Writer, dancer and singer Christina Svane sometimes refers to her performances as "dreamscapes," because a theater invites us to gather in darkness and have visions of other realities, with no limit to what is possible, and it sometimes feels like we are receiving messages from dimensions beyond the physical. She views the theater as a place where we can let our imaginations open as wide as the sky, and feel the depth of our connection to the human race and the web of life.
Originally from San Francisco, studying ballet and then modern dance and improvisation with Ann Woodhead, Christina received a scholarship to Bennington College where her primary dance mentors were Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson, who became her soul family. After graduation, Christina was part of the downtown dance scene in NYC in the late 70s and early 80s, showing work at lofts and venues like La MaMa, Danspace St. Mark's, P.S. 1, and P.S. 122,. She danced in David Gordon's company, produced a weekly dance video program on cable TV, and was one of the co-founders of Movement Research with Mary Overlie.
Christina was a member of the performing collective Freelance, (Paxton, Nelson, Daniel Lepkoff and Nancy Stark Smith), on their European tour, which led to her joining the faculty of the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. While living in Amsterdam, she created the IDEA feedback forum, produced many large-scale "dreamscapes," one-woman shows, and a dance opera about the goddess Inanna. During this time, Bob Dylan invited her to join him on his "Temples in Flames" tour, (which she did, and writes about on Substack).
Moving to Ireland, she was active in the storytelling revival, organizing and performing at festivals. Back in the US, she collaborated with filmmakers, musicians and visual artists in San Francisco, as well as producing audience-interactive performances at the SF Art Institute, The Palace of Fine Arts, and small theaters. In Northampton, MA., she created The Blue Guitar Gallery and Performance Space, dedicated to collaborative performance and creative feedback forums such as inviting master improvisor and multi-instrumentalist Derrik Jordan and other musicians to improvise to a show of paintings.
Since 2015, Christina has lived in Andalucia, Spain, with her husband, guitarist Billy O'Haire. She is currently completing a musical about young inventors, inspired by the world-wide mantra during COVID: "We can't go back to normal; normal wasn't working!" and the Nobel recipient, Kenyan political activist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai.