Marv and Olouse

Marv and Olouse
Bandon, OR. 1981?

Friday, November 23, 2012

This was our fantasy version of a "Basket Dance". Kelleen was tiny, barely 5 feet tall, and quite light. Marty and Muzzy carried out the basket and set it on the side of the stage for a couple of dances while she crouched inside. Then they set the basket in the center of the stage and Kelleen came out...
This was our first double sword dance. Cecelia and I had matching swords, before we got the ones we had later. They were elegant from a distance, but clunky and not well balanced. Because we couldn't come to an agreement who would be the permanent sword dancer, we compromised by turning it into a double. I think this was taken at a show in Olympia and I think Carol Fulcher may have been with us in the background, but I could be mistaken. This photo was from a group of large black and whites taken by a newspaper who reviewed our show. Steven Brown was our first violinist.
Me, Yasmela in one of my first pieces of assuit cloth. Taken at Pt. Roberts in 1975. This became an annual show for us, the first week of August, up in Pt. Roberts, WA, a unique point of land that can only be reached by going into Canada and around and back down into the US. This was a much beloved weekend fair. Every year we camped up there with fellow performers, artisans, families and friends. We entertained during the day and at night we got together and played music, camped on the beach. Every single year for 10 years, the Orca whales came through the narrow channel right off the beach, breaching and playing. Luckily (and somehow magically), they never came during our performance. When they were sited, cries went up and everyone rushed to the shore to watch the mystical spectacle of the summer migration. We all felt blessed to see them.
I did my first large performance at Brooks Hall in San Francisco, an International Folkdance Festival, as a member of Nakish's Troupe in 1973. I thought being the Glass Dancer would be easier than trying to figure out how to move around the floor with my limited repertoire. I grossly underestimated the skill it takes to hold an audience while balancing on three water glasses and waving my arms around. This photo was taken at the first Fairhaven Salmon Barbeque in Bellingham's Southside Hippie Haven. I have another photo that Muzzy took of the crowd. It's nice to have those shots now because all of that land, that open land, is gone. As a side note, we took the Glasses Dance to a pinnacle of wonder that I have yet to see equaled. Hee hee hee. And Muzzy took a lot of photos of the crowd from the stage.

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