{"id":321243,"date":"2026-05-18T14:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321243\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:31:26","slug":"serious-syncopated-silliness-the-seaweed-sisters-on-weed-oh-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321243\/","title":{"rendered":"Serious Syncopated Silliness: The Seaweed Sisters on \u201cWEED OH NO!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armed with insouciant physical comedy recalling Carol Burnett, sibling interactions reminiscent of the Marx Brothers, and just a dab of puppetry suggesting Mummenschanz, The Seaweed Sisters<\/a> bring WEED OH NO! to the LA Theater Center<\/a> June 5 to 14, 2026. Known for their engaging humor and sly physical slapstick, The Seaweed Sisters, aka Jillian Myers, Megan Lawson, and Dana Wilson, create magical worlds rooted in fun, fantasy, and deep dance backgrounds. In their other lives, each of the three has impressive credentials in the commercial dance world\u2013the film La La Land where Jillian also was assistant choreographer to Mandy Moore, touring with Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, Michelle Dorrance, and working with Adele, Ariana Grande, the Backstreet Boys, Chappell Roan, Ed Sheeran, Hozier, Kesha, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, and Paula Abdul, among others.<\/p>\n

Proving the wisdom of doing favors for your friends, a request to perform at a benefit show in 2009 struck a funny bone, led to a YouTube video sensation, and opened a strikingly different parallel universe to their successful commercial dance careers. Juggling their individual professional film, touring, teaching, and choreographing commitments, the trio collaborated as The Seaweed Sisters where each has become known by their color designation\u2013Dana Wilson is blue, Megan Lawson is pink, and Jillian Meyers is green. The Seaweed Sisters\u2019 adventures in various fun and fantastical worlds have been chronicled over 12 years in videos and brief performances, and now in a 70-minute live performance.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters \u2013 Photo by Jingzi Zhao.<\/p>\n

The three \u2018sisters\u2019 spoke in a zoom call with dance writer Ann Haskins about the upcoming show, the evolution of their Seaweed personas, and how their commercial dance backgrounds brought them together and underlies The Seaweed Sisters comedic explorations. The interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Ann: I\u2019d like to know a little bit about your backgrounds and what led you three to coalesce as The Seaweed Sisters.<\/p>\n

Dana: All three of us grew up in competitive dance spaces, training in all styles, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue our dreams of working in the entertainment industry. We moved here around the same time in 2005 and did not meet each other for at least a year.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t book any work as a dancer for my first calendar year living in Los Angeles, then my first professional job was working for Justin Timberlake. I\u2019ve done three world tours for him since, as well as countless music videos and live performances, TV shows, films, and things like that. We worked at very high levels on various types of projects within the entertainment industry. Gradually, we connected and became friends, but we very rarely work together. Most of the projects that we work on might have space for one oddball in the cast\u2026but rarely three. I think the only time we\u2019ve all worked on the same project is La La Land. Still, our realization of kinship as people, happened simultaneously with our individual careers growing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters: Jillian Meyers (Green), Dana Wilson (Blue), and Megan Lawson (Pink) \u2013 Photo by Taylor James.<\/p>\n

Jillian: Adding to what Dana shared \u2013 not having had the opportunity to work together commercially is part of what brought us together. That and the work happening in those spaces didn\u2019t satisfy all of our creative interests. As you know \u2013 commercial work generally has a certain container.<\/p>\n

I danced for Janet Jackson on and off for five, six years. It was a long time. And then alongside that, and I think this is true for all of us, we were always teaching, making choreography. All of us are very dedicated teachers. Even that first meeting when Dana proposed we perform together was at a class Megan and I were teaching together. The classroom was another really fruitful place for us to find our voices as choreographers, share, and find friendship. Mandy Moore is my mentor. I have assisted and worked with her for half of my life. That is another place that I\u2019ve gotten to experience a variety of working situations. All of it living more commercially in the sense of film, television and music artist work. Alongside that, I\u2019ve always had a deep passion for other types of projects existing in the theater space. Recently, I have been performing Time Spell, a piece I co-choregraphed with Michelle Dorrance as part of Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends. I\u2019ve tried to keep engaging in this part of the dance world, because variety is really what satisfies me. Live performance is a deep passion, and such a different experience than work that is filmed.<\/p>\n

Dana: Dancing for pop stars and selling Amazon Prime left me wanting more.\u00a0 It did not scratch my itch of this thing that I love to do, this dance thing that I\u2019ve loved since I was three, when my mom put me in dance classes. A huge piece of me was not satisfied and a huge piece of myself as a woman was confused. Is it my job to be sexy all the time? I was not satisfied with that answer. And I think The Seaweed Sisters, in many ways, is a rebuttal to what the entertainment industry presents as being a woman, as being fun, as being funny, as being a dancer. I think The Seaweed Sisters is our answer, a rebuttal to what we think the entertainment industry got wrong about a lot of those things.<\/p>\n

Ann: So is that \u201crebuttal\u201d with the emphasis on the \u201cbutt?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dana: That\u2019s it in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters \u2013 Photo by Vuki.<\/p>\n

Ann: How did The Seaweed Sisters begin?<\/p>\n

Megan:\u00a0 Dana had been invited to choreograph a work for a Dancescape LA benefit show and asked if we wanted to join her for a trio collaboration. I think it was 2009. The video of the performance is still on YouTube. The video is a wide frame, no edits, a little blurry and so cool to hear the audience react to our first time taking the stage together.<\/p>\n

Ann: So, you did this benefit and debuted as The Seaweed Sisters. What happened next?<\/p>\n

Dana: After that benefit show, a dear friend said \u201cYou guys NEED to film that, that needs to be captured, shared, and committed to eternity in the format of digital media, forever. And I\u2019ll help.\u201d We looked for a location, settled on the pool at Megan\u2019s apartment, and that piece of choreography created for the stage easily and quickly transformed for the camera. It became our first short film \u201cGet Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

We committed loosely that once a year, we would prioritize \u201cus,\u201d and in a tight, short amount of time, make a short film as The Seaweed Sisters. We\u2019re all fans of the thrill of live performance, but also really enjoy that we can work on a short film, intensely for two days, and then it can be out there reaching people while we are sleeping. With the assistance of other friends and collaborators, and with the exception of Covid, we have really stuck to that once-a-year model for the past 12 years. We\u2019ve been very lucky to have brilliant collaborators in our mix, in our immediate network, who also prioritize making work that satisfies and prioritizes joy and discovery over sales or over anything else.<\/p>\n

Ann: You now have roughly a dozen short film works that were either live and then filmed or done for film. What prompted this full-length live show?<\/p>\n

Megan: As we started releasing films, we were also invited to perform more frequently starting with the band Lucius that was started by Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig. They invited us to be their opener on New Year\u2019s Eve in San Francisco. This was a very cool entry point to a new audience, and in time, to larger scale events like the Newport Folk Festival. Lucius already had a built-in fan base, who initially weren\u2019t clear on who the three of us were, but over our 15 minute set, we could see those folks\u2019 faces go from a question to pure delight.<\/p>\n

These moments of live performance magic kept reinforcing the feeling that we were onto something worth expanding. Hence the scale, time, size, and budget of this live show has felt like a dream for a long time, with lots of questions including: When can we do it? Because we have to sacrifice other work that we do as individuals, which is ongoing. Finally, we just pulled the trigger thanks to Emily Wanserski<\/a> who asked when were we going to do it, if not now? That lit the fire, and she helped us carve out this time and space to make this happen.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters \u2013 Photo by Jingzi Zhao.<\/p>\n

Jillian: In the beginning, the challenge was carving out time for The Seaweed Sisters with each of us also pursuing individual careers as choreographers. Over the years, the bigger challenge became how to align the growth of our individual careers with the growth of The Seaweed Sisters. And to your original question about doing a full show, we love new and variety, and it is time to try something that we haven\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n

Ann: Tell me about the show, WEED OH NO!<\/p>\n

Dana: A very blanket, 30,000-foot view is that with our short film works and with our other live works, you see us in environments out in the world: in the bottom of a pool, in the desert, in the redwoods, at Tongva Park in Santa Monica, at the beginning of Dance Camera West. There\u2019s an agility to showing up in real time.<\/p>\n

WEED OH NO! is us inviting you into our bubble, into our space, and showing you all the many things and talents that we have and keep or use or misuse in that space. It is basically the equivalent of going to the home of a dear friend who has small children and entertaining those children when they say to you, \u201cHey, do you want to see my room? Do you want to see my bed? Do you want to see me jump on my bed? Do you want to see the dance I made up? Do you want to see my belly button?\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan: It really is that for 70 minutes, because we really connect with that playful energy. We all have young people in our lives who inspire us. They remind us of ourselves, because at large, we have all been those tiny people. Sometimes that gets lost in our adult lives. This is for our younger selves, for our peers, and people of any age to be reminded that everything can be magic, and that our imagination still exists if we can tap into it.<\/p>\n

Jillian: We consciously take our silliness very seriously. There is a craft to it. The fact that not everyone registers that immediately is a plus. Because if you don\u2019t feel that very conscious curation and are just experiencing the silliness and joy then I think we\u2019ve done our job well. Of course, so much care goes into it. We have many serious conversations about how we hope the work will land for people and more importantly how they might feel when they watch it. Yet we also leave just enough room for absolute play for the three of us, so that there can be spontaneity in the moment. Working that dynamic in can be a fun challenge. Like in comedy, we are considering timing and reaction while leaving room for the unexpected. It\u2019s a combination of planning and spontaneity that we\u2019re conscious about finding the balance of in an artful way.<\/p>\n

If we had to categorize what we\u2019re up to \u2013 we definitely lean more into dance theater that has physical comedy attributes. We are very inspired by clowning and there is a mime element to The Seaweed Sisters\u2019 movement. That said \u2013 dance is at the heart of our trio. Our dance training is the undercurrent to showing our prowess. Just as you may wonder if these ladies are going to goof around the entire time, we\u2019ll execute tight and intricate choreography in counterpoint to the very loose play. That is a dynamic we\u2019re always trying to shape and form, so that when the play kind of goes off the rails we can satisfyingly sweep it back up with choreography that is definitive and consciously made.<\/p>\n

One other thought to add that fuels inspiration is that I am a huge fan of Megan and Dana as dancers. When we\u2019re playing as we create I love watching them. If something comes out during those moments that really makes us laugh it usually is an idea that we keep. Especially ideas that somehow defy, maybe our younger studio dance selves, that were focused on what you should do or shouldn\u2019t do. For example, we know how to point our foot like a cashew and have a strong flex or a demi point or a forced arch, but what we choose and love most is a floppy foot.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters \u2013 Still from \u201cRather Important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan: Of course, there\u2019s a lot of giggling and we have a blast, but the work is sneakily advanced.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve refined our Seaweed style and language to be both challenging and full of heart.<\/p>\n

Dana: Beautifully said, Sisters. The only thing that I would add to the \u201cseriousness\u201d of this humor in dance is not easy. We\u2019ve practiced for 12 years finding the humor, utilizing laughter as feedback in our process and shaping \u201cproducts\u201d accordingly. We definitely borrow from improv comedy\u2019s golden rule of \u201csaying yes and,\u201d and we have really led with \u2018yes\u2019 working with each other. Our process is hugely collaborative and based on the \u2018game of yes,\u2019 which can take an idea and really blow the lid off in a pretty short amount of time.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t often have a lot of time to create together. But because of our working relationship, we get in the room and it\u2019s instantly exponential play happening in a short period of time. When we disagree, we have three people: two out of three, a very democratic process.<\/p>\n

The way that you find the funny or the way that you find the best result is the same way you \u201cfind your leg\u201d if you\u2019re trying to balance: you try; you take a look at it; you make a correction; usually over-correct the other direction, and then you try again. And we\u2019ve been trying and trying again for 12 years. We\u2019re fine. We\u2019ve, I think, \u201cfound our leg!\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several challenges in making your own work. Raising enough money to make it in alignment with your vision is one of them. Being inside of it and trying to have an outside eye is another interesting challenge that we will always face, because we will always be dancing our own work and have been for 12 years.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters \u2013 Photo by McCall Olson.<\/p>\n

Megan: That\u2019s right. This is a highly developed trio. This didn\u2019t happen by accident, and it\u2019s not a flash in the pan. We have been researching each other and the movement of our individual characters as Pink, Green, and Blue, and our array of feelings. This show is the biggest stretch on the feelings front. And spoiler alert, we\u2019re doing solos for the first time to explore our individual identities as sisters.\u00a0 Even though we feel very connected and aligned on most fronts, we are very different, like real siblings.<\/p>\n

Ann:\u00a0 Do the Sisters have a name beyond their color?<\/p>\n

Megan: I think in the show, we do refer to each other as Pink, Blue, and Green. But in our lives we have found that a Seaweed name cannot be chosen, it must be given, often by a young person. Blue was named Zaggy by Pink\u2019s niece early on. We \u2013 Green and Pink \u2013 are still awaiting our kindred names, and we\u2019ll see where that comes from.<\/p>\n

Ann: If it doesn\u2019t divulge, something that you might want to save to reveal in the show, can you tell me about The Seaweed Sisters\u2019 personas?<\/p>\n

Megan: As Megan, I am the youngest and only girl with three older brothers, and that gave me a strong personality with leadership qualities. As Pink, I am often just pretending to know where we\u2019re going or what to do, totally uninformed. Deep down, I am insecure but I put on a strong front. I\u2019m also a bit sassy, same as Megan.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/a><\/p>\n

Megan Lawson (Pink Seaweed Sister) \u2013 Photo by Taylor James.<\/p>\n

Ann: What\u2019s Green\u2019s profile?<\/p>\n

Jillian: This is a fun fact. We each have multiple siblings. In real life, I am the oldest of three. Megan is the youngest, and Dana is a middle child. Our birth order shows up kind of inversely to Megan. In my family, I am the oldest. I have two younger siblings, and very, very bossy in real life, or was as a kid. Conversely as Green, I\u2019m a little bit more hesitant, a little nervous, but I really want to try. I really want to be friends, but I get a little shy about it, even though I think I know the answer.<\/p>\n

\"Jillian<\/a><\/p>\n

Jillian Meyers (Green Seaweed Sister) \u2013 Photo by Jino Abad.<\/p>\n

Dana: But then there are moments as Green, where there\u2019s a little tiny burst of confidence, but I think she wants to follow, but also, there\u2019s a real purity to Green. There\u2019s real heart. And I actually think Green is the smart one.<\/p>\n

Ann: \u2026and Dana, you\u2019re Blue.<\/p>\n

Dana: I am the dumb one, who is happy to be here, no matter where we are. I don\u2019t have a ton of ideas about what to do next, but whatever you say, sounds great. I\u2019m a bit of a showgirl, definitely a diva. I like to flirt, I love to win, but I\u2019m not very smart. Ironically, I think Pink pretends to know what to do, Green actually knows what to do, and Blue doesn\u2019t mind or care, because it\u2019s going to be a blast either way\u2026as long as I win. As a middle child, I will bridge the gap between my older and younger siblings, and I think something that Blue does a lot too. There\u2019s a part of Blue always saying: \u201cLook at me! Look at me. I\u2019m right here, remember?\u201d WEED OH NO! is an excursion, a field trip, a playdate with the three of us. The camaraderie between us mirrors something familiar that audiences can step into.<\/p>\n

\"Dana<\/a><\/p>\n

Dana Wilson (Blue Seaweed Sister) \u2013 Photo by Taylor James.<\/p>\n

Ann: Is there anything you would like to talk about that I haven\u2019t asked?<\/p>\n

Dana: We are a living, breathing example of how funny and fruitful it can be to make work with your friends. I think it is contagious. When at our best, our energy is contagious, and we spark the spirit of play that satisfies parents and children, non-parents and non-children alike. Our work speaks to all ages, even though it was not initially designed to be that way. That outcome was accidental and hugely satisfying, and we\u2019ve achieved it by satisfying our own whimsies.<\/p>\n

Megan: I don\u2019t think any of us would have imagined, at this point in our career, continuing to feel such personal satisfaction from this project. There is unwavering joy and synchronicity that we continue to discover as friends, creators, and artists. And as a trio, we get to decide what the work is without outside constraints. We have always made what we want to see more of and fortunately, more and more others do too.<\/p>\n

The Seaweed Sisters<\/a> \u2013 WEED OH NO! at the Los Angeles Theater Center<\/a>, 514 S. Spring St., Downtown LA; Fri., June 5, 8 pm, Sat., June 6 & 13, 2 & 8 pm, Sun., June 7 & 14,\u00a0 noon & 5 pm, $38.50-$60.50, $38.50-$110 Fri., June 5. More information and tickets: Seaweed Sisters \u2013 WEED OH NO!<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Ann Haskins for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: The Seaweed Sisters- Jillian Meyers (Green), Megan Lawson Pink), and Dana Wilson (Blue) \u2013 Photo by Taylor James.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armed with insouciant physical comedy recalling Carol Burnett, sibling interactions reminiscent of the Marx Brothers, and just a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-321243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}