Where Are They Now? - Gwen Arbaugh
Your Name/Company: Gwen Arbaugh.
Fringe Show you were in: Identities in Motion, Coin Operated Boy.
Year of Show: 2011, 2012.
Your role: Ensemble and Mad Scientist.
Please tell us a bit about your background and/or company you performed with at the Fringe?
I have a background in ballet, modern dance, and dance ethnology, which brought me into contact with numerous dance genres.
What inspires you on a personal as well as on an artistic level?
I am inspired by other artists who want to produce art and make things happen.
Has the show you were in been taken to another Fringe or to another performing arts festival?
Or what has happened to the show you were in? The show I was in in 2011, Identities in Motion, was taken to Still and Moving Center in 2012 and performed again. It just so happens that the show I was in in 2012, Coin Operated Boy, was not performed again, but many of those involved are considering participating in the 2013 Fringe.
Where are you now with your performance career?
I perform for 4 dance companies on O‘ahu; a ballroom dance ensemble, a contact improv ensemble, a Filipino dance company, and a Japanese dance company.
What project (s) are you developing right now?
I am developing a few projects for Fringe…stay tuned.
When and where can we see you perform?
You can see me perform at holiday parties at Divino Ritmo Dance Studio, on the streets of Chinatown almost every 1st Friday, at Filipino parties all over the island, and once every spring or summer at Orvis Auditorium.
What survival tips can you give to emerging as well as seasoned artists working in Hawai’i?
Emerging artists in Hawai‘i need to know, that while you can be a full-time artist in other parts of the country, in HI you need to have another source of income. Seasoned HI artists already know this.
What resources can you recommend to look into for funding or to support each others work?
Asian dance communities have always been consistent for me here, offering compensation at times, but most importantly always supporting each others’ work and events.
How can people contact you for professional work or to collaborate with you on creating an amazing show?
People can email me at queenospades@juno.com . . .and, yes, that email is a relic from my card shark days.
Finally, if you were given a magic bag what three items would you like to pull out to create your ideal show with? How would you use those items? And what name will you give your show?
I would like to pull out just one tube of purple lipstick. I would use the purple lipstick first on my lips and then I would accidentally smudge it off my lips which would lead to me drawing all over my face and eventually all over my body and off my body onto the stage until there was a purple scribble filling the whole space. I will give this show the name “Gwendolyn and the Purple Crayon” and then we could make it a children’s book about exploring feminism.