October feels so delightfully in-progress. We’re wrapping up THE LEGEND circus show, and kicking off more rehearsals with Erick Hawkins Dance Company for some late/fall winter performances. I also travelled to Atlanta, GA to perform in the Fall for Fall Dance Festival, and started research on a new work THE BODY SHAKES.
September 2022 Update
Same tent - new circus. In September If followed “Lucy” the circus tent from Troy, NY to Sleepy Hollow, and worked for Westchester Circus Arts to bring to fruition their “LEGEND” production - a re-telling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I also got to film shoot for ROGUEWAVE’s evening length work “gap junction” under the choreographic direction of Catherine Messina.
August 2022 Update
The highlight for me this month was a new project I’ve been working on in a temporary part time role as the Director of Operations for the Contemporary Circus and Immersive Arts Center. This little circus presenter is trying to bring circus to Troy, NY - right in between NYC and Montreal. We’re crafting two weeks of FREE community circus programming under a circus tent in prospect park!
July 2022 Update
For two weeks in July, I attended Jacksonville University’s summer residency as part of the MFA program I’ve been working on there. The program has admittedly left much to be desired, but the people are rich in spirit and wonderful. If I carry nothing else with me, I will carry them.
June 2022 Update
It was nice to feel “home” in June. I helped to produce the Garage at Chatham’s “backyard” concert series, at the home of Jon and Adrienne Morrell. I worked on several performance productions, taught multiple dance+film workshops, and I returned to New Orleans to work with NOLA Dance Project and The Studio Nola to teach contemporary dance and aerial silks at their summer camps. It’s the 6th year I’ve gone to New Orleans, and being in the home of Diana and Peter Barnitz also, feels like home.
May 2022 Update
May was cool. My garden at home began to bloom, and I watched dancers from Dutchess School of Performing Arts bring their year’s worth of work to fruition at their annual recital. Next year will be a decade of my work with this particular school - and I’m feeling that. I’m feeling the longevity in the best way.
April 2022 Update
This particular month was not about work, but rather, very much about play. I visited Switzerland, a country I’m growing more and more familiar with, and it’s neighbor, Italy - a country that was new to me. I spent time in the Piedmont region, among the moscato grape vines and olive branches. I biked through the hillside and came to understand the hype around Italian bread and pasta. And..I rested. It was nice.
March 2022 Update
I had the honor and pleasure of filming and producing an e-course for Nita Little at the beginning of this month. Spending time in residence with this being, let alone getting to experience their work (amount other artists and creators whom I also deeply respect), was deeply nourishing.
February 2022 Update
February. A confusing month for me year after year - and I still can’t put my finger on exactly why. My biological cycle requires rest and peace during this time. I’m always rather artful, reflective, but also pensive, angry? I managed to make some art, given I’m part of a graduate program working towards an MFA in choreography - but it wasn’t without a proper tousle.
January 2022 Update
It’s January, it’s fresh, it’s a new year. We all know that’s meant to bring so many good, new, refreshing feelings. Somehow I’m feeling thick, feeling heavy. I am having a hard time making art. Winter is always hard. Thankfully, a dear friend came by to make some photographed art together. It was a appropriately a very gray day. It felt good.
December 2021 Update
This month was busy. I performed a work by Katherine Duke on December 11th at the Fuller Building in Kingston, NY, as well as showcased my own choreography, performed by Grace Leedy. Further, I showcased a digital version of my choreography at the RAW dance concept series. Glad to be working, making art and collaborating with wonderful humans.
November 2021 Update
I try to spend more than just this month full of gratitude. The new year is near. This month I made a micro film called “white”, and worked hard to invite my body back into physical practice. I also made a very important dance film capturing a re-imagining of an Erick Hawkins dance work from the 1950’s featuring a sculpture by Isamu Noguchi. We performed in Las Vegas, NV at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas under the direction of Louis Kavouras, and filmed an extended cut at the dry lake bed nearby. We did a day of exploring at the Valley of Fire which speaks for itself.
October 2021 Update
October was a jam-packed month. I kicked things off with a residency at EARTHDANCE with Lokasparśa Dance Projects, and then produced the Inaugural Concert for Festival Theater Hudson featuring a 32 piece orchestra. At the end of the month I offered an open-process showing as part of a new collaborative group called hypha that I have been working with. I’m exhausted but - it feels good to be busy in the earliest months back to freelance life.
September 2021 Update
In New York, all the leaves change right about this time. It was still green though, at an outdoor sculpture park in New Paltz called Unison. A couple of cool people put together the Behind Closed Doors: Stories From The Time of Covid Arts Festival and I had the pleasure of performing in it. I performed a duet with Pamela Kalechovsky set to live sound score by Ben Brown. The community that arrived at the festival, between performers and audience, brought along with them this overwhelming sense of support, love and gratitude. It was my first official return to live performance, and it couldn’t have been harkened in with a better community. It’s going to be a great fall.
August 2021 Update
This month was about re-rooting. I recently had to re-plant my monstera plant which had grown to over 4’ of reach in all sorts of directions. I had to slowly pull out the top layers of soil, carefully uncover the root systems, shake off the dirt, trim leaves that wouldn’t make the transplant, etc. There are moments in the process when you feel roots tearing and breaking.
I rearranged most parts of my life this summer, not just my monstera plants.
July 2021 Update
This July I participated in another residency with the group hypha, and did a little passion project shoot with Nicki Miller. I found out I didn’t get a few grants I had applied for, and continued working on some longer-term projects that are sustaining me. I travelled to New Orleans, Boston, Northampton, Brooklyn, North Adams, and Los Angeles. I was able to manifest an opportunity to perform someone else’s choreography in the upcoming Behind Closed Doors showcase in New Paltz in September - and that rehearsal process has been so soul-feeding. I can’t wait to share the concert details with you more fully!
June 2021 Update
I turned 31 this month. I turned 30 last year in a pandemic, while standing masked, among thousands, marching for Black Lives. This year I did nothing. This month I helped a friend realize a vision for a music video to an original song. I started graduate school (which - wow - just wait till you hear more about this), I moved out of my home and began summer travel, and I dove head first into what I’m calling “forever summer” - which is that I’m not bound to the schedule of a school-based employer. Feels akin to “forever young” - I’ll take it!
May 2021 Update
This month really gave my iliopsoas muscles a run for their money. By that, I mean the muscles which guide our very stability - were constricted and fearful as the foundation of so many elements of my life began to quiver. I was wrapping up my time at a job I had held for almost a decade (prematurely, in my opinion), saying goodbye to so many students and colleagues, and moving out of the place I had called home. Physically, moving or dancing felt so challenging, and I found myself running again (what?!). I did manage a few shoots with a few very special groups and individuals, but effectively I am shedding so much, and preparing for a summer full of travel and new adventures.
April 2021 Update
April came and went as quickly as the storms blow through and douse the earth in their quenching rain. Entrenched in work with students, I also spent time looking ahead. In a few short months I’ll change jobs, change homes, change focus. I have intention to do so at the speed of trust, and with a presence of mind that holds space for peace. It fills me with joy to see the projects I have lined up already, including a shoot with a long-time friend, clyde forth, on a dance film called Still, Together. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to support such powerful work, and am eager to have space and time to do even more.
March 2021 Update
Having been guided heavily by the school calendar for the last 8 years, I always love March, in part because with it comes Spring Break - a time when I can travel, dive into some “big kid” work, and ultimately rest and recharge. This March served up some time in the Teton mountains, at the beach in Los Angeles, and a brief stop in Denver, Colorado. I wore many hats this month, from director of photography, to model, to friend. It does not escape me that this is the last year I’ll be bound to a school calendar for the foreseeable future as I transition away from my position as Director of Dance & Circus at Millbrook School.