Performance Works is delighted to host claire barrera and Maya Dalinsky, whose project The Fantastical Power of Two is the most recent manifestation of a collaborative friendship that spans decades.
October 10 & 11, 2025
Friday and Saturday at 7pm
The Fantastical Power of Two is a performance exploring the generative power of two: two people, two images, two storytelling threads developing across language and movement. Playing with the archive of their 30+ year friendship and the creative scores of Italian pedagogue Gianni Rodari, Maya and claire unfold possibilities across difference and distance. Rory Cowal, a friend of the duo since 1996, joins on piano.
ZINE — Maya and claire will be releasing a zine sharing scores from and exploring the process behind The Fantastical Power of Two.
WORKSHOPS — Three workshops will also be offered!
- October 5 | B.F.B.F.F. (Best Fantastic Binomial Friends FOREVER) language for friendship
- October 10 | Fantastic Binomials: a language generation workshop, for ages 10+
- October 12 | Moving Views: involving a practice called videowalking, for ages 12+
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
claire barrera is an artist, activist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. Upcoming projects include their work CAME BACK DIFFERENT and performing in Allie Hankins’ By My Own Hand Part 5: INVISIBLE TOUCH (2026).
vimeo.com/clairebarrera
Maya Dalinsky is a dance artist and translator based in Copenhagen since 2021. She performs and facilitates practice in solo improvisation, currently under the banner of An Array, supported in 2025 by Forsøgsstationen and UP in Denmark. Alongside her dance work, she guides group research in a practice she calls ’embodied cinematography’ that combines strategies from dance and improvisation with the framing and filmic language of handheld recording technology. http://somework.be/pages/MayaDalinsky
As a classical performer, Rory Cowal delights in playing newly composed works for piano. He has premiered music by Muhal Richard Abrams, Kris Davis, Larry Polansky, Kennedy Verrett, and Deena Grossman. As a jazz pianist, he has performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival, Jazz at LACMA, JazzPOP, Harlem in the Himalayas, and other festivals and clubs throughout the United States and Canada.
Performance Works NW || Linda Austin Dance 