The Stardance Project

As a former dancer and choreographer, now sidelined by injuries and identifying a great deal with the protagonists in these books, this is a cause I heartily support. The excerpt below was originally posted on Jeanne and Spider's website:

AN INVITATION FROM JEANNE ROBINSON

I'd like your help in making a thirty-year dream of dance in zero gravity come true.

If you've read THE STARDANCE TRILOGY that Spider and I wrote, or the Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella that began them, then the concept of free fall dance is one you've already encountered. The idea even attracted the attention of NASA--and I nearly got to be the first to actually dance in space.

I've been dancing and teaching dance all my life. I was founder and artistic director of Nova Dance Theatre, a professional contemporary dance company, in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 1980-87, and choreographed over 30 original works for performance. When NASA became aware of "Stardance," and my dance background that led to it, I was shortlisted for a seat on the Space Shuttle, as part of NASA's Civilian In Space Program. I was to be the first zero gravity dancer.

But, the program was cancelled when the first civilian chosen for the program was killed in the Challenger Tragedy. Now, twenty years later, I'm being given a second chance to choreograph dance in space…

on film.

Update: News on this project can now be found at http://www.stardancemovie.com/