today
7 a.m. Annual Twice Nice Rummage Sale Oddfellows Hall
read >8 a.m. Tire Amnesty Day Humboldt Coastal Nature Center
read >9 a.m. North Group Sierra Club Hike See Event Description
read >9:30 a.m. Manila Dunes Restoration Manila Community Center
read >10 a.m. Spiff Up The Zoo Sequoia Park Zoo
read >10 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens Humboldt Botanical Garden
read >10 a.m. Manila Dunes Guided Walk Manila Community Center
read >10 a.m. Annual Juggling Festival Humboldt State University
read >10 a.m. Exploring the I-Ching Humboldt Wellness Center
read >11 a.m. Soups and Salads for Shoes Fortuna Monday Club
read >noon Landscape Design from the Top Down Living Earth Landscapes
read >1 p.m. March and Rally for Peace Humboldt County Courthouse
read >1 p.m. 35th Annual Daffodil Show Fortuna River Lodge
read >1:30 p.m. Afternoon Tea Humboldt Area Foundation
read >1:30 p.m. Eureka Photoshop Users Group Adorni Recreation Center
read >1:30 p.m. For the Next 7 Generations Morris Graves Museum of Art
read >1:30 p.m. Spring Equinox Celebration Manila Community Center
read >2 p.m. Friends of the Marsh Tour Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center
read >2 p.m. Betty Peugh Sweaney Collection Presentation Trinidad Museum
read >5 p.m. Humboldt Roller Derby Redwood Acres Fairground
read >5 p.m. Elephants and Tigers: A Bollywood Extravaganza Wharfinger Building
read >5 p.m. Downey for Sheriff Spaghetti Dinner Fortuna Veterans Hall/Memorial Building
read >5:30 p.m. Arcata Rotary Spring Wine Festival Kate Buchanan Room at HSU
read >5:30 p.m. Arcata Rotary Spring Wine Festival Kate Buchanan Room at HSU
read >6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds (cowboy songs) Chapala Cafe
read >6 p.m. Blue Lotus Jazz Libation
read >6 p.m. McKinleyville Land Trust Dinner Azalea Hall
read >7 p.m. Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Legged Beasties Mantova's Two Street Music
read >7 p.m. Juggling Festival Show Van Duzer Theatre
read >7:30 p.m. Joe & Me (Greek/Turkish) Cafe Mokka
read >7:30 p.m. A Midsummer Night's Dream Arcata High School
read >7:30 p.m. Tenor Recital Christ Episcopal Church
read >7:30 p.m. We Are All Related Accident Gallery
read >7:30 p.m. For the Love of the Dance Redwood Raks World Dance Studio
read >8 p.m. Karaoke w/ Chris Clay Boiler Room
read >8 p.m. On the Wings of a Dove Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)
read >8 p.m. Antigone College of the Redwoods
read >8 p.m. So Hum Tales Mateel Community Center
read >8 p.m. The Phoebes Mosgo's
read >9 p.m. Vintage Soul (R&B) Cher-Ae-Heights Casino
read >9 p.m. Cadillac Ranch Six Rivers Brewery
read >9 p.m. The Roadmasters (country) Bear River Casino
read >9 p.m. Trevor 101, Children of the Sun (rock/blues) Lil' Red Lion
read >9 p.m. Band Behind Your Hedge (classic rock) Central Station Cocktail Lounge
read >9:30 p.m. For the Love of Dance After Party Arcata Theater Lounge
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >10 p.m. Polyhood Productions Pearl Lounge
read >10:30 p.m. Splinter Cell, Watch it Sparkle (rock) Alibi Lounge and Restaurant
read >previous columns
Nov. 12, 2009
Keep an Eye on the Sky
Big Star. Ardent/Rhin. The term, “Memphis Curse,” was bantered around ...
read >Nov. 5, 2009
Songs About Time
The Rentals. Self-released.
read >Oct. 29, 2009
Goodnight Unknown
By Lou Barlow. Merge Records.
read >
Two Left Feet Dance Project
At Redwood Raks World Dance Center, Nov. 6 and 7
By Stephanie Silvia
In out of the way places, as well as in big cities, dance struggles to stay alive. As a modern dancer in New York, I watched studios, even prestigious troupes like Alvin Ailey, get priced out of their rent, moving from location to location. The Creamery in Arcata has long been a center for dance in Humboldt as different directors and groups have valiantly worked to make dance happen in the Emerald Triangle.
With the help of Ink People, a young, energetic dancer, Lindsay Bonds, has resurrected the Two Left Feet Dance Project, originally created in 1991 by Bonnie Hossack, former director of the defunct Dancenter, a Creamery space that was reopened as Redwood Raks by Shoshanna of Middle Eastern dance fame. It is no easy task to pull off the type of evening-length showcase that Two Left Feet promotes. Unique about the project: its community-based structure. The works are not juried. Emergent and experienced choreographers are given equal opportunity to present their dances, which run the gamut from modern to ballet to ethnic and popular dance.
A lot of dances. A lot of hard work. A lot of committed performances. And a full house!
Bonds' expressive, pliable body swooned succulently with the smooth partnering of Brett Finta in Hossack's Take 2. Full of archetype and nuance, the dance played like a Broadway duet to Etta James' "At Last," making me want more when it was over - but, therein lies the genius of Hossack's wit: It wasn't over -- the music repeated in a backward distortion as the dance repeated backwardly. The dancers had to find the lilt of the movement without the melody to carry them, their bodies had to think without the appearance of thinking -- ah, the genius of modern dance. Such a satisfying experience.
No Air, choreographed by 11-year-old Jolie Hossack and danced lyrically by Hossack and young dancers Harmony Sorter and Jordan Sparks, displayed a mature sense of spatial relationship. My 10-year-old son deemed it "Short, but awesome."
Lisa Townsend-Schmitt's Elements was a hilarious lark with a talented cast spoofing the ’70s to Earth, Wind and Fire. A sublime moment came in Heather Sorter's Here First, when Finta and Lindsey Myers lay prone, Finta's hand reaching for her leg, pulling himself beside her on the floor, luscious to watch as was the dancing of Susie Kidd, Lela Annotto and Julie Geary.
Eastern Trinity, presented by the Fire and Isis Dance Collective, along with the glorious Super Taranta! by the Ya Habibi company were deliciously modern takes on traditional bellydance forms. Along with Melanie Quinn's artistic use of hoops in her duet, Motion of the Spheres, these groups of gorgeous performers are onto something mystical and timeless that is becoming a hallmark of Humboldt dance.

















1. Melanie Quillen:
Dec. 1, 8:52 a.m.
Thank you for writing such a great review of the 2Left Feet Dance Project. I just wanted to make a correction to my name, Melanie Quillen, the choreographer for "Motion of the Spheres."
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