Welcome to the Wandering in the Wilderness site. This is an ever-evolving project, currently planned as a 40 year performance exploration. There are many aspects to the project, and many ways to engage with it.
Wandering Ensemble Description:
The Wandering Ensemble is a collaboration of The CSU East Bay Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) and Dandelion Dancetheater, directed by Eric Kupers. We have come together as artists, activists, students, community members, and spiritual seekers to explore the nature of performance, ritual, healing, and social activism in the post-2020 era. Our primary focus as an experimental, inclusive ensemble is the creation of a dance/theater/music ceremony, Wandering in the Wilderness. The project is emerging from examination of the Torah story of the Jews escaping slavery, crossing the Red Sea, and then wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, even though their “destination” was only a few months of travel away. This story has given us lots of food for creative thought around the process of leaving not just the physical constraints of oppression, but the inter-generational, inner conditioning; as well as learning about the necessary in-between states that are encountered on such a journey.
We have decided to take 40 years to create this performance work, even though a possible premiere for it could have been a few months of rehearsal away. We want to approach performance in a new and sustainable way, and to take the time and space needed for inter-generational, artistic evolution. We seek to engage cultural change at deeper and deeper levels, over the next four decades. None of us that are involved have the full picture of what will unfold. We are all moving forward step by step, crutch by crutch, wheel by wheel into the next bit. And then the next. And then the next…
WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS YEAR 4 PERFORMANCES
For our fourth year of wandering in the wilderness we are prioritizing ease and intimacy. Our year 3 performances of Seder Apokálypsis were a wonderful explosion of creativity, but also took a great deal of energy, resources, organizing, and emotional processing. We’re pulling back in scale in order to reconnect to some of the core values of this process.
We are offering monthly participatory performances called Wandering in Circles (on purpose), usually held on Saturday evenings in the CSU East Bay PE 140 Dance Studio from 7 – 9pm. These circles are open to all who want to attend and participate. The performance each month emerges out of who shows up, what they are feeling and thinking about, and how the Spirit moves us as a fluid, inclusive community
Check out some excerpts of recent circles here:
Wandering in Circles (on purpose) #5 – excerpt
Wandering in Circles (on purpose) #4 – excerpt
We usually have a basic improvisation structure planned for each circle, but the reality of the unfolding is that it’s always different and more alive than we could have anticipated.
You are welcome to just show up. You can watch, listen, join-in, nap, snack, meditate, or just practice being in Presence with whatever is arising.
You are also welcome to let us know if you have performance material you’d like to share, exercises you’d like to lead, or just inspirations for the evening you are attending. We especially love when someone brings a poem or a dance or a song, and asks other artists present to accompany with their particular artistic form. For instance, if someone brings a poem and asks someone in the circle to accompany with music and another person to move to the poem, etc.
If you have a life event or rite of passage that would benefit from this kind of creative ceremony, let us know. We’d love to focus our attention and collaborative creativity on bringing forth goodness in your lives at key moments.
Feel free to bring instruments, fun outfits, snacks, and/or justyour beautiful selves. Come to all of them, or drop in on one. Stay as long asyou’d like. Partners, family members, and friends are welcome.
Here are the current planned dates for Wandering in Circles (on purpose), but please check back just to confirm before you attend, as the circles are always evolving:
- Feb. 24th, 7 – 9pm in CSUEB’s PE 140 – An Exploration of Jewish/Palestinian Grief and Healing led by guest artists Manaar Azreik and Bruce Bierman;
- March 23rd, at Indian Canyon with guest collaborator Kanyon Sayers-Rood;
- April 13th, 7 – 9pm in CSUEB’s PE 140;
- May 7th, 7 – 9pm in CSUEB’s PE 140 — End of semester community sharing and Inclusive Ensemble graduation ritual;
- May 18th, 7 – 9pm in CSUEB’s PE 140
- June 15th, 7 – 9pm in CSUEB’s PE 140
More info: dandeliondancetheater@gmail.com
NEW DOCUMENTARY:
Before watching the first chapter of our Wandering in the Wilderness documentary series, we recommend checking out this 11-minute introduction video. This video is intended as a provider of context for the often strange, surreal, and mysterious project itself:
And then here’s the documentary itself:
Wandering in the Wilderness – Year One Begins
(with closed captions)
Wandering in the Wilderness – Year One Begins
(without closed captions)
WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS YEAR 3 PERFORMANCES:
Seder Apokálypsis:
A Multi-Dimensional Liberation Ceremony
March 10th – 19th 2023,
on Ohlone Land at CSUEB University Theatre, Hayward
Tickets: https://www.showtix4u.com/events/17582
More Info:
https://www.csueastbay.edu/theatre/
and
April 7th – 9th
on Tongva/Chumash Land at Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles
Tickets and More Info: https://www.highwaysperformance.org/
Below are links to our documentary series that can give a thorough introduction to the work. Below that is a written description of the project. If you’d like to join our in-person or online Wandering Ensemble groups, that rehearse weekly, please let us know: dandeliondancetheater@gmail.com
And here is a page that holds our continually-increasing library of work samples from the project:
Wandering in the Wilderness Work Samples
Full description of the 40-year project
Please SAVE THE DATE:
Wandering in the Wilderness
World Premiere Performance
April 8th, 2061 (2nd night of Passover/Pesach)
Exact Location and other info TBA
It seems clear to us that the world of performance has entered a new era. Even though some aspects of creation and production that have been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic might return, we think that there’s no going back to “the way it was.”
There’s pain in this break from old models, but also opportunities for deep creative investigation and transformation.
One of the many models for evolving how we make and share art involves a rethinking of our relationship to ensemble time. Dandelion Dancetheater and the CSUEB IIE (Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble) have joined forces to create Wandering in the Wilderness. The piece has emerged from examination of the Torah story of the Jews escaping slavery, crossing the Red Sea, and then wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, even though their “destination” was really only a few months of travel away.
This story has given us lots of food for creative thought around the process of leaving not just the physical constraints of oppression, but the inter-generational, inner conditioning. And the in-between states that are encountered on such a journey.
We have decided to take 40 years to create this performance work, even though a possible premiere for it could have been a few months of rehearsal away.
We want to approach performance in a new and sustainable way, and to take the time and space needed for inter-generational, artistic evolution. Many of us (including director Eric Kupers) might not be alive to witness the world premiere in the year 2061. (But really, none of us know how long we have to live, and so this is always a risk in starting any project. Moses died before the tribe entered The Promised Land.) And some of the performers and collaborators for our work have probably not been born yet.
We will share work-in-progress versions of the work throughout the next 40 years, and then premiere the full work on April 8th, 2061, which will be the second night of Passover.
Much like the ritual of the Passover Seder, we see this project as a portal for returning to mythic, cyclical, intuitive, and mysterious realms over and over again. We seek to engage cultural change at deeper and deeper levels, over the next four decades. None of us that are involved have the full picture of what will unfold.
Join us for a sharing of our explorations from Year 1 of 40 years of Wandering in the Wilderness.
FREE!
In-Person at CSU East Bay, Hayward and Online through Zoom: April 16, 17, 23, 24 @ 8pm
CSUEB University Theatre Courtyard, Hayward
Wandering in the Wilderness premieres on April 8th, 2061. In the meantime, join us for regular in-progress sharings. Come wander with us for a while!
In-person seating is very limited. All attendees must wear face coverings and practice physical distancing. RSVP to catherine.cyr@csueastbay.edu.
Online witnessing will be on zoom: https://csueb.zoom.us/j/87935471760
(There is no audience limit online.)
WRITTEN PERFORMANCE PROGRAM AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE
PRE-SHOW WRITTEN PROGRAM AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE
WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS READ-ALONG SCRIPT AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE
Pre-show offerings includes a collaboration with the CSUEB Wind Symphony, at 7:30pm each day.
Photos of Wandering Ensemble by Hans Holtan, Max Sovine, and anonymous