1. Portland streets covered in snow. The police car outside my coffee shop window is stuck in the snow. I love this.

2. I received a RACC project Grant for my performance event.space happening in early April, 2009. More info to come….

3. As Oregon’s representative, I am participating in Freedom of Information, a 24 hour performance/protest/ritual of continuous movement improvisation performed while blindfolded and ear-plugged, which is intended as a contemplative act of solidarity with those displaced by the wars, created by Miguel Gutierrez. I will be performing at Performance Works Northwest (the space ever so generously donated by Linda Austin) from December 31st to midnight, January 1st. People are encouraged to visit anytime during the performance. Thanks to my friend Mathew Foster, you can also view it at your own discretion at tahniholt.com/freedom-of-information-08 (it will go live starting at midnight on December 31st.) If you would like to know more about this performance please go to: freedomofinformation2008.blogspot.com.

4. I am heading to The village of St. Erme, France for a three week residency at Pa-f (performance art forum) in February. I will be working with my dear friend Elizabeth Ward.

(and lastly) 5. My friends over a Cinco Design, in collaboration with photographer Chris Hornbecker, made a beautiful online book asking 15 different people to choose one word that tells the story of what inspires them. I am honored to be apart of it. Please take a moment to peruse: cincodesign.com/CO/stronger-together

Performed: Portland State University Smith Hall Student Union/Portland, OR. (2008)

There are four of you. There are four of you with head-sets on in a small room in Smith Hall as PSU. You are listening to directions given over the headphones and you are doing them to the best of your ability. You are the audience. You are the performer. No one is watching except you. No one is performing except you and the other three people who are sharing this session with you. You are being videoed so that you can visualize your experience.

Information Studio is part DDR and part movement karaoke. The score reflects upon movements that are contained within Smith Hall. This includes movement generated based on the architecture, movement created through social networks and activities and movement defined as the exchange of ideas.

Information Studio was created during a month long residency at PSU. This work was created with lighting designer Jess Bollaert and videographer Dick Dahl with assistance from Forrest Loder and performers: Leigh Adamson, Daniel Addy, Juline Alexander,Katy Asher, Linda Austin, Sonya Barker, Chuck Barnes, Jane Beebe, James Bird, Jamie Bluhm, Kelsey Bunker, Brett Cambell, Jen Camin, Autumn Campbell, David Chandler, Paige Craig, Summer Cranford, Isa Dean, Michael Dempsey, Nora Diver, Erin Boberg Doughton, Sare Eastman, Thomas Eddleman, Ashley Edwards, Becca Ellis, Mathew Ellis, Ivy Entrekin, Erik Everson, Sarah Farrell, Ken Finney, Elizabeth Fitzgearld, Kristen Flemington, Elias Foley, Jeff Forbes, Beth Gates, Lily Gail, Julie Hammond, Lynn Harritt, Liz Hayden, Stephen Hayes, Craig Holt, Patty Holt, Chris Hudson, Kamla Hurst, Jorg Jakoby, Orion Janeczeki, Linda K. Johnson, Julie Katch, Delaney Kelly, Kathleen Keogh, Mathew King, Brent Knopf, Kimba Kuzas, Marci Le Brun, Jack Lewis, Lois Leveen, Forrest Loder, Matt Marble, Mack McFarland, Jim McGinn, Vinh Nguyen, Theda Orlando, Randi Orth, John Paolilla, Melissa Pomeroy, Shanta Prescott, Levi Query, Toby Query, Alicia Rose, Rikki Rothenberg, Sid Rothstein, Darian Santner, Jeff Scott, Brooke Yadon-Spens, Erin Spens, Robyn Spens, Heather Stoken, David Swords, Alexis Thompson, Joel Thorson, La June Thorson, Tom Thorson, Jerry Tischleder, Bonnie Stanfill, Erik Stanfill, Noelle Stiles, Heather Wisner, Jeffery Wright, Mark Yamagishi, Neola Young and Carole Zoom. With videographer Dicky Dahl.

This program was made possible through the PSU Smith Memorial Student Union Public Art + Residency Projects: State of Oregon Percent for Art Program

Tahni Holt
Dicky Dahl
Jess Bollaert

This program was made possible through the PSU Smith Memorial Student Union Public Art + Residency Projects: State of Oregon Percent for Art Program.

Performed: South Waterfront/Portland, OR. (2007)

This work is a small part of a larger project. It is considered research for a future performance. It was created during a month long residency at The South Waterfront with over 25 volunteer movers. It is a site specific performance. It is a site specific performance that takes place at a condominium and a yet to be inhabited retail space. It is a study on external and internal space in regards to architecture and it’s cultural intentions. It is a study on what shape gatherings form/take when in these spaces. It is a study on parties. It is a fun event about parties. It is a party and a performance.

Drawn from the cinematic experience of viewing movies on screen the performance is seen through the windows of these spaces. The performers are inside. The audience is outside. The pre-recorded music is played through a sound system on a movable red-toy wagon outside. The musicians lead the audience to the next event with live song. The performers come outside to join the audience. What was once thought of as a performance becomes a caroling party.

This work was created with musicians: Corrina Repp, Joe Haege and Kate O’Brien-Clarke, lighting designer Bill Boese, as well as performers: Sumi Wu, Jerry Tischleder, Sarah Carl, Tom Thorson, Sean Barrett, Theda Catalano, Alan Silver, Matt Munson, Mathew King, Teresa Lundy, Nate Query, Toby Query, Vanessa Vogel, Dale Nicholls, Sarah Ferrell, Fawn Williams, Hannah Treuhaft, Noelle Stiles, Gordon Caron, Gabriel Darling, Lucie Bonvalet, Eric Nordstrom, Lilly chamberlain, Julie Hammond and John…

This work was commissioned by the South Waterfront Artist in Residence (AiR) Program, Sept/07-Sept/08, as part of its Monthly Guest Artist Series. Devoted to place-making, additional information can be found about the AiR program here.

Video by Dicky Dahl.

Beautiful silk screened posters are available through: Sean Barrett

Performed: Pacific Northwest College of Art/Portland, OR. (2007), Fusebox Festival/Austin, TX. (2008)

Chapter 54:
I dreamt of a performance.
The Audience was huddled on a snow bank.
There was an iceberg.
There was a largest sound. A something is dying sound, a ripping apart sound, an I can’t see you sound.
There was the crystal ice that fell from a hundred feet above that broke from the iceberg sound. There was the rippling of blue where the ice entered the water sound, a beautiful echo. Reminding me of sound waves made 3D.
What was one was now made into two. The audience gave a standing ovation.

endless ocean endless sky is a performance about many things. It is told in 100 chapters, or in 100 moments of information. This information takes shape through movement. This information takes shape through light. It takes shape through sound, through video, and it takes shape through architecture.

There is a boy, there are birds, there is an airplane, an inflatable iceberg, there is hypothermia and hyperventilation. There is a story, but not one the audience will recognize. The story is the audience and what the audience experiences. The story is an experiment that is contained within a laboratory. This laboratory creates external space and internal space. This is done within contained spaces within contained spaces within contained spaces.

This work was created with performers: Eugénie Frerichs-who helped form the words around the project as well as perform, Sonya Barker, Daniel Addy, lighting designer and technical director: Malina Rodriguez, media artists: Chris Larson, Brandon Zaab (Ohio), Ronnie Parsons (New York), sound score: Tom Thorson and costume designer: Emily Ryan, with help from Chris Rhodes, Daryl Freier, Marty Schnapf, photographer Daniel Sharp, Elizabeth Massa-McLeod, Sam Perkins, john Bacone, Jess Bollaert and Sean Barrett.

This work was made possible through a grant from Regional Art and Culture Council and an Individual Artist Fellowship from Oregon Arts Commission with sponsorship from Pacific NW College of Art.

Video by Dicky Dahl.

Chapter 66:
I am a bomb I am a bird I am a bell that is falling into the ocean

(This is the first performance in a series of two performances that are first one and then the other. The first one is called, I am a bomb I am a bird I am a bell that is falling into the ocean. The second one is called endless ocean endless sky.

First: There are 100 chapters in endless ocean endless sky. Each chapter is a moment, an experiment, a simple fragment of information. Each chapter is incomplete on its own, a montage when put with 99 others.

And so: I am a bomb is a performance based on one of these chapters. What starts out as a fragment becomes a story. What becomes a story is made into a performance. What is made into a performance becomes as close and personal as Tahni can be.

In I am a bomb there is a libretto. The libretto comes directly from the 100 chapters of endless ocean endless sky.There is a story about birds, as well as questions about commodity in the art world. As well as questions about commodity as a performer in the art world. As well as questions about commodity as a female performer in the art world. It is Tahni’s limited edition. 4 performances with 10 audience members for each performance.

This work was created with musicians Corinna Repp, Kate OBrien-Clarke and Brent Knopf with lighting design by Bill Boese.

This work was made possible through sponsorship by RAKE Gallery in Portland

Video by Dicky Dahl.

The Swallows first manifested as a poem and was later adapted into a video installation written and created by Marty Schnapf. Eight Portland songwriters were asked to write song based on the poem and installation. These three elements merged with choreography to culminate in a live performance concert drinking game.

As customers left the North wall of a bar/cafe performers quietly replaced them. Once a row of eight tables had been established, performers raised their glasses for a toast. Eight of the ten performers had written songs based on the original Swallows text. Choreographed pedestrian movements and vocal clichés initiated and punctuated their songs. The word “Swallow” was repeated throughout the performance inviting customers and audience members to join the performers in drink, dance, song and cheer.

This work was created with songwriters: Liam Kenna, Sean Barrett, Dickbird, Jesse Lichtenstein, Interiors Project, Sara Farell, Kate O-Brien Clarke, and Charles Westmoreland.