Choreographed by Cid Pearlman with an original score composed and performed by Joan Jeanrenaud, text by poet Denise Leto, and musical direction by Maya Barsacq (Cadenza Orchestra), Your Body is Not a Shark is a rigorous investigation into the inevitable fragility of the human body. At some point in our lives we each will experience a lack of physical capacity or a diminishing of social presence. This may come on quickly or over time, but it will come. Using “the stutter and the stumble” as inspiration for kinetic, aural, and poetic research, Your Body is Not a Shark asks the questions: What happens when we stumble, when our words won’t come out, when the body stutters? How can music, movement, and language evoke a broken wholeness?

Shark premiered at ODC Theater in San Francisco, January 11-13, 2013, followed by performances at Motion at the Mill in Santa Cruz, January 17-20.