Bob Frank did a modern dance performance? That I’d like to see. On second thought…. maybe not.

No, you misunderstand me. Bob wasn’t dancing in the modern dance performance. He was sitting on a stool, playing a guitar and singing a song. He’s done this two or three times for two different dance companies in the Bay Area.

His oldest daughter, Dawn Frank, and her partner, Hilary Bryan have a modern dance company called Frank and Bryan Dance. In their piece, Doubt, Bob played “By the Light of the Lamp” and “If You Think This.” When they took this piece to New York, Bob didn’t go. Instead, they used a taped version of him singing these songs. Members of the audience kept saying, “Who is that obscure guy on the tape recorder?”

In Dawn’s piece, Interrupted, he did a song called “Riding on a Train.” This was a spontaneous theater work, that not only involved the audience, much to their surprise, but also starred Dawn’s year old son, Ari. (Bob’s grandson.) The spontaneity came in when this little fella came on stage. Never know what a one year old kid will do.

Bob did the same thing for Kimiko Guthrie and Eric Kupers, who have another modern dance company called Dandelion Dancetheater. Bob played a couple of his songs — “Cup of Wine” and “Love Is Hard to Find” —in one of Kimi’s pieces, Miyo in the Middle, a narrative work about the struggles of a girl whose mother is Japanese and whose father is a caucasian prison guard.

Never know what an old obscure songwriter will do…