PDF, 5 MB - McKnight Foundation

“Could you run that by me one more time?” I asked.
As we talked, she politely implied that compared with her job, mine
was actually quite simple—find some commissioning funds, secure an
empty gallery at the Walker, and essentially build a theater within it and
present these collaborative works in two separate programs over a week.
Fighting back more than a few doubts then, I now realize it was the
confidence and vision that Ranee exuded that pulled
me in. Many months later, Where the Hands Go the Eyes Follow
premiered, and all that Ranee imagined came to pass. Coleman Barks,
Jim Moore, Janet Holmes, Mary Easter, even Robert Bly, really did write
new poems for her, and turned up to read them live. Howard Levy really
wrote some great new compositions and put together a killer band to
perform them live. At the center, Ranee’s new solo dance pieces, danced
in front of Marc Norberg’s exquisite photographs, were expressively
riveting, refracting aspects of the photographs, the poems, and the
music in nuanced, unexpected ways. It would not be the first time
Ranee, an artistic force of nature, would make the
seemingly impossible come to vivid life.
© Cameron Wittig courtesy Walker Art Center
Philip Bither
McGuire Senior Curator, Performing Arts
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
© Cameron Wittig courtesy Walker Art Center
Ranee Ramaswamy 2011 mcknight distinguished artist 34