We've talked a bit here at Fantasy Matters about the magic inherent in the art of dance--I've talked about Tschaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet, and Megan Kurashige has written about the fantastic in Wim Wenders' documentary Pina, a dance called "Arthur in Underland" performed by the Dandelion Dancetheater, and a dance she performed in entitled The Water is Clear and Still.  While we talk a lot about movies and books on this site, we are excited by the idea that fantasy and science fiction extend out of these expected spaces, into the realm of movement, music, and art.

This is why we are so excited, today, to be able to share with you a new dance project entitled A Thousand Natural Shocks.  This dance is choreographed by Fantasy Matters' own Megan Kurashige and her sister, Shannon Kurashige, who together head up the dance troupe Sharp and Fine.  The story that ties the dance together is written by Fantasy Matters content editor Kat Howard.  Here is a quote from the press release that explains a bit more about the dance:

 A Thousand Natural Shocks sends six dancers through a series of vignettes that range across the territories of romance, beauty, slapstick, fury, and tragedy. It combines dance and words to tell stories in a new way, offering both fresh, intensely physical movement and original text written specifically for the piece. The choreography and text were created in tandem, with each influencing and building upon the other.

We will hear more about this dance later this week--we will have a joint interview with Megan and Kat, as well as a piece from Kat about the ballet.  The dance will be performed in San Francisco on July 2 and July 30 as part of the Summer Dance Series, and we hope that if you're in the Bay Area, you'll be able to attend one of these performances.  In the meantime, a Kickstarter has been set up to raise money for the dance.  We'd encourage you to check it out--there is more information about A Thousand Natural Shocks there, as well as the opportunity to donate money and get cool stuff in return (including stories written by Kat!)

We have a lot of other exciting things as well, including Nancy Hightower's review of Tender Morsels and Tia Mansouri's look at the cover art for this month's Fantasy Matters Reads! book--Guy Gavriel Kay's The Summer Tree.

Have a great week, everyone--and come back often to see what fantastic things we have going on!