Donna Sternberg and Dancers will present Beauty and Desire, a program of dance, at the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center in Culver City on Saturday, November 10 at 8:30 P.M. The program will include:

1) New work by artistic director Donna Sternberg, including The Science of Beauty, Pretty, and The Back of Beauty

2) Premiere by guest choreographer Anandha Ray: Inhale

3) Older work by Donna Sternberg: Parasites, a section from the full-length work The Flowering of Desire

The performance is $20 general admission/$15 students and seniors.

Tickets can be purchased HERE. Reservations can by made via email at dsdancers@earthlink.net or by calling 310-260-1198.

In anticipation of the performance, Donna Sternberg graciously agreed to an interview, during which she reflected on her musical heroes, the artists she would most like to work with in the future, and why dance (or Big Bird) should be supported by public funds.

1) How would you describe the kind of dance you and your troupe perform?

We are a contemporary dance company that uses science based themes as a framework for our artistic explorations, drawing parallels and metaphors between science and human behavior.  The dances are chock full of movement and the dancers themselves are stong and vibrant.

2) Who were your dance and choreography heroes growing up?

There are so many it's hard to remember all of them.  That's the amazing thing about dance, there are so many inspiring choreographers and dancers that span generations.  My first introduction to dance was seeing the Bolshoi Ballet as a child when they used to come to the Shrine Auditorium and remember the power of dancer Maya Plisetskaya and the grace and lyricism of Ekaterina Maximova.  I loved Nureyev and Fontaine when I first saw them with the Royal Ballet.  I don't remember my first modern dance performances, but I do remember seeing Paul Taylor's "Aureole" and almost jumping out of my seat with the excitement of seeing the sweeping movement.  I also loved Jennifer Muller's work.  My taste has changed and evolved over the years.  Some of my particular favorite choreographers are Pina Bausch, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Angelin Preljocaj, Akram Khan and Lloyd Newson of DV8.  There are innumberable dancers whom I've admired, I can't even begin to name them all. 

An excerpt from Paul Taylor's Aureole

3) Is there a person you have particularly enjoyed working with up to now?

Video/digital media artists Michael Masucci and Kate Johnson, composer Ken Christianson, costumer Kiyomi Hara, photographers Rose Eichenbaum and Scott Belding, choreographer Anandha Ray, visual artist Kathi Packer, scientists Paul Cook, Gregory Tarle, Ken Phillips.  My dancers too - they are an inspiring group who are committed and willing to take risks.  

4) Who would you love to work with in the future?

Composer Osvaldo Golijov, musicians Lisbeth Scott and Tom Waits, video artist Bill Viola.  I would love to continue working with some of the people I have named above, and many more scientists.

Bill Viola's Acceptance, 2008

5) How would you convince someone to attend this performance — maybe someone who is sitting on the fence about plunking down $20. 

It's not often that you get to see live dance being performed and also get an insight into the creative process and how the dances were made.  This performance is in an intimate space, where you're sitting so close to the dancers that you feel their energy and see them up close and personal.  It's a totally different experience than seeing dance on a large stage where the dancers seem like they're miles away.  We're interested in engaging the audience in conversation, talking about how we go about making dances, finding out what you think about the dances and answering questions that you might have.  It's a time of sharing our creativity with you and your reactions with us.  The dances themselves are unique because several of them are inspired by scientific themes.  Find out how we go about representing science through dance and how we probe the science/human connection through dance.  The dancers are amazing - strong, fierce, beguiling and beautiful.  They will take your breath away.  All this for just $20, how can you miss it?

6) Beauty and Desire "dives into the topic of beauty, touching on scientific evidence that suggests common standards of beauty that transcend cultures and ethnicities." How do these ideas inform the choreography of the dances you'll be presenting?

I began this project by researching scientific evidence on beauty and found to my surprise that there are standards of beauty that cross cultures and ethnicities.  These standards became the starting point for the dance and led the dancers and me on an exploration of beauty through journal writing, poetry and story telling, building on the science and making it more personal.  The final dance combines spoken work, poetry and dance, examining the topic of beauty from different angles and perspectives.  I began examining the topic of desire last year through the lens of plant biology, looking at desire from the plant's point of view as well as the human desires that connect us to plants.  One of the dances that we'll be showing is "Parasites" which illustrates not only how parasitical plants suck the nutrients and life energy out of a host plant, but by extension how humans can do the same to other humans. 

7) You received funding for this performance from the Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission, right? As you may know, early this year the state eliminated all redevelopment agencies in California including the Culver City Redevelopment Agency, which is how the city paid for arts programming such as this, for the most part. Why do you think art such as your dance performance (or, say, Big Bird) should be supported by public funds? 

Art serves a need in society that nothing else can fill.  It brings people out of themselves, it speaks to the heart and soul, it challenges perspectives, opens vistas, takes the imagination on flights of fancy that lead to different ways of looking at one's self and thinking.  A culture is defined historically by it's art.  It's the art that tells us the most about how people lived over the ages.  When audiences see creative endeavors, it opens up possibilities for them to explore their own creativity.  Creativity enriches everyone's life and gives an individual a sense of self worth and uniqueness.  We use public funding for the public good, and isn't part of that feeding the mind and spirit of the public?  Those may be intangible aspects, but they have great value and worth to the public as a whole, making people feeling connected rather than disenfranchised, inspired rather than discouraged, powerful rather than powerless.  To quote film maker Krzystof Kieslowski, art "elevates the spirit, helps us to understand ourselves and the life around us, and gives people the feeling they are not alone."  I can't think of a better use of public funds.

Donna Sternberg & Dancers, Entangled in Love