Artistic Director Colin Epstein started dancing thanks to a computer error, starting flying thanks to his neighbors, and never looked back. Colin explores movement in all its varied forms, and spends part of his time exploring with his inspiring students of Kinetic Arts Center and Athletic Playground. The rest of his time is divided between directing Twisted Oak; dancing on the ground & in the air for Bay Area companies & choreographers including 13th Floor Dance Theater, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, and Lizz Roman & Dancers; and producing a yearly event (Constants & Variables) showcasing the amazing talent in the Bay Area dance and circus communities.
We walk through life telling ourselves and each other stories. We tell our children fairy tales, to teach them that there are dragons, and that dragons may be slain. We tell, we re-tell, we re-imagine, we re-interpret; and the stories continue through the years, surviving and nurturing us. We plant the earth of our imaginations with seeds of dragons, witches, wise women, gods, the elements, and language; and what grows enables us to reach our wildest dreams, and makes our very dreams wilder.
I am a storyteller. My work and aesthetic is based on release technique as applied to the telling of stories. There is a rhyme and a reason to each movement, there is an intention and a character. I create based on telling stories about ourselves to each other. I believe it is important to tell our stories, the myriad little tales of our daily lives and our mythic origins, as often as we can and in every way that we can.