Partake in the joy and inspiration of re-discovering performances by Deborah Slater Dance Theater! Selected performances are available for on-demand viewing below. Check back soon for new additions.
The Desire Line
(2007)
A letter, a suitcase, a glance… and everything changes. The Desire Line is dance theatre about choice, change, balance and loss of balance in the landscape of everyday living. Inspired by the paintings of Alan Feltus and an architectural landscape term “the desire line,” -- the path people take as opposed to the path that’s been created -- The Desire Line charts a series of missed opportunities, unexpected choices and difficult decisions made in relationships. Where will they ultimately lead?
Originally performed at Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco in 2007
Line of Beauty
(2016)
For this chapter of the Line of Beauty Series, inspired by the writing of prize-winning poet Jane Hirshfield, DSDT embarks on a series of studies of small moments -- ‘noticings’ as writer Kirsten Rian called them when describing Hirshfield’s work. Guided by the writing, Ms. Slater and her collaborators are following the trail back to those small things that give us grace, endurance and understanding in our daily, too full lives.
Originally performed at NOHspace, San Francisco in 2016
Incivility P.2,
Outrage Machine
(2018)
inCIVILITY: P.2. interrogates technology’s role in transforming how we perceive and interact with the world of others, normalizing unthinkable behavior through the guise of screens. Instead of succumbing to media-fueled outrage, can we instead dance with our common humanity, enhanced by the very technology that so often is used to wedge us apart?
Originally performed as part of the Combustible Residency at CounterPulse, San Francisco, in 2018
Incivility P.3,
A Seat at the Table
(2020)
Inspired by Adam Gopnik’s article, “Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Who Deserves a Seat at the Table” and Jonathan Swift's “A Modest Proposal”, inCIVILITY P.3 A Seat at the Table explores themes of humanity, power, and place through athletic movement, clever set pieces, and carefully crafted text. Incorporating community member input about marginalization and powerlessness, how do we build a reality where everyone is welcome at the table?
Originally performed as part of the 30th Anniversary Season at ODC Theater in 2020
The Sleepwatchers
(2002)
Follow Alice through the looking glass to discover the true consequences of lacking sleep: restless limbs, gnawing appetites, shifting perspectives and a dose of reality. Inspired by the writings and research of Stanford sleep specialist Dr. William Dement, The Sleepwatchers looks at sleep metaphorically and literally, examining how it affects society’s mental and physical well-being.
Originally performed at Dance Mission Theater in 2002
Private Life
(2006)
Private Life explores the unique bonds, loyalties and rifts born of the contradictions of the military experience set on a human scale. Private life — military and civilian — implies an intimacy based on the sharing of exclusive knowledge, experience and shared codes of conduct. How do our private beliefs about morality, honor, etc. lead us to conduct ourselves, and how does this conduct steer us toward or away from one another, creating tribes or enemies? Why do we train people to go to war and not how to come back?
Originally performed at CounterPulse in 2010
Time's Arrow
(2010)
Time's Arrow focuses on the family we choose, as opposed to the family we are born into, continuing our investigation of the human condition, the many kinds of love, and how to maintain a sense of optimism and possibility in the world as it is. Slater incorporates ritual into rehearsals, connecting big events to small, translating abstract ideas into intimate, physically accessible forms.
Originally performed at Studio 210 in 2010
Hotel of Memories
(2006)
What happens when something that was once constant is no longer there? Do we notice its absence? Long for its reinstatement? Accept its disappearance with grace? In the Hotel of Memories, we meet a cast of wacky characters that encounter and manipulate the furniture of their lives in response to this question. We’re left to wonder, what happens when these things are gone?
Originally performed at CounterPulse in 2006