Tiburon arts commission backs dance event

Tiburon will get a special dance performance and film screening this fall.

The town’s Heritage and Arts Commission unanimously approved spending $1,000 to put on a dance performance and a related film screening in September at its July 23 meeting. Commissioners expressed some concern over conflicting events and the intended audience, however they supported the event.

Vice Chair Arjun Gupta and commissioner Azita Mujica-Beavers were absent from the meeting.

“I think this is going to be very lovely,” Aleh Etemad, chair of the commission, said. “Ballet and dancing is really the talk of the town.”

The two-hour event was proposed by Kathryn Roszack, the director of local dance company Danse Lumiere. The Marin County company is nationally recognized and performs in New York City. The event aims to gather support for local artists and share programs that support Tiburon’s female artists, according to a staff report.

After a dance performance outside of Town Hall, attendees would head inside to watch “Women at the Top,” a documentary about women’s leadership and challenges in the dance and performance field. The film was the winner of the Experimental Film and Music Video Festival in Canada. Roszack will hold a question-and-answer session after the film screening.

“Kathryn Roszack can be viewed as the Terry Gross of dance interviews,” said the staff report in comparing Roszack to the well-known National Public Radio broadcaster. “She presents engaging, thought-provoking, cutting-edge content that draws the audience in.”

There were two proposed dates for the event: Sept. 28 or Oct. 5. Commissioner Nora Noguez pointed out that any event on Oct. 5 would conflict with the Tiburon Wine Festival. Due to other already scheduled events, the only other dates other than Sept. 28 are at the end of October, according to town staff.

Etemad said because the dance performance would be outside, looking at dates too far into the fall season increases the risk of rain, or could be too cold.

“Probably this should be done during the good weather,” Etemad said. “This is kind of a summer festival thing.”

The commission decided to sign off on the funding and tentatively approved the event for Sept. 28, however it directed staff to continue talking with the event organizers to determine if its afternoon time slot and date is appropriate for the intended audience.

“It’s 2 to 4 on a Saturday and it’s important that we’re serving the community, so what is our expected attendance during that time,” commissioner Patricia Ferrin said. “I would have to have something that families couldn’t attend because they have soccer practice or whatever is going on.”

The proposal will go back to the commission sometime in August.