VaBanG! is a uniquely bi-coastal dance company founded in 2007 by Jessie Feller and Julia Sabangan. The two directors formed a strong friendship at Vassar College, where they danced together for the first time with Vassar Repertory Dance Theater. Two years after graduating from college, Feller found herself again dancing back home in San Francisco, studying with the biggest names in dance on the west coast. Quite similarly, Sabangan was living in her home town of New York City, where she too was studying at dance schools particular to her coast. The east coast is home to many of the founding institutions of modern dance (the Graham School, the Limon School, the Cunningham Studio and the Taylor School, to name a few) and at the same time holds a separate niche for the very recent “downtown” scene. Feller, in California had been taking class with masters who define the sort of dance excellence that the west coast produces. Also in California, Feller found that all types of modern techniques were fused together instead of taught at and performed by separate institutions. How could the two friends, now inhabiting two very different dance worlds, ever resume their partnership?
The answer was to make an attempt to transcend the divide between east and west. Feller and Sabangan were inspired to bring the styles of the two coasts together, letting one mode of movement inform the audience of the opposite coast. Similarly, they chose not to let physical miles separate them. Rather, they sought to bridge the geographical and cultural gap. The two undertook their first project in October 2007 and choreographed two duets in New York. Their work speaks to the ability and desire to transcend boundaries whether they are categorical or physical.