I love risk in performance. Whether it’s physical risk, emotional risk, conceptual risk or some other category entirely, I find that when the stakes are high onstage I feel indisputably alive.

The Dislocation Express contains a great deal of risk. We’re performing with a highly diverse ensemble in multiple, unpredictable locations. And we’re pushing up against the boundaries of what we thought each of us could do. This manifests as performers trying on new artistic mediums (dancing, singing, speaking,) as well as choreography that includes a great deal of danger: barely controllable pathways, high velocities, flying guitars, crashes, falls, and collisions. We’re pushed to the limits of our endurance and comfort and we have to keep going, traveling on BART in outlandish costumes that draw a lot of attention and public response.

It’s invigorating!

This level of risk is only manageable for me when there is also a strong measure of reliability and structure. In addition to large doses of chaos, I need artists around me that are firmly grounded in their own bodies and performance techniques.

It’s a great pleasure to work with Sebastian Grubb for the first time on this project. His dancing harnesses great momentum, power and surprise–and does so with great precision. He has become one of the “rocks” of The Dislocation Express–but a rock that instantly can transform into fire, water or air, and then just as quickly back to total stability.