The Underscore is a long form dance improvisation developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe. The form includes contact improvisation and allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions. Like water, the Underscore embodies a range of forms and changing states. It can feel like a quiet fog or a roaring river. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.

For the last two years, a group of local dancers has been gathering weekly to explore the body-mind states and compositions that are generated during an Underscore practice. The Underscore is rarely observed by those not participating in it. Though not designed as a performance structure, it offers rich and often inspiring views of the human and artistic phenomena inside dance improvisation. The dancers welcome your presence as they investigate the difference between public and private practice and how dance research can be communicated in performance to a larger community.

STREAMING, a public viewing of the Underscore, offers a glimpse into a living world —somewhere between a 3-D moving art installation, a visit to the zoo, a boat ride down the river, and your living room. Over two hours, the dancing will move through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing. The 20+ phases of the score—each with a name and a graphic symbol—create a general map for the dancers. Within that frame, they are free to create their own movements, dynamics, and relationships—with themselves, each other, the group, and the environment. Each Underscore is unique.

The Thursday night Underscore +/- group is a collective of local dancers who have been meeting weekly for the last two years to explore the body-mind states and compositions that are generated during an Underscore practice. Together the group has been studying the life cycle of form as it manifests in improvisation and wondering how this research can be communicated in performance. The dancers in the group bring with them diverse backgrounds, dance trainings, and professional contributions to local and international dance communities.

The Thursday night Underscore +/- group (not all will be present on Oct 15):

Heather Anderson Jones, Jeff Bliss, Brando Brandes, Neige Christenson, Patrick Crowley, Krista DeNio, Spirit Joseph, Rythea Lee, Shira Lynn, Anneliese Mordhorst, Lani Nahele, Rose Oceania, Jen Polins, Saliq Frances Savage, Nancy Stark Smith, Dey Summer, Lailye Weidman, Stephen Yoshen

This event is free and open to the public.