Creators' Statement

David J. Popalisky

Creating The Fatherhood Project has been a labor of love and the culmination of reflections on my idiosyncratic dual identities as a professional contemporary dancer/choreographer and as a father of two boys. Personally, I find this duality makes perfect sense, but over the years, after mentioning that I was a dancer to other fathers, I've learned to follow the fumbling silence with “So, how are the 49ers doing this year?”

I wondered, though, if non-dancer dads might not enjoy some of the affirmative aspects of dance that I find so liberating in my own life. This resulted in three summers of Dads Don't Dance (or do they?) workshops. The group considered fatherhood framed as a dance, utilizing movement and improvisation exercises as a fresh vehicle for investigating this identity. The dads in The Fatherhood Project, all veterans of these workshops, are the brave ones willing to go from a private workshop experience into the glare of the public eye.

From these origins, The Fatherhood Project emerged as a wonderful collaborative effort to investigate all aspects of fatherhood. Rather than follow a dramatic throughline, it touches upon various aspects in the journey of fatherhood, illuminated by the many individuals who shared their personal fatherhood stories. I am indebted to their honesty and enthusiasm. Privileged to have conceptualized this work with composer True Rosaschi (previous collaboration on Barred From Life), I am extremely grateful for his patience and creativity in composing a lively score that blends text with original music. Master juggler Rock Lerum brought his theatrical juggling expertise and whimsical performance flair to the creative process as we all learned to juggle real objects and not just work and family obligations. I am grateful to colleagues Barbara Murray and Steve Stampley for contributing their expertise in costumes and light design to this show. Dads everywhere would be fortunate to have children as dedicated and competent as the “youth dancers” who gave their time, skill and “excess energy” to this show. I am especially grateful for the dancing dads for going outside of their comfort zone, missing a few Giants games, and their willingness to learn to count with their mouths closed.

This work is dedicated to the memory of my father who modeled everything anyone would ever want to know about the job. While the work focuses on fathers juggling the many hats they wear, we are all equally indebted to the mothers in our lives. I want to thank my mother, and especially my wife, Pat, for tolerating my many inadequacies as a father. And finally, thank you to my two sons, Dante and Jadon, who have brought great joy to my life. Thank you for coming, and I hope you enjoy the show. Please join us for a short talk-back after the performance.

True Rosaschi

Fatherhood has been a clarifying collaborative experience. Moving intimately into the stories of being a Father and having a Father has been a challenging effort to remove selfish idealism in my work. At times I felt like a 12-year-old, unconsciously expressing a music that seemed to gravitate toward idiomatic clichés that helplessly pulled me into the musical structures of my childhood. Frequently losing my creative identity through the confusing emotional landscape of Father issues demonstrated a simplicity that shows me the elusive picture of my current ego. Collaboration being the perfect metaphor for compromising a personal vision, helped me to check creative decisions through the perceptions of Popalisky and his lucidity for this work. Having worked remotely with him before, I enjoyed the opportunity to go deeper into this process and to challenge my attachments of stiff ideas and to appreciate his honesty as a catalyst for a richer development. Thank you, David!