Contraband (performance group)

Contraband, a collection of artists led by director/choreographer Sara Shelton Mann, was a dance-based, live performance ensemble, working together from 1985 to the mid 1990s. Based mainly in San Francisco, the group became known for its lively, electrifying performances, often politically charged and community-engaging.[1] By utilizing dance, music, set, text/spoken word, and site-specific work, Contraband came to develop a cross-disciplinary performance aesthetic, as well as approach to dance and dance training, that would have a profound influence on Bay Area dance, performance art, and culture, as well as performance practice abroad.[2][3]

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Sara Shelton Mann, Keith Hennessy, and Kim Epifano (upside down)
Mira, Cycle I

Emerging with the 1985 work Evol, the group went on to combine contemporary dance with contact improvisation, live music, ritual, activism, innovative set design, and work with experiential states (see essential states), developing a more expressionistic approach to dance and theater on the West Coast.[4][5][6][7] Many members have continued on to further professional careers in art, music, dance, and circus. Members include director Sara Shelton Mann with Lauren Elder, Keith Hennessy (Circo Zero Performance), Jess Curtis (Jess Curtis/Gravity), Norman Rutherford, Rinde Eckert, Kim Epifano (Epiphany Productions), Jules Beckman (libertivore, Collectif AOC), Elaine Buckholtz, Nina Hart, Brenda Munnell, Kathleen Hermesdorf (La Alternativa), Brook Klehm, Julie Kane, Shannon McMurchy (McGuire), and Peter Kadyk. The company dissolved in the mid-1990s due to financial concerns.

  1. ^ Godfrey, Stephen (16 May 1981). The Child an Unruly Prodigy. The Globe and Mail.
  2. ^ Welsh, Anne Marie (11 November 1993). Dance Team Ecstatic, Not Static. San Diego Union-Tribune.
  3. ^ Shank, Theodore. 1989. California Performance, Volume 1/San Francisco Bay Area. Claremont, California: Mime Journal, Pomona College Theatre Department. ISSN 0145-787X
  4. ^ Hennessy, Keith (Oct 2008). The Experiment Called Contact Improvisation. In Dance. http://www.dancersgroup.org/content/programs/articles/2008/2008October_134.html
  5. ^ Johnson, Barry (1 October 1988). Contraband: Gritty, Authentic Quality. The Oregonian.
  6. ^ Richardson, Kip (18 October 1991). The Ascent of Mann. The Oregonian.
  7. ^ Welsh, Anne Marie (18 January 1992). "Contraband's 'Mandala' Soft and Fluid". San Diego Union-Tribune.