Global Site Performance

Performance Video

Encompassing the Equinox

Interactive Video

The dandelion puffball represents the unity of the “solo seed” dancers while in various locations around the globe. Click on the puffball to start viewing.

The 44 Solo Seeds of Equinox

Equinox Dance 2024

September 22, 2024

This year, the Equinox took place on the 22nd day of September, at 44 minutes after the hour. I love numbers and I know I wanted to celebrate this auspicious time. The Equinox marks the precise moment when day and night are of equal length, occurring exactly between the two solstices. This event is experienced simultaneously across the globe. This is why we’ve chosen to highlight the number 44 in both the number of dancers and the seconds of our dance—emphasizing the universal harmony that the Equinox represents.

Our team included Seungkyo Jung from South Korea, Elina Sargysan from Armenia currently living in Minnesota, and Andrea Hanson who grew up in Hong Kong and Seoul and is a Senior at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. When discussing our project earlier this fall, they came up with the idea that the 44 dancers would send in their 44-second dance videos ahead of time, and during the Equinox, we would show the premiere!

In addition to our Film Premiere (edited by Elina and Andrea!), we were led in a ritual by Bogyeol Choi from South Korea, at the exact moment of the Equinox, 44 minutes after the hour. Bogyeol runs a School for Community Dance in Seoul, and I met her last October when she invited me to South Korea to choreograph community dances. At the Zoom gathering on Sunday, the participants discussed how we each find balance in our lives, and how we can, as a gathered community, together encompass the Equinox. Dancers also shared about the spot they chose to film their video; a place where they felt balance. We were delighted to have over 80 participants from all over the world, including dancers from Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, South America, and North America!

While the Zoom community was open to all, the dancers themselves were all women. When women stand together, we create a global resonance of coherence. By coming together, we can be creators of goodness, unity, and positive change through the vibrations we emit. Our aim was to radiate balance, peacefulness, and positive alignment, making a meaningful impact on ourselves and the planet.

Our 44 Dancers: Alys Ayumi Ogura, Andrea Hanson, Annie Holcombe, Antinea Jimena, Barbara Bauer, Bernadette Knaeble, Carey Siriani, Carol Gariano, Catherine Baumgartner, Catherine Brennan, Christine Mantey, Dany Dhen, Deborah Heltzer, Debra Donaldson, Elina Sargsyan, Emily Higgins-Norberg, Geum Jung Kwon, Gizelle Salame, Halunaa, Holly Anne, Ioanna Koutiva, Jennifer Elam, Jessica Abejar, June Beyer, JungYoon Kim, Keren Brown, Louise Miner, Maren Waldman, Maria Sangiorgi, Mary Lee Sanders, Mary Willmeng, May Kesler, Millie Baker, Mindy Levokove, Natasha Alhadeff-Jones, Sarah Arnett, Seungkyo Jung, Smile Garcia, Sujin Yeo, Tara Stepenberg, Tracy Moroney, Tricia Mary Lee, Victoria Day, Wendy Morrell

Call of the Columns

Call of the Columns ~ September 2023

On the Autumnal Equinox in 2023, local dancers created a site-specific performance at the National Arboretum in Washington DC. Our intention was to send positive energy toward all those who work in government in the DC area. The dancers held positive regard for each other, as they created the repertoire for our dance. The three groups (the stairs, the pool, the columns) worked independently to create specific movements in a cooperative manner. These three dances were woven together by the director.

The music was composed by Lee Blaske for the 1991 Autumnal Equinox performance choreographed by Hardenbergh at the Farmers Market in Minneapolis, titled “Urban Sky Harvest”. How lovely to be able to use Lee Blaske’s composition for an Equinox dance a second time. The music continues to be wonderfully appropriate.

Dancers: Kathy Wallens, Roberta Geier, Reena Bernards, Anne Hoover, Ken Shilling , Abby Crowley, Peggy Hoffman, Sharon Werth, Marcia Freeman, Gretchen Dunn, Sherry Mitchell.

Other creators: Tanya Gerich, Karen Scrivo
Music: Lee Blaske
Videography: Montana Monardes

Directed by Global Site Performance’s Marylee Hardenbergh

Tree Trunk Dance

Tree Trunk Dance

Performed May 14, 2022 and premiered October 27, 2022

Dancers: Holly Johnson, Lori Mercil, Ginny Belden-Charles, Janet Smith, Teri McNamara, Susan Horowitz, Alys Ayumi Ogura, Denise Tennen, Millie Baker, Rae Eden Frank, Hoang-Uyen Wing Nguyen, Louise Miner, and Amy Campbell Lamphere

Music: Bartholomäus Traubeck

Film editing: Montana Monardes

Created by Marylee Hardenbergh

Traubeck uses actual tree trunk slices to create music.
https://vimeo.com/traubeck/years

2.2.22 Worldwide Duet Dance

The music starts after a few seconds.

Be sure to watch the credits, where the dancers’ names are alphabetized by first names, along with their locations. Huge THANKS to each of the 180 dancers from six continents, and also to all those who contributed to this amazing event. The film’s world premiere took place on 2.22.22. This Version II was created with the diligent work of our video editor Montana Monardes. The first version will be made available on this webpage at a later date.

Building Bridges

    Seventy performers on rooftops included homeless men, wheelchair dancers, seniors & school children, and city buses.

    Original music composed for the site dance by David Crowe.

    It began with an invitation. Sarah Campbell Arnett reached out, asking me to perform a dance piece ahead of an upcoming conference. Alongside Susan Sanger, she rallied support from the local community. With a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, they began reaching out to schools, dance studios, and even homeless shelters.

    We chose a park just a few blocks from the conference hotel as our stage. Its proximity was intentional: we wanted the late-afternoon performance on Thursday to be accessible to as many attendees as possible, just before the official opening that evening.

    Sarah also secured accommodations for me in a faculty guest house, vacant during my visit. I drove out with my car, not only to have transportation during my three-week stay, but to bring costumes and materials: white skirts, red unitards, flags, flagging tape, and a swath of blue fabric we called the “acorn cloth.”

    Rehearsals took place with an extraordinary group: local schools, local dancers including a woman in a wheelchair, living with a rare connective tissue disorder that prevented her joints from supporting her; nine dance therapists, and nine men experiencing homelessness. The men choreographed their own movements, with the therapists joining them in an act of shared expression. I remember one man anxiously scanning the park, searching for his dance partner. When he finally spotted her, his face lit up. She crossed the park gracefully, dressed in a flowing white skirt and blouse, her white hair catching the light, she looked radiant.

    After the performance, one of the unhoused performers turned to me and said, “Andy Warhol was wrong. It was more than 15 minutes.” One woman remarked that it was the first time she had felt safe outdoors since the events of 9/11 that fall.

    The performance became a moment of connection: of art, music, and community. Even the parking garage played a role in the choreography. There were scores of flags everywhere, moving in unison for the Finale. What we created that day was not just a performance, but a testament to resilience, collaboration, and beauty in unexpected places.

    The Dancers: Amy Alba, Susan Blasingame, Sharon Chaiklin, Anne Franklin, Lenya Treewater, Olynda Spitzer, Cadedra McCollum, Sara Olson, Kimberly Smith, Julia Leggett, teddy Moore, Brian Carter, Randy Chesson, Joe Davis, Daniel Dunn, Ardie Harris, Dwight Jones, Paul Manning, Corey Mooring, Marianne Adams, Sarah Arnett, Sally Atkins, Katherine Marie Battenberg, Cheryl Cook-Auerbach, Annica Davis, Mary Ita, Pam Margueles, Ann Lohn, Catherine Mcoubrey, Barbara Jo Stetzelberger, Carla Tandy, Lois Von der Goltz

    Beth Pope’s Ligon Middle School Class: Fannezha Ford, Katherine Godley, Amber Hardy, Kinsie Howell, Katherine Lyman, Lindi Prevost, Julie Schmitz, Ivy Shaw

    Cindy Hoban’s Martin Middle School Dance Company: Paulina Bracone, Blakeney Bullock, Ethan Chesson, Josh Dove, Anna Hardy, Mark Hemphill, Christina Kaplan, Katherine Kaplan, Lindsay Kay, Grant Ligon, Menna Mburi, Virginia Michaels, Hanna peterson, Melanie Ramsey, Jim Reynolds, James Rose, Ellie Ruttenberg, Lindsay Trione, Ana Vargo, Jeanne Vodicka, Andre Williams, Charlie Williams, Megan Wise, Alexandra Zagbayou