Mantra Percussion & Wet Ink & Deborah Lohse and the Shakedown Dance Collective! What a great evening of music and dance, as artsBrookfield hosted a free performance in the fabulous Winter Garden on night two of the Ecstatic Music Festival. I was first introduced to Mantra Percussion through their incredible performance of  Michael Gordon’s “Timber” (performed on  2x4s of varying lengths.) I have been a fan ever since and even had the pleasure of participating with them when they staged Cornelius Cardiews’s “The Great Learning” as part of the 2013 River to River Festival. As a former and founding member of the Shakedown Dance Collective (we also collaborated in “The Great Learning”) I was also eager to see them perform. I was so proud. Shakedown is open to dancers of all ages and abilities. Under the tutelage of Jamie Benson and Deborah Lohse, they have dance class/rehearsal each Monday night and perform several times a year (you should look them up and join them!) Tonight, the Shakedown performed in Deborah Lohse’s Refract, a three-part dance with film. (Designer Andrae Gonzalo created Deborah’s crystal gown which you have to see to believe.) Mantra performed works by Wet Ink composers Alex Mincek, Eric Wubbels and Sam Pluta. Both musicians and dancers really made creative use of the space, and only an hour was just not enough. I could have stayed for more!