Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project
About the project:
In 2014, I launched Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D). Si-si D's performances have been inspired by somatic movement practices, Situationist theories of dérive and psychogeography, street art, goth/industrial/black metal music and culture, and butoh dance, especially the work of Kazuo Ohno.
From 2018-2019, I collaborated with the electronic band Klooj on several projects. Action in the Stacks, is an allegorical, three-part composition to be performed in settings with books.
In 2014, I launched Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D). Si-si D's performances have been inspired by somatic movement practices, Situationist theories of dérive and psychogeography, street art, goth/industrial/black metal music and culture, and butoh dance, especially the work of Kazuo Ohno.
From 2018-2019, I collaborated with the electronic band Klooj on several projects. Action in the Stacks, is an allegorical, three-part composition to be performed in settings with books.
Performances
Nov. 2, 2021 Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) participated in Marigold Project's 29th annual Virtual Festival of Altars in collaboration with Rosa De Anda, tani hasegawa, Mitizi Pederson for their Center Altar performance ritual for Día de los Muertos. She performs "Munny Bunny & The Helpers," a sequence of four ritualized dance gestures that transform Munny Bunny, a trickster character, into three separate healer archetypes: The Helper, The Sweeper, and The Gift-Giver.
Sept. 11, 2019 As part of SOMarts Cultural Center's 4Waves: 40 Performances for the Hole, Janet Silk performs as Munny Bunny, one of the characters developed by Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) for an action, performance, and music composition sequence entitled "Tales from Hunter's Point Shipyard,” which was created in collaboration with the electronic duo Klooj.
June 15, 2019 Electronic duo Klooj and Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) present another episode in their allegorical composition series, Action in the Stacks—collisions of sound, action, spoken word, and location... in places with books. The composition explores the tension between storytelling and improvisation through choreographed performance and sonic events that vary depending on location. Drawing Out the Muse: Cecilia is Wondering is inspired by the mysterious, open-ended pursuit of creative knowledge as manifested by the Prelinger Library in San Francisco.
April 8, 2019, electronic duo Klooj, and Si-si D, present an excerpt from their allegorical, three-part composition, Action in the Stacks, at San Francisco Radhaus’s “Bier on Books” event. All book sales support the Friends of the Public Library.
July 18, 29, 2018, collaborative performances with Klooj, an electronic music duo (Charles Kremenak and Thom Blum) of their three-part meta-composition Action in the Stacks, a fusion of invocations, sonic illustrations, and curious collisions of sound, action art, spoken word, and space…amongst the books at Russian Hill Bookstore and Tales from Hunter's Point Shipyard (one of three sets from Action in the Stacks) at the Peacock Lounge.
December 15, 2017, Pro Arts’ Holiday Arts Sale Kick Off Party: Si-si D presents birdbrain shuffle, a three-part ecdysial window (un)dressing event. This choreographed and improvised dance is inspired by the surrealist sensibilities of Leonora Carrington, the moods and tropes of the De Wallen district in Amsterdam, and the courtship displays of insects and birds.
April 26, 2017, National Administrative Professionals’ Day, Oakland Civic Center and surrounding area: Si-si D presents another iteration of Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? as part of the Pro Arts exhibition The New Situationists.This psychogeographic dance is inspired by Roy Ascott's essay Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?, written in 1990—a year before the internet became accessible to the general public. Ascott created the term technoetic, which describes the computer-mediated relationships between people and their institutions. Highlight locations include an honorific gesture at Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO plaque commemorating the “Site of the 1946 General Strike When Women Retail Clerks Fought For The Right To Organize A Union” and flag dances in the Oakland Civic Center Frank H. Osgawa Plaza and at the Remember Them: Champions for Humanity Monument.
November 25, 2016, Google HQ, San Francisco: For Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE) part three, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to Google Headquarters in the Hills Plaza Embarcadero. Choreography is inspired by sword dance meditation and the monk walking scene from the movie Baraka. Highlights include a victory pose next to the Hills Bros. statue, The Taster, and a conceptual pas de deux with a skateboarder at the Sailors' Union of the Pacific Building on Harrison Street.
September 23, 2016, Twitter HQ, San Francisco: For Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE) part two, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to Twitter's Market Street Headquarters. The walk is a slow meditation focusing on alignment, breathing, posture, traditional color guard moves, and circles. The highlight is Si-si's Utopian dance performed in the NEMA building's public art courtyard, Promised Land, designed by artist Topher Delaney.
July 23, 2016, San Francisco Civic Center Plaza: Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE), continues as Si-si D performs the first in a series of three choreographed, flag-bearing walks, through the streets of San Francisco. Each walk is to a specific institution or corporation that is a significant player in the booming, tech-based economy of the city. For part one, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to San Francisco Civic Center Plaza. The choreography combines traditional color guard moves, Worship and Praise flag dance.
February 14, 2015, Polo Fields, San Francisco Golden Gate Park: Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project presents Janet Silk's Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE), inspired by Roy Ascott's essay of the same name. This piece is from the series Going Away Clothes, which is a continuing reflection on the life and work of Janet's grandmother who made burial clothes and shrouds for her Russian Orthodox community. ITLTE is an endurance piece during which Silk performs prostration-like movements influenced by Islamic, Russian Orthodox, and Buddhist traditions blended with core strengthening exercises.
New Year’s Skate Celebration 2014-15, Church of 8 Wheels, San Francisco: Evil I is a production by the Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project. Evil eyes are talismanic amulets used to ward of malevolent glares and intentions. Performer Janet Silk incorporates this symbol onto a shamanic headdress and ihram dress. Using a walker that has been decorated with an evil eye motif, Silk skates around the Church of 8 Wheels roller rink as a ritualistic dance to welcome and applaud New Year 2015.
November 15, 2014, Studio 222 Soiree, San Francisco: Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project presents Mona Moan, a performance with Silk wearing white pantyhose, beige spanks, flowery knit slippers, black electrical tape; smacking tennis balls with a cream-colored wooden board; and dancing to a chanting buddhists soundtrack. The performance has been described as “slapstick butoh.”
Nov. 2, 2021 Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) participated in Marigold Project's 29th annual Virtual Festival of Altars in collaboration with Rosa De Anda, tani hasegawa, Mitizi Pederson for their Center Altar performance ritual for Día de los Muertos. She performs "Munny Bunny & The Helpers," a sequence of four ritualized dance gestures that transform Munny Bunny, a trickster character, into three separate healer archetypes: The Helper, The Sweeper, and The Gift-Giver.
Sept. 11, 2019 As part of SOMarts Cultural Center's 4Waves: 40 Performances for the Hole, Janet Silk performs as Munny Bunny, one of the characters developed by Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) for an action, performance, and music composition sequence entitled "Tales from Hunter's Point Shipyard,” which was created in collaboration with the electronic duo Klooj.
June 15, 2019 Electronic duo Klooj and Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project (Si-si D) present another episode in their allegorical composition series, Action in the Stacks—collisions of sound, action, spoken word, and location... in places with books. The composition explores the tension between storytelling and improvisation through choreographed performance and sonic events that vary depending on location. Drawing Out the Muse: Cecilia is Wondering is inspired by the mysterious, open-ended pursuit of creative knowledge as manifested by the Prelinger Library in San Francisco.
April 8, 2019, electronic duo Klooj, and Si-si D, present an excerpt from their allegorical, three-part composition, Action in the Stacks, at San Francisco Radhaus’s “Bier on Books” event. All book sales support the Friends of the Public Library.
July 18, 29, 2018, collaborative performances with Klooj, an electronic music duo (Charles Kremenak and Thom Blum) of their three-part meta-composition Action in the Stacks, a fusion of invocations, sonic illustrations, and curious collisions of sound, action art, spoken word, and space…amongst the books at Russian Hill Bookstore and Tales from Hunter's Point Shipyard (one of three sets from Action in the Stacks) at the Peacock Lounge.
December 15, 2017, Pro Arts’ Holiday Arts Sale Kick Off Party: Si-si D presents birdbrain shuffle, a three-part ecdysial window (un)dressing event. This choreographed and improvised dance is inspired by the surrealist sensibilities of Leonora Carrington, the moods and tropes of the De Wallen district in Amsterdam, and the courtship displays of insects and birds.
April 26, 2017, National Administrative Professionals’ Day, Oakland Civic Center and surrounding area: Si-si D presents another iteration of Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? as part of the Pro Arts exhibition The New Situationists.This psychogeographic dance is inspired by Roy Ascott's essay Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?, written in 1990—a year before the internet became accessible to the general public. Ascott created the term technoetic, which describes the computer-mediated relationships between people and their institutions. Highlight locations include an honorific gesture at Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO plaque commemorating the “Site of the 1946 General Strike When Women Retail Clerks Fought For The Right To Organize A Union” and flag dances in the Oakland Civic Center Frank H. Osgawa Plaza and at the Remember Them: Champions for Humanity Monument.
November 25, 2016, Google HQ, San Francisco: For Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE) part three, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to Google Headquarters in the Hills Plaza Embarcadero. Choreography is inspired by sword dance meditation and the monk walking scene from the movie Baraka. Highlights include a victory pose next to the Hills Bros. statue, The Taster, and a conceptual pas de deux with a skateboarder at the Sailors' Union of the Pacific Building on Harrison Street.
September 23, 2016, Twitter HQ, San Francisco: For Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE) part two, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to Twitter's Market Street Headquarters. The walk is a slow meditation focusing on alignment, breathing, posture, traditional color guard moves, and circles. The highlight is Si-si's Utopian dance performed in the NEMA building's public art courtyard, Promised Land, designed by artist Topher Delaney.
July 23, 2016, San Francisco Civic Center Plaza: Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE), continues as Si-si D performs the first in a series of three choreographed, flag-bearing walks, through the streets of San Francisco. Each walk is to a specific institution or corporation that is a significant player in the booming, tech-based economy of the city. For part one, Si-si D walks from the Mission District to San Francisco Civic Center Plaza. The choreography combines traditional color guard moves, Worship and Praise flag dance.
February 14, 2015, Polo Fields, San Francisco Golden Gate Park: Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project presents Janet Silk's Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace? (ITLTE), inspired by Roy Ascott's essay of the same name. This piece is from the series Going Away Clothes, which is a continuing reflection on the life and work of Janet's grandmother who made burial clothes and shrouds for her Russian Orthodox community. ITLTE is an endurance piece during which Silk performs prostration-like movements influenced by Islamic, Russian Orthodox, and Buddhist traditions blended with core strengthening exercises.
New Year’s Skate Celebration 2014-15, Church of 8 Wheels, San Francisco: Evil I is a production by the Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project. Evil eyes are talismanic amulets used to ward of malevolent glares and intentions. Performer Janet Silk incorporates this symbol onto a shamanic headdress and ihram dress. Using a walker that has been decorated with an evil eye motif, Silk skates around the Church of 8 Wheels roller rink as a ritualistic dance to welcome and applaud New Year 2015.
November 15, 2014, Studio 222 Soiree, San Francisco: Si-si Dance & Performance Art Project presents Mona Moan, a performance with Silk wearing white pantyhose, beige spanks, flowery knit slippers, black electrical tape; smacking tennis balls with a cream-colored wooden board; and dancing to a chanting buddhists soundtrack. The performance has been described as “slapstick butoh.”
