Modern Garage Movement (2005-2011, 2021)
Modern Garage Movement (MGM) is the performance collective of Biba Bell, Jmy James Kidd and Paige Martin. Conceived in a one-car garage in San Francisco by Kidd in 2005, MGM takes a single dance and performs it within and across dozens of spaces – mobilizing audience, site, context, and choreography. Dances are made for touring—llama barns, spas, farms, living rooms and attics, backyards, galleries, parks, alleys, stairways, bars, beaches, yoga studios, wineries, packing sheds, museums, theatres, a locker room, grocery store, goddess gift shop, farmer’s market, and of course, garages. The work communes with the sonic, sensorial, and visual materials embedded in the sacred sites all around us. Every performance is an offering and a time for gathering. Dance takes form as craft, thing, way, and bodily experience.
MGM was imagined by Jmy James Kidd (2005 - current) and developed with Felicia Ballos (2005 - 2010) and Biba Bell (2005 - current). Other members of MGM include Erin Sylvester (2005 - 06), Rebecca Brooks (2006), Theo Angell (2008), Vanessa Anspaugh (2010), Robert McNeill (2010 - 11), and Paige Martin (2009 - current).
BOOK:
Modern Garage Movement: 2005-2011
Writing contributions include an essay from me, "Dancing from Outside: Modern Garage Movement's Lines of Desire" (written in 2019), a story from Jmy James Kidd,"In Remembrance of Anna Halprin" (written in 2021), and an essay (with interviews with Felicia Ballos, Jmy and me) from Gretchen Till, "An Invitation to Say Goodbye: Fielding Participatory Landscapes with Modern Garage Movement" (written in 2008). Also included is a catalogue of works, posters and scores, and photographs that (like much of our documentation) were shared with us from audience/participant/friends along the way. Layout by Leander O'Connell Johnson and it was printed at Future Productions in Southfield, MI, 2021.
Choreography in collaboration with MGM:
2021. God Knows Where (Joshua Tree, Mount Tremper) + 2 week West Coast reunion tour
2011. NUT (Los Angeles, NYC, Detroit, Cambridge) + 3 week West Coast cruise
2010. Oneness: Making it with Love (Los Angeles) + 4 week West Coast tour
2010. Blanket Dance (Brooklyn)
2009. Royce (Detroit, NYC)
2009. dajointe (NYC)
2008. Tonight (Brooklyn)
2008. New Gree (Brooklyn) + 6 week West Coast tour
2007. This Dance is Called Gree, It is from Bedstuy (Brooklyn) + 6 week West Coast tour
2005. Maynard (San Francisco)
Performances include The Kitchen (NYC), Creative Time (Miami Art Basel), Jack Hanley Gallery (NYC), Pace Wildenstein Gallery (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), Danspace Project (NYC), Judson Memorial Church (NYC), New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Sonoma State University, Boffo NY, AUNTS, FAÇADE/FASAD (Brooklyn), Adobe Books (SF), Esalen (Big Sur), Holocene (Portland), Mandrake (LA), Human Resources (Los Angeles), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Callicoon Fine Arts, Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), Performance Works Pacific Northwest (Portland), and gardens, backyeards, homes, spas, wineries, goddess gift shops and more.
