Choreographer Joe Goode started building his body of work in 1979, and in 1986, he formed his own company to support his vision. Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) has been firmly cemented in San Francisco’s dance community since. Across more than four decades, Goode has combined movement, text, music, video, and even puppetry in vibrant dance theater with his own unique stamp.
JGPG’s GUSH Festival began in 2020, taking off from a series that the company created in conjunction with Brava Theater Center in 2011. The pandemic led to a 10-day online version of the festival, but 2022 brought it in person to the Joe Goode Annex, JGPG’s home theater in the historic Project Artaud building, a former canning factory in San Francisco’s Mission District.
GUSH 2024, running Oct. 10–13, will highlight Goode’s recent and upcoming work, including two selections from last year’s As We Go, which will see company dancers Wailana Simcock, Felipe Barrueto-Cabello, Marit Brook-Kothlow, Patricia West, Molly Katzman, and Damara Vita Ganley reprising their performances. Then, in a look into the future, Goode and 20-year company member Melecio Estrella will present a new duet that will be part of Are You Okay? which is set to premiere in fall 2025.
Speaking with three of the artists — Goode, Estrella, and composer Ben Juodvalkis — in addition to observing them in rehearsal confirms that Are You Okay? is truly collaborative. “I am really excited about this piece,” declares Juodvalkis. “Although I’ve worked with Joe and Melecio on many, many pieces, just the three of us together making a piece with nobody else is new and is a very special constellation of personalities.
“For some other projects, maybe I’d write a song and bring it in, and then we’d change it. But in this one, we created it all together. You’re searching for a seed, trying to turn over lots of rocks until something pops out, something glimmers a little bit, and then, if you’re sensitive enough, you can see that. You can slow down to study it and develop from there.”
Rehearsal reveals more facets of the multi-artist process. After an eloquent movement interlude between Goode and Estrella, they sit down at a table and engage in conversation, bouncing ideas off each other that play with the meanings of the word “mind.” At times, it’s serious, and at other moments, it’s more stream of consciousness or even quite funny. Eventually, Estrella sings a song that he wrote himself. What is evident is that the both men are cut from the same fabric, though they choose different ways to sew the pieces together.
The program for GUSH 2024 will also feature Edging by WITH, a collective of performers that includes West, Ganley, Óscar Trujillo, Aja Randall, and Frances Sedayao. This work deals with connection and loneliness in today’s society.
Ganley and Katzman will also team up in Ground Pressure, which involves a truck as a prop. The two dancers use their experiences growing up in rural settings to explore issues of identity and the way masculine privilege shapes personal histories.
Reflecting on the entire program, Goode who notes about his company members, “All of them have music and voice and language. That’s part of our aesthetic. All of the pieces you’re going to see have that combination of elements. All of us have worked together for a long time. We all know the process, and the process will continue with new people.” What better way to create a legacy and ensure it will be carried on into the future?
