Sarah Beth Oppenheim likes dancing really hard after an excruciatingly slow roll down, only good burritos, unpredictable show and tell, secrets, sitting on a rock in the ocean with edge-of-curved-earth vibes, desperately and precariously maintaining a net gain of wins in a 20+ year Scrabble tournament with her parents, and moves inspired by the giddy up/mid-bucking bronco/fool’s gold panning of the Wild Wild West. This is what her dances look and feel like, too. Letters and places of home, education, dance family and friends, and artistic practice history include: BFA SUNY Purchase, MFA University of Maryland, CA, NY, Berlin, AZ, DC. As a teaching artist mom, she mines, swaps, and alchemically mixes choreographic research, antiracist pedagogy, and arts & crafts between stage, studio, classroom, and nursery. Her company Heart Stück Bernie makes site-specific and proscenium extravaganza works in museums, theaters, stairwells, back rooms, and other places she convinces you to engage with dance. She teaches at American University and Dance Place in DC, and she works as an Education Coordinator for BlackLight Summit. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her family, a construction paper bear rug, and a preference for fringe (on her head and in the arts).

Follow Sarah on Instagram @heartstuckbernie

sarahbethoppenheim.com

EXCHANGE #9
In conversation with Sarah Beth Oppenheim (Silver Spring, Maryland)
Recorded on September 21, 2021

This is an edited version of Joanna and Sarah’s hour and a half conversation and includes topics such as: the influence of the American Dance Festival on both of their dance educations, the origins of her company’s name, Heart Stück Bernie, the D.C. dance community, what drives her work, the spectrum of humor to violence, and how they grew closer during the pandemic via dance class on Zoom and so much more.

*To turn closed captioning on or off, click on the CC icon in the bottom right corner of the video.

Below is the raw movement exchange relayed from Yebel Gallegos to Sarah. You will see Yebel doing his original movement and then you will see both of them doing Yebel’s movement, which Sarah learned. Sarah will add onto this and that movement will be passed onto Bashaun Williams in Salt Lake City, UT.

Below is the raw movement exchange relayed from Sarah to Bashaun Williams. You will see Sarah doing her original movement and then you will see both of them doing Sarah’s movement, which Bashaun learned. Bashaun will add onto this and that movement will be passed onto Nic Lincoln in Minneapolis, MN.

Photos by (left to right): Oliver Mertz, Jonathan Hsu, Oliver Mertz, Oliver Mertz

This project is commissioned in part by the American Dance Festival (ADF).

Logo design by Chris Cherry