Breaking Bread

The dance film, “Breaking Bread" 2017, features a dance performance that takes place at the dinner table, and the content addresses the importance of the "family dinner” in our culture. The ubiquity of technological devices, overscheduled lives, multitasking, and the “grab and go” mentality of eating has compromised the sacred ritual of family members dining together and perhaps severed our connection to traditional food preparation. Family dinners for many were/are opportunities to connect to family values, to share important life events, to learn, grow and process psychological challenge, as well as to nourish the body. This dance explores these issues through the abstracted symbolic language of movement and features not only Cal Poly student dancers, but also renowned dance professionals as intergenerational performers who highlight diversity in age, body type and character. With humor and irony, as well as elegance and decorum, the dance weaves movement and music into an entertaining and philosophical piece. The music for the project is an original score created and performed by Alexander Kato-Willis, who also plays himself in the film. The film is shot in the historic barn of the elegant Halter Ranch Winery and is supported by Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts "Circle of Giving" Grant. 

Breaking Bread Film from Diana Stanton on Vimeo.

Photos: Kiel Carreau, Joe Piedalue, Robin Osgood