...stephanie maher walks us through metaphysical reflections and an historical journey around the innovative making of life, love, art, and dance, for which Ponderosa has been accorded its much due international applause...
this book, widely illustrated with multi-layered photos by sandra weiser, sketches in some of the history of Ponderosa, but more importantly takes the reader through a number of visionary meditations around art and art-making, eco-art and the environment, collective decision-making and behavior, as well as sustainability, the german countryside, and more...
stephanie's many students and followers will love the journey...newcomers to her world will be bewitched by its spontaneous magic and the provocative quality of her vision...
Mead-Hill website: www.mead-hill.com
About the Author: Stephanie Maher, known primarily as a dancer, choreographer, and improvisational teacher, is also highly regarded for her metaphysical contributions to movement-based eco-art and education.
Originally based in New York and San Francisco, at a critical time in her own development Maher relocated to Berlin, where she continues to perform, organize and teach. Known for her breathtaking physicality and creation of original works which express her unique blend of intimacy, sensitivity and wild sense of play, Maher continues to be sought after for performance-making, release-based technique and contact improvisation.
Moving from the community-based setting of K77 Studios in Berlin, Stephanie founded the Ponderosa Festival in Stolzenhagen, Germany. There, Maher continues to improvisationally structure a creative dance which engages the physical, the spiritual, and the land.
In this way, Maher constantly challenges the boundaries of international networking and integrative dance, all the while creating multiple avenues of support for self-actualizing, grassroots, non-profit organizations. Collectively, their products include a variety of spontaneous, curious, and outspoken performance installations which create frames for unique collaborative happenings that blend the physical, political, educative, and international frontiers of contemporary dance education.
Sandra Wieser was born in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2005, she moved to Berlin to study sculpture at the Weissensee School of Art.
Paralleling her studies in the fine arts, Sandra completed significant theoretical and practical work in performance. Following this, she began developing a practice blending the two interests together with the art of improvisation. In this way, she has participated in numerous workshops and laboratories in both Europe and the US.
Sandra has received an array of awards and distinctions, including a grant from the European Union to found the Living Library in Movement and Discovery - at Ponderosa, the internationally celebrated dance center.
Sandra is an active member of the Berlin dance scene as a performer, choreographer, curator and teacher. Depending on context, inquiries, and investigations of the day, her work shifts easily from graphics to performance, image to text, French to German to English.
For Sandra, there is no road; the road is made by walking.
