Bio: Patricia Hruby Powell danced throughout Europe and the Americas speaking in her dances; she has performed as a trapeze artist, is a retreat leader, a librarian, and has worked as a lithographer. Now she tells stories throughout the U.S. accenting her tales for all ages with dance. She has received national awards and fellowships for her storytelling, choreography, and writing. Her picture books are Blossom Tales (Moon Mountain) and the bilingual Navajo/English Zinnia: How the Corn Was Saved and Frog Brings Rain (Salina Bookshelf).
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I’m often asked how and why I became a storyteller.
Storytelling followed my dance career, naturally. My dance company, ONE PLUS ONE began as a vehicle for myself as a solo dancer and David Onderdonk, a classical and jazz guitarist. My father had remembered from his childhood, seeing a solo-dancer perform a history of dance. He suggested that I write and choreograph such a dance. I began my history with:
We’ll start with humans, although humans weren’t the first to dance. There were no rules. Men and women danced what they felt and called it by no name.
From there I presented various world folk dances, a brief evolution of ballet from Louis XIV court dances to the proscenium stage, mime, then to modern dance to include Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, José Limon, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, demonstrating the dances as I spoke. David accompanied on guitar and percussion. We called the piece In the Beginning… and billed it as a whimsical yet accurate history of dance, which it was. Having trained in Chicago, the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), London School of Contemporary Dance, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in NYC, my list of teachers reads like a Who’s Who of the dance world, and I could support the various different mini-histories within the work.
Largely due to the value of In the Beginning…, ONE PLUS ONE toured throughout the USA, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe from 1976 to 1991. For performances in Latin America, I had the text translated into Spanish and learned it by rote, which began my study of Spanish. David, a natural comic, and world-class gymnast, was coerced into dancing and speaking. In effect, we evolved our form of dance-music theatre capitalizing on all the talents we could muster. Another of the talking pieces was Indeterminacy Principle in which David lectured and we applied Werner Heisenberg’s theory—is action and behavior altered by being observed? Can you observe anyone or anything accurately?
On our second South American tour, I began writing a novel backstage while killing time during and after technical rehearsals—lighting rehearsals. Throughout Latin America, a performance that is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. might actually begin at 9:15 p.m. Latin time is relaxed. Anyway, I spent the next two years completing this novel, which I never submitted to a publisher, but I realized I wanted to write. A dancer can’t dance forever. A dancer’s stage life is brief. But I needed a practical credential to support myself while writing. I returned to school to become a librarian and along the way, found storytelling.
Because the talking dances proved aerobic workouts, I learned to support the voice correctly—that is from diaphragmatic breathing—by default. That coupled with my childhood experience of singing, my father’s work in the theatre and public speaking, my mother being a choral director and my sister, an actress, all that experience that surrounded me in my childhood, I applied to speaking, without dancing. Now I tell stories, some of which are about my dancing life. In some, I even dance.
I give thanks to my friends and family, for your participation, advice and support. Without your help, I could not have made this CD. Special thanks to Morgan and Ray, the finest musicians on earth, right here on my CD. And to Jan McCracken and to Jerry Neal, for your talents
and generosity.
Patricia Hruby Powell
Champaign, IL
Stories written and told by Patricia Hruby Powell
Corn Relish (10:00)
Out of Control (21:17)
Body Hair (10:35)
Driving (21:29)
Credits:
Musical interludes: Ray Sasaki (trumpet) and Morgan Powell (trombone).
Recorded and engineered: Jon Schoenoff.
Graphic design and cover photo: Jan McCracken
Audio and print duplication by Jerry Neal.
Portrait of Patricia: Rae Spooner
Recorded at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, IL
For booking information please contact phpowell@talesforallages.com
www.talesforallages.com
alternate notes:
The making of this CD has been a long time happening. It was almost completely in-the-can 10 years ago (that is, three of the four stories and the musical interludes were recorded in 1997 when Ray Sasaki still lived in Urbana). But I couldn’t afford to mass-produce a CD. But now, technology being what it is, and my friends and family being what they are, its time has come.
All four stories were premiered at various concerts in the beautiful Channing Murray Chapel on the University of Illinois campus. Body Hair has been told many times since. The others have just had a handful of tellings in the midwest. I’m ready to send them out into the world. For this grand occasion, I’ve re-recorded them, with the spectacular engineer Jon Schoenoff.
The title of this collection of stories had a long and difficult birth. But labor has never been such fun! (I speak with absolutely no experience of labor—the birthing kind).
For the title, I solicited ideas from my husband, my parents, my sister and friend after friend. I know I have good friends (and good family of course), because they all humored me and dove into the game, listened to my thumbnail descriptions of the stories (which, if they’d heard, hadn’t heard for a long time) and mined their brains for The Title.
The Acknowledgements: You all came up with great titles. Every couple of days I was ecstatic with the knowledge that finally I had The Title and Jan could proceed with the design. Each time, I was wrong. It took several Friday Happy Hours at the Iron Post, a few pitchers of margaritas at Fiesta Cafe, and two road trips to Chicago.
First Road Trip: Thank you, generous and wild Jean Reisman, for the snowy March drive up to Chicago (Batavia, actually) and for Fresh Out of the Can. That was it, until Irene asked, “Out of the Outhouse?” Right. So that one was wrong. Thank you, clear-headed, supportive, estupendo friend, Irene Anderson for your birthday party (and Dan, I thank you too) and instigating that fine road trip to Batavia and for putting your heads together with ours. And thank you, Irene, for remembering every single story! Ho, Audrey Wells, you’re a gem: Somerset, Some Are Not. I hate to leave that one behind. Irene, you felt that one was it. Or Some Are Set. Me, too. For quite awhile. But alas, not enough grit to it. L’chaim, my lovely Rae Spooner for the even snowier drive home, for the joy of watching together as that strip of slush slid down the windshield—a big syrupy smile. Until the last minute I thought the title would be Liquid Laughter.
(Yep, still thanking…) Grazie, Kathe for the next March road trip to Chicago: Going With the Flow. How I wish that really described me. And my stories. But…(still thanking…) at the Iron Post, thank you, brilliant artist friend, Shelley Masar for fielding Out Standing in Her Field. Or a field. Or some field. And gung ho Melissa Mason, your enthusiasm! Grazie Dorothy Martirano. (You’ll get your say on the other CD, Moving). My great wise pal, Lisa Lund, thank you a million margaritas over. Muchas gracias Suzanne Oliver, of course. Aint Life Grand, indeed.
Thank you, best-sister-ever, Monica, you made the funniest names of all (Stories to Make You Feel Sane; We Are Not All the Same (reminding me that you think I’m crazy); and Stories My Mother Told Me Not to Tell, but that one is for Your Stories. Always, always thank you Mama and Daddy for so much, and for Told With Relish. I hope they are. Finally and completely, thanks Morgan, even though you vetoed every idea that wasn’t yours. It turns out yours was the one. And most of all, thank you, Jan McCracken, for making the cover and showing me The Title.
Thank you Kristin Johns for leading me to Jerry Neal. Wonderful Jerry Neal, danke, merci, obrigado.
Special thanks go to Morgan and Ray. You are the finest musicians on earth, and you’re on my CD!
Patricia Hruby Powell
Champaign, IL
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