Curved Space – An Evening of Poetry and Dance Improvisation

Tonight?s Women Writer?s Series features San Francisco-based poet Susan Terris, who has been described as ?exquisite? and a ?true original.?

She will read from her book Curved Space (La Jolla Poets Press), her first full-length book of poems as well as new work. Susan Terris is widely published and has been a winner in numerous poetry competitions. Her work has appeared in The Antioch Review, Calyx, The Southern California Anthology, Nimrod, Poetry Northwest, The Midwest Quarterly, The Southern Poetry Review and many other magazines and anthologies. Also a fiction writer, Susan has had 21 books published in that genre. She is the author of a chapbook, Killing In The Comfort Zone (Pudding House Publications, 1995). She will be joined by two of Chicago?s most accomplished performance poets, Cin Salach and Sheila Donohue, who will perform their solo and duet work. Limbic Fix, the only Chicago dance company whose work is based on Contact Improvisation, will create dance on the spot in response to Susan?s poems.

Cin Salach is a multi-media poet who has been performing her work around the country since 1987. A member of the first National Slam Champion Team, she was chosen in 1989 to be a cultural ambassador to Prague, Czech Republic. Cin is the co-founder of the Loofah Method and Betty?s Mouth, and author of Looking for a Soft Place to Land (Tia Chucha Press, 1996) Sheila Donohue is a poet, performance artist, and author of the book of poems The Avalanche Expert. Sheila is a past National Poetry Slam Champion and has toured and performed with The Big Goddess Pow Wow. She recently performed at the Field Museum with Marc Smith as a part of The Soul of the Game.

Jen Abrams and Leslie Teng have been creating dances together for over three years. In the practice of Contact Improvisation dancers explore flight, momentum an pathways through space, combining the laws of physics with the lawlessness of imagination. Leslie Teng graduated from Tufts University, where she co-directed the Tufts Dance collective. She has been studying and performing Contact and other forms of improvisation for over four years. Jen Abrams began studying dance improvisation eight years ago, and has since taught and performed in Ohio, Maine and Illinois. She is currently on faculty at the Actor?s Gymnasium in Evanston. Jen has worked behind the scenes at Guild Complex as Administrative Manager since 1994. Tiina Harris joins Jen and Leslie for this performance. Tiina is a Chicago-based performer, practitioner and student of improvisation.