces, one is a short video using the documentation from our last two cycles “The Corridor and the Treasure,” and then making some kind of documentary/documentation, capturing the nature of our zoom meeting. That’s going to happen at some point. I feel like I have to point out that the reason why I’m not doing that anytime soon is pandemic related in that I prefer to edit video on a friend’s computer due to processing power. So, it’s an interesting feeling about having that in the hopper of projects not quite completed.
I’m really grateful to Hannah, Kevin, Evan, Miranda, and my housemates, and zoom.
I recommend structured meetings as well. Having an agenda for collaboration meetings felt really organized and able to feel grounded even though we were miles apart.
Stay tuned for the art documentation. I imagine that it is pretty funny to read about a process without seeing the “art” or the performance, the goal of the gathering: The music, the choreography, the lighting, and the movement feeding each other in dance-theatre.
This is a post describing an ongoing work/practice in progress, Lanna Cotta.
Last year (during the ides of march), my world changed. A lot of people’s world’s changed. Essentially, the pandemic related to coronavirus escalated to the point where both my part-time jobs shut and then had a lot of time at home with the existential question, what do I do?
Inspired by some of my friends and their pivoting to the world of Zoom communication, I created a morning meeting group called Webinara (then later named Lanna Cotta) that would meet and check in and do creative exercises, mostly drawing and writing.
This practice, bolstered by the social connection, gave me something to anchor myself to during this long and continuing “bunker-down” situation that many of us continue to find ourselves in.
Above is a video I made explaining how the sessions go.
It’s interesting and challenging because I feel like I have a lot of catching up on the lanna cotta blog to make it up to date. I have run over two hundred exercises at this point which seems pretty great. And I have to give a lot of credit to my consistent participants, mostly Simone, who has been Lanna Cotta’s greatest supporter.
The main thesis of Lanna Cotta is that it’s a practice and its unique structure features social support. I recently started a meetup group and since then one person has come through that to find the meetings and she seemed to really appreciate it, although she doesn’t come regularly.
So, it is in some ways just beginning as a journey for me. I think that being an art-session facilitator has some legs for me. I’ve spent some time in art nites and sound jams, and it feels like a great place to be. My goal is to continue to explore ways to find people who are interested in this kind of practice that is actually uncommon, a drop-in micro-workshop zoom meeting. Sometimes, I think of it like meditation or yoga. Creative exercises are a lot of fun and I am glad to have gotten this far with it and will continue to find ways to improve the experience and share the experience.
In playing a game of “catch-up” or “catch-all,” here are images from the year 2020 of portraits where to varying degrees of styling and photographing embroidery/sewings– it’s by no means exhaustively catalogging all the things that passed through my hands this last year.
Possibly one of the saddest things about art/craft documentation is that you cannot examine the product, only the flat representation through the photograph. I think it’s important to acknowledge that some of these works are not practically finished, which I suppose is fine for fashion photography, but less suitable for say theatrical work where you would want something to stay positioned for over two hours with physical movement and look great from all angles.
I spent a lot of time in the land of “collar bib” which is some kind of statement piece “jewelry” that I really think is fun aesthetically, but I wouldn’t wear it to the grocery store. It’s some kind of outfit accessory that might suit a trip to Meow Wolf or an eccentric garden party, which is fine, but yeah, a little awkward because that currently isn’t my lifestyle, so it’s a bit aspirational like skinny jeans that are for when I lose 10 pounds, except it’s for when the world changes and I get some big break that allows me to travel and get invitations (or host) lovely art parties.
That being said, it felt very affirming to spend most of this last year in my “studio” aka my bedroom, living my best life with a needle in my hand, making soft and imaginative things. And I hope this year is a lot of the same, though albeit also different, but in the same vein of following my bliss.
I worked on these brooches fairly recently, but I feel compelled to add that when I blogged about my new year’s eve, I saw the dates between today and the last time I published a blog which was February of Last Year (insert The Killers lyric, it’s not consequential, I got potential, I digress).
I enjoyed making these brooches. It was the first time I set out to make brooches in any medium and it made me very satisfied. I have been thinking about embroidery and how I want to embroider all of my wardrobe, but now I see that I can just have acccessories. I do not have a habit of accessorizing my outfits, partially because I don’t have a jewelry wearing habit and I think that affects the way I shop etc. So it has been pretty neat to make brooches. In my experimentation of styling the brooches, I really enjoy the effect of putting the brooch in that sweet gap where the collar meets the button strip, akin to a bolo tie’s clip’s location.
I often think about “where am I wearing this outfit to?” and especially now, in pandemic land, I imagine that there’s a party I’m preparing for when the “new roaring twenties” comes around. I like to distinguish audience member versus performer. The idea that there are some things in my wardrobe that are very punchy and could be worn as someone on stage, but off stage it might be overly peacocky for my taste. I think a bit about fashion as a language for showing others you know where you are and what you should be wearing.
What I especially like about brooches is their compactness. In comparison to other things I’ve embroidered, it has a great hand-feel, like a token or a ticket. There’s something really neat about something you can put in your pocket, perhaps like a handwritten note passed in class. You can keep it for later, forget about it and then remember.
Something to note: as brooches, the objects are a bit unfinished. I couldn’t commit to a type of fastener. In these shots, I have used a variety of methods to pin them, but I would love to talk to a craftsperson about their favorite ways to attach cloth to brooch clips, etc. Perhaps, I enjoy the non-committal versatility of their current state. They could be attached to all sorts of clips/pins, depending on the customer.
It’s been a hot minute since I blogged something. Not that I’ve been inactive in my life, but perhaps it goes into the category of practices rather than projects.
These are photos from a new years eve party at my house I helped make happen. I enjoyed getting dressed up and wearing my new hat I bought from a local clown, Bri Crabtree. I felt like Loonette from The Big Comfy Couch show.
I felt good about having a lot of time to set up the projector textures. You can see me experimenting with the framing with the textures, ultimately I had to make the screen taller so the people didn’t block the bunting I made.
I was really proud of the bunting. I cut out the numbers from a glittery cardstock I got at Michael’s. I accidentally cut the twos backwards which gave me the idea to put some shiny fabric on it. This was the first time I sewed fabric onto cardstock. It’s a nice alternative to glue because my hands did not get sticky and I think the fabric has more room to fluctuate or wrinkle, kind of like a deflated mylar balloon. I hung the bunting in my room and it’s a nice reminder of what year it is. Time seems to flow rather strangely these days.
Back to the shoot. I wanted to comment on how it was nice to do four shots. People tend to loosen up after a couple of takes, and I think people loosen up knowing there will be a couple of takes. To be fair, my housemates are very photogenic and playful. I really didn’t need to give them any direction other than where to sit.
the new year photo I posted on instagram/facebook
I stare at this photo a lot. This was the last take and I really like how each of us, in our own little stripe, have our own vibe. It feels really cool to not have to color coordinate and enjoy how the composition gels because of the way the colors on the projector organizes the image, like the brady bunch, we have our own relatively equal section to express ourselves.
I would love to do this particular arrangement again. I like the idea of making a collage where there’s a long strip of portraits where each person gets a nice equal sized stripe to pose with their instrument or beloved object. That might be the thing I like the most about the photo is that everyone is equipped with a meaningful prop. Often photobooths give you a cheap generic prop. That’s the nice thing about partying at your own house I guess.
One thing that I regret that I want to keep in mind. After we took photos, one of my housemates said that you didn’t get to see the cake he made. Turns out, I wasn’t as detail oriented as I wanted to be. I can chock some of it up to the limited nature of a timer set camera versus being behind the camera when it fires off, but still, the way that this kind of photobooth works is is whatever is in the light is in the frame and I think that’s good to tell your people when you are ushering them into position. Some of the shots do get the cake, but still, I think that it might have been nice of me to offer singles for each person so that they get center stage and have a nice photo where it’s just them and in this case, they get to show off something they want to show off.
I thought and journaled a little about this phenomenon as a photographer, you are a historian, and you have an opportunity to shape how this memory will be fortified. And how it does everyone an honor to be reminded of stuff that they were proud of or worked hard on or were very into. How virtuous a photograph can be. And I can say that this year, like last year, I missed out on an opportunity, partially just being unpracticed in the ways of being a photographer. Last year (2019-2020 NYE party), I missed getting two party attendees photos taken, making the composite group shot incomplete. And now this year, I missed the cake. I suppose that’s an improvement though the number of attendees being what it was, perhaps, the percentage of incomplete relative to the party is the same.
Alas, I’m glad to start this year off with an opportunity to reflect on a beautiful photoshoot and with gratitude for beauty and aesthetics in this time of pandemic and significantly low overall party-quotient.
a note about the video– I made it using my iphone and facebook live attached to my station– so the resolution is not ideal for presentation purposes but more to document it in a scrappy way– in a world, I would have hired a professional like I occasionally do.
event flier design by Jenny Yang
The process of making the show– I saw an opportunity for a performance at the Night of Forts and so I reached out to Nathaniel Miller who I have been jamming with at the Noise Jams and Art Nites.
He agreed to collaborate with me on a performance and I recruited some movers for the dance part. Inspired by psychobotany, I wanted to make a dance using the overhead projector and involve some people that I’ve never involved before, Dominique Nigro and Laura Cohen.
The dancemaking process was decidedly different than that of psychobotany. I wanted it to have more structure and use more props. I invited the four movers to my house for a kind of workshop were we talked about the intentions for the piece. We listened to the music and they planned how they would work together.
The execution of the piece was a bit of a different story. The environment of the event on show day was less than controlled. For Nathaniel to set-up a set up he’s never set up with someone else’s PA without adequate lighting, with a bit of pressure of time and people depending on him– we debriefed afterward, agreeing that it was a lot to expect.
So what happened is that we started maybe forty five minutes later than anticipated. It can be a lot when it seems like it’s five minutes away from starting every five minutes. I think this was the first time I was in a line-up as a “director” type role where there were other acts after us. I felt very responsible for the delay and had no idea of what the etiquette was for making amends or acknowledging the situation.
The movers took initiative– they wanted to start, so I said ok. The silence that ensued from them taking the stage after all this time was breathtaking. I really enjoyed the attention that was all visual. It was solemn, dreamy, sculpture-esque. I had never seen that before. I really liked it.
The music trickled in, slowly coming together into something. Nathaniel told me it wasn’t what he planned, he had to improvise. After about 16 minutes, one of the movers initiated a bit of choreography that was intended to be the end sequence. She rightly anticipated that the music cue they were relying on to leave the stage wouldn’t come on.
All in all, it was a good experience, though it was a bit stressful. I felt on the hook for commissioning movers to move in such an environment for a small stipend. I keep thinking that ideally I want to secure some grant money so that I wouldn’t feel so guilty, like compensating them with material gain would make me feel like I wasn’t asking for so much discomfort. And I would have more rehearsals to make sure they felt secure in the timing and manipulation of props– though now I’m inclined to have some kind of fallback plan in case the music isn’t cooperating.
During the show. I especially liked watching Andrew’s make-up stunt. It felt like a stunt, he took shirt and wiped his make-uped (and sweaty face) into his shirt and made a kind of rainbow. I am curious how to make a dance like that, where that is better integrated into some kind of narrative or series of colorations– like the dancers start out with white clothes and then there’s different dyeing mechanisms, ooooh.
I think in my heart I am still a painter and just want to see more color happen, the process of transformation.
There was a part where one of the mover’s dismounted another mover and fell onto a third mover– that was not planned either, but I was intrigued and nervous. I believe safety is an important factor, but also, like with theatrical wrestling, it might seem like more to those of us who are not so physical, how a small collision is really not that intense as watching it from the outside. But yea, also, I would want to give a show with four movers a bigger stage than I what was available this night.
Writing about it, I feel very grateful and inspired. I enjoy this play of light, movement, and sound. I am working to get a grant for a series of workshops around this kind of collaboration so that my group will be better prepared and better compensated. It’s a slow process of learning about how grants work.
Once again, a big thank you to the event’s producers, Jenny Yang and Forrest McCuller, the team at Beauty Supply and everyone on that bill. It was a fantastic night and I am honored to share the space and time and art with this community.
Above is the “contact sheet” I edited the photos and curated this gallery– there was 530 photos from the event in my camera and I made an online repository, but I like this better.
The fort making process was pretty smooth. I practiced ladder safety and engaged some embroidery habits in the construction of the fort that was four shower curtains, string, and tulle.
My collaborator, Nathaniel Miller, on the fort had an eye for details and really pushed it to be better than I envisioned it. I got some feedback after the event that there was a breakdown in communication. He would have preferred in person conversation to texting and he wanted a more active role in the construction process. Some obstacles to that was I got the impression he was a bit overwhelmed with preparing the music for a separate collaboration we were doing for the same event.
I hope we work together in the future. This is the first official project we have worked on together and it was mostly positive and I think that’s encouraging.
The experience of proctoring or facilitating the photobooth at the event was mostly smooth. I perhaps needed a better sign that said come in, I have a camera and will take your picture. I had a sign that had two faces, one side said that the photobooth is in use, and the other is a self-service instruction list for when I stepped away.
I provided a link to the google drive folder with all the photos from the event on the facebook event page. It seems like there are different delivery methods for photobooths. This was less sophisticated. If you got photos at the photobooth fort and have a facebook notification for the link on the event, you could comb through the photos until you found your session. I had a form for the people without facebook accounts to provide another way for me to send them the g-drive link.
The fort was fairly easy to dissemble, like cutting a puppet off its strings (except you wouldn’t do that). I really enjoy installation art and hope to get more opportunities to create spaces like this.
Kismet Arts Tangent 