Choreographer
A Master of Fine Art in Choreography, Kowalsky regularly engages in a research-based choreographic practice, and often hires dance artists to create live-performance or film-based work. One might engage with Leighann Kowalsky to the extent that she is a Guest Choreographer for a period of time at a company or university, or that she is commissioned to set work for an event, occasion or company. Kowalsky has also been a movement coach, a dramaturg, a mentor, or a guest educator specifically for teaching emerging choreographers about composition.
Leighann (left) setting Willingness (2015) on Isobel Seabrook (center) and Delaney Bailey (right)
Millbrook School, Millbrook, NY
Leighann works with dancers in rehearsal of The Body Shakes (2023) at Dutchess School of Performing Arts, Poughkeepsie, NY
See Leighann’s Work Live!
Recent & Upcoming:
Nov 23, 2024 - The Body Shakes, as part of Wandering Dance Festival, Plainfield, MA
Nov 16, 2024 - Untitled, Boulder, CO, commissioned by T2 Dance Company
Oct 31, 2024 - Commission, New York City Halloween Parade
Oct 20, 2024 - Please Let Me Be A Bird Tampa, FL, Break the Mould Dance Company
Sept 22, 2024 - The Body Shakes Putnam, NY, as part of Arts on the Lake’s Choreographer’s Series
Aug 22-24, 2024 - Altar Taghkanic, NY, as part of the Choreography on the Edge showcase
Aug 2-3, 2024 - The Body Shakes Kingston, NY, as part of RAWdance’s CONCEPT series
Repertory Work
THE BODY SHAKES (2023)
The Body Shakes is a study that began in 2019 and had a soft premiere in January of 2023 at the Arts Society of Kingston, NY, as part of the Choreography on the Edge Showcase. This piece thematically is rooted in the fact that the human body at the extremity of each emotion, shakes. We heave from the core of our being when we weep. We shudder in fear, we quiver with pleasure, we bounce with excitement, we tremor with laughter - and so on. It’s a challenge to permit the body to go to some of these depths, and a joy to dive into others. Through a lens of bodily autonomy and responsible sensating - how can we invite a shared experience into both the deepest, darkest of human emotions, and the ones we can’t quite get enough of.
“This is one of the most remarkable and profound things I have ever seen. There is so much depth to this. And so much trust. The choreography was extraordinary.”
PLEASE LET ME BE A BIRD (2024)
Originally set on a group of advanced students, this work haunts audiences in its stark magic. Each dancer has a light. Those lights are the only break from the encompassing void in surround. Set to a haunting chorus of voices, this work varies based on the cast it’s set on given theme of relationship to the sub-conscious, and the unique choreographic process used to develop particular sections. Features gripping partner lifts and throws, animalistic spotlit solo work, and an almost glowing nature. Ideal cast of 6, possible with 7.
Video Available December 2024
ALTAR (2024)
This unusual solo begins with a dancer setting up a camera on a tripod, and as simple stool at center stage. The dancer proceeds to give an interview-like response, speaking aloud into the camera about who they are, what their dance work is about, and why they should either hire them, give them money, support the project, etc. As the dancer falls into a manic, reflective, distraught sense of questioning how to represent themself as an artist while also communicating thoughtful, being marketable, etc., the piece begins to transform into movement. The dancer begins to simply move through the projected piece, demonstrating rather thank speaking.
CRYSTAL CLEAR (2021)
The movement was developed following a study on grief, not so much in it’s technical stage-like format, but rather the all-consuming grief that leaves an individual unable to do much but hold their hands out in front of them and trust it is enough to just be. The trance-like nature so often felt by the grieving is illuminated by the movement, which embraces weight shift, the directionality of the momentum, and the general individuality of each mover. In complement, the movement features a number of small, more stubby and twitching detailed movement.
I STILL MARVEL AT HOW LIGHT THEY ARE (2017)
I STILL MARVEL AT HOW LIGHT THEY ARE presents as an important journey, but is in secret a wonderful little study on human bones and the magic and mystery they hold as a structure and a medium. Contemporary in nature, the movement calls upon tension building and breaking, and bone stacking to exhibit shapes and pathways that illuminate sensation. Much of the movement is inspired by a book by Hugh Aldersey-Williams entitled “Anatomies”, particularly the section on human bones.
WILLINGNESS (2015)
WILLINGNESS has been often harkened as a powerful statement on bullying, given the dynamic painting of one-another that the dancers engage in as they make contact. Mysteriously, the dancers consistently have fresh, wet, black paint on their hands, leaving marks where they’ve traced hands on each other. This athletic and fast-paced dance was built on the physical premise of how far a mind can push a body before it wanes. Typically performed as a duet, this piece could also be set in a group setting with an even number of cast.
Footage available upon request