2020 – Pandemic Edition –
Animal artivists open our hearts!
❤
A Singdancing Company is not just a dance company and not just a vocal ensemble. It is a group of musical athletes who provide a model of health and harmony.
Singdancing is a way to celebrate what we share with animals.
Singdancers make a difference for animals in two ways: by engaging the nonverbal expression we share with our sentient kin to lend them our voices within the subjects of our dances, and by exemplifying how wonderfully well the human body can thrive on a vegan diet. Singdancing requires vigorous cardiovascular and respiratory fitness, a supple physique, mental acuity and emotional equilibrium. At the same time, the technique of singdancing helps the body get plenty of oxygen because every breath is choreographed. The effect of this is that we can sing on the exhales. I invented singdancing because I needed a way to stay energized and learn dance as a musician, while expressing my inmost animal self.
photo of Vanessa and Zero by Rowyn D’Agostino
SINGDANCERS
I am thrilled to introduce the singdancers of 2020, who beautifully demonstrate the health benefits of the vegan diet. Melissa has been a generous supporter and devoted student of singdancing since we met in 2003, and she has performed in several singdances. I worked with Shae briefly in 2006 and 2008, and we are delighted to have her join us.
Shae
Shae Céline was born & raised in beautiful Ashland, Oregon. After high school she went on to study Vocal Performance under Pamela Fry at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Céline’s most recent list of musical theater performances includes: Mamma Mia, Beehive, Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, Marvelous Wonderettes, and What a Glorious Feeling, and she was cast as a teen dancer in The Music Man at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Shae has been honored to perform with world famous artists including Jack Johnson, Jeff Cooper, Craig Chaquico and Jeff Peevar. Get updates about Shae on her website: shaeceline.com. Local shows are also listed on her band page roguesuspects.com, and check out Shae’s most recent solo album recorded at Tarpan Studios in San Rafael, CA with legendary, multi-Grammy winning producer, Narada Michael Walden on itunes or shae1.bandcamp.com. A vegan since 2017, her helpful hints are found at www.instagram.com/cuisine_celine. Shae is tickled to begin this new journey with the Singdancing Company. “It’s like dancing a madrigal!”
photo of Shae by Françous
Melissa
Melissa Orr has performed live in three singdances and has learned several others. She danced for Ballet Rogue, was a fiddler in the 1920s swing band Bathtub Gin Serenaders for eight years, and is most renowned for playing violin in the Rogue Valley Symphony. Animal rights have always been important to her. “Dancing and playing violin have been a major part of my whole life. It wasn’t until I met Vanessa though, as an adult, that I started to explore my voice. Singdancing has been challenging in all the good ways. It has helped me discover how the voice is connected to emotions and the rest of the body. This discovery is ongoing and rewarding. Vanessa’s compositions are beautiful and unique, and I love being a part of her creative offerings to the world.”
photo of Melissa by Heidi Laws
Vanessa
I am the founder and artistic director of A Singdancing Company. I grew up singing with musician parents, then studied dance and developed singdancing, and I’m overjoyed now to singdance for animal liberation. Since childhood, I knew vividly that animals were my kin, and I wanted to express that creatively. I went vegetarian at age 16 because of an alternative pop record album called “Animal Liberation”, but in my early 20s I learned that being vegetarian wasn’t enough to prevent animal suffering. Having been born with a liver disorder that gives me chronic fatigue, it took me a while to find the right diet and exercise program, but discovering the energizing raw vegan diet in my thirties was a great boon that enabled me to learn trapeze and become the singdancer I am today. I’m thankful now to be in my 20th year of veganism. I occasionally post my raw vegan creations at www.instagram.com/recipesforbliss.
photo of Vanessa by Sangye Ince-Johannsen
PRODUCERS AND COLLABORATORS
DONATE TO A SINGDANCING COMPANY
WORK FOR A SINGDANCING COMPANY
HIRE A SINGDANCING COMPANY TO INSPIRE AT YOUR ECO / VEGAN EVENT
INQUIRE ABOUT LESSONS
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ONCE A SINGDANCER…
(Former Company Members)
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest,
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
singdancing 