Girl In First Position

These drawings, other than the one above, were made seven or eight years ago and were based on photographs shot from a VHS tape recording of the Expanding Secret Company's dance theater play: Girl In First Position, which Tamar Schumann wrote, choreographed and directed in the summer of 1986 in Vermont. Another (expanded) version of this show was presented at La MaMa Galleria at 6 East First Street in Manhattan during the winter of 1987. It was based on Charles Perrault's La Belle et la Bête and I had the privilege to play The Beast. The drawing above I drew this morning and it is based on a photograph of myself and Talia Falconi taken during the first run of the show in a scene where she is posing as a boy. Talia is an Ecuadoran dancer and graduate of the Martha Graham School, who now has her own dance company in Venezuela. She, appropriately, played Beauty in the summer production, along with Susie Dennison and Maria Schumann. In the winter, Talia was back in Ecuador and couldn't appear. The final drawing below shows, arm in arm, Susie & Talia (front) and Maria & me (behind.) The drawing directly below shows Talia with a lit candle, me, crawling on my belly after her, and Amy Trompetter, as her jealous older sister.