Propeller Dance

I've been working with Propeller Dance for a few years now, providing musical accompaniment for the classes taught by Renata Soutter, who I met through the Grasshoppa Dance Exchange.

Propeller started out as DanceAbility, which is dance classes for people of all abilities, whether handicapped or in a wheelchair, as well as able-bodied people. It operated under the auspices of The School of Dance, and last year Renata and co-founders Shara Weaver and Alan Shain decided to go on their own and hence Propeller Dance was born (someone else owns the rights to the name DanceAbility, so they could not call it that as a legal entity).

The original class was (and still is) on Sundays, and it's the main performing group. Twice a years we have Community Day performances and once a year a fundraiser at the NAC's Fourth Stage. Our Monday class did well at our last Comm. Day, and is turning into a performing group in its own right, and so this year we will be at the fundraiser as well.

It's taking place over two nights this week, Tuesday June 3rd and Wednesday June 4th, though our group is only performing on Tuesday. I will be playing keyboard, djembe, percussion, and recorder, all during the course of our 20 minute segment. I've got a new Behringer amp for my keyboard, and a Boss RC-2 looping pedal that I'm still getting used to (just got it last week, and it's a neat little tool for making more involved music when one is the only musician). More on this gear in a future post, as I'm also using them on my regular Thursday gig with the Orbiters.

Please check the brand new Propeller website for more info on this week's shows.

Oh, and the Monday classes are out in Vanier, but in my years of doing this I've only used a car three times, with all the other trips done by bike (in the winter, towing a trailer) or via the cargo trike.