#52:
The Dance of Belonging
with
Mele Estrella & Damara Vita Ganley
Episode Summary
Dance artists Mele Estrella and Damara Vita Ganley join show host Jef Szi and the How Humans Work Podcast for an illuminating conversation that explores the rich terrain of their artistic inquiry.
Throughout this remarkable episode, we learn about Mele and Damara’s intensive creative ethics, efforts to engender trust, learning through playfulness, and curiosity about the hidden stories around them. Together, they are a powerful example of how connection to one’s body, relationships, and the spaces and places where they perform is the glue which nourishes social cohesion. Their craft and their commitment to it is the foundation for their their movement-centered art.
As an example of their artistic process, we learn about the fascinating back story to their recent project, Flock. Flock intertwines animal and human migration stories with ecological awareness, showing the importance of creating and belonging through art.
The Dance of Belonging also explores their “Vertical Dance” project Bandaloop. Using rope and harnesses to dance on the sides of massive objects, like granite faces or skyscrapers, this innovative dance form is a uniquely stunning display of how art can inspire wonder in all of us.
Naturally, we discuss the role of fear and teachings that come with encountering fear as part of the artistic path. We come to find how Mele and Damara use fear as a guide for deeper connection and support, finding confidence in creative belonging.
Many thanks to Mele and Damara for helping us see Social Cohesion in action. Through their creative process and commitment to authentic connection, we find that social cohesion is not so much a product of external forces but instead begins with our connection to our own bodies and the group of people we create the story of our lives with.
*****
About Melecio “Mele” Estrella:
Mele Estrella is a director, choreographer, and educator who has been with BANDALOOP since 2002. As Artistic Director, Mele brings 2 decades of practice weaving vertical dance, dance theater, somatic facilitation. and ecological belonging to BANDALOOP’s dance making. Mele’s work bridges the everyday personal/social body with the dream body, proposing expanded possibility and awe in our time of poly-crisis.
Mele co-directs Fog Beast, a cross-disciplinary group that affirms ecological connectedness in landscape, live arts and education. He is a longtime member of the Joe Goode Performance Group. Passionate about creating space and sustainability for artists, Mele serves on the advisory boards for the Artists Space Trust and for Arts in California State Parks. He was a Cultural Space Ambassador for the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), a Leadership Fellow for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), and is currently a Lucas Artes Fellow at the Montalvo Center for the Arts.
About Damara Vita Ganley:
Damara Vita Ganley is an Associate Artistic Director, Dancer, Instructor for Bandaloop. She is West Coast based dance artist with extensive national and international performance experience. She is a current company member and teaching artist with two renowned San Francisco based dance companies, Joe Goode Performance Group and the aforementioned Project Bandaloop. She also teaches dance and choreography at Berkeley Ballet Theatre, Destiny Arts and with people with Parkinson’s Disease through out the Bay Area as an affiliate of the Mark Morris Dance for PD program.
She currently is in the alchemical creative adventure as a Lecturer at UCSC in the department of Performance, Play and Design as well as with people with Parkinson’s, Veterans, care providers, youth and professional performers.
