Dear Friends,

I’ve been thinking about why I’m so interested in Security – the central focus of Bettmann Dances’ new project.

One of the roots for Quis Custodiet is my personal history. My father’s parents met as refugees in New York during World War II, and as a Jew I was raised with a healthy sense that the US – my country – should never have to rely on any other country for security. I was raised within a cultural sensibility of “Never Again!”; Never again will we be at the whim of an outside aggressor. Recently our efforts to be safe (Iraq, Afghanistan) have been making a whole lot of people less safe. How do we balance that? We empower our leaders to make us safe, but who keeps us safe from them? Who keeps the ‘other’ safe from us?

Another inspiration for Quis Custodiet is my community. Here in the District we host high-powered debate from policymakers and policy wonks that tends to be pretty far removed from the real life experience of security for most District residents (including me!) On the brink of the ten year anniversary of 9/11 I’m curious about the connections between our personal, communal, and national pursuit of security.

Aside from the deep topic, we’re doing this to make a really beautiful, and enjoyable, performance. Our collaborators are incredibly impressive; I have no idea why they agreed to work with us on this! If you don’t yet know Tim Tate, Chanan Delivuk, and Ginger Carlin you should check em out. Through a dedicated project website you’ll be able to watch this work develop.

We’ve budgeted really resourcefully for such a big project, but we need your support. Every dollar counts.

Your $10 dollar donation will pays for two hours of a dancers time in rehearsal. Your donation of $25 dollars will cover the cost per diem for one day of an artist while we’re on tour. (We’ll be performing in NY, Philly and Baltimore if you can put up a dancer or two please let us know. We’re not budgeted for hotels.) Your $125 dollar donation will cover the cost of one week of rehearsal space rental.

Please click through to our Kickstarter Project and give today.

I’d love to hear what you think about this project, and what your thoughts are on security. You can reach me at: rob@dayeight.org. Thank you for your generosity, and support.