Lets just say it and get the jokes over with now: Its like Dancing With Horses, right? Yes, the dancers of New York company The Equus Projects do actually dance with horses. Seriously. And in the latest work by ex-Seattle choreographer JoAnna Mendl Shaw, called Dancing in Real Time, four dancers will perform on a farm, on Vashon Island, among its native herd of purebred Arabians. But it makes sense, since Shaw has long made performance artwork that examines the ancient relationship between animals and man. Humans are comfortable with animals as servants (e.g. sled dogs, pack mules, and hunting falcons) or as entertainers (see Free Willy or Siegfried and Roy), but why should they be limited to that servile role? Why not let them participate in the art? Shaw calls her artistic discipline a form of play, and she seeks to translate horses natural herd behaviorsdominance, deference, etc.into a human-equine analogue. Shaw appeals to the animal in all of us. Local musician Jami Sieber supplies the electric cello and song. SANDRA KURTZ
Fri., Aug. 13, 6 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 14, 6 p.m., 2010
