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By Nicole Harris
Curious about aMaSSiT? Applications will open soon for the next cohort! More information will be available at The Dance Complex’s website! Learn more about NACHMO and take the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge by following us on Instagram! Nicole Harris: This is your first time doing NACHMO. (WELCOME!) What are you most nervous and most excited about the experience of creating work in a month? Tess Liddy: I’m most excited to be creating with a group of dancers who I really love and respect! I’m also excited to have gotten permission from the artist of my song to use it; as it was my top most played song of 2022, it feels like a great way to start 2023. I’m most nervous about creating a jazz piece in such a short time. I’ve created contemporary pieces in a crunch before but I’ve recently become much more interested in jazz dance and upbeat songs. I haven’t ever choreographed jazz so it’s a double challenge to choreograph jazz and to do it in a month! N: You are relatively new to the Boston area. Where did you come from before here and what brought you to Boston? TL: I grew up in Plymouth, MA dancing since I was 6 at Center Stage Dance Academy in Sagamore, MA. I went to undergrad in Madison, NJ at Drew University which is where I first choreographed! The pandemic closed everything during my senior year and I returned home to live with family on Cape Cod. After a year of working on Cape Cod, I was offered a job teaching for the Boston Public Schools and I made the move in July 2021! I now live and teach in Dorchester; I teach 7th/8th Grade Applied Behavior Analysis. Working for the public school system and moving a bit farther from home was what brought me to Boston but the dance community is what has kept me wanting to be here!
Can you talk a bit about your choreographic journey in the last year? When did you feel most successful? What are you looking for to keep your momentum going into 2023?
TL: I love this question because it is actually what my NACHMO work is about - the last year of my life in dance! The aMaSSiT program felt like a shot in the dark for me and when I was accepted, it introduced me to the large dance scene here in Boston; before that, I hadn’t choreographed since my senior year of college - spring 2020. I was able to continue my aMaSSiT piece, “In A Minute”, for the OnStage 360 show in July. From there, I took a break from “In A Minute” and began choreographing a piece entitled “Falling” which was a duet danced by Kaylee Mahan and Gwen McGovern - it was presented at the 2022 Dance for World Community Festival in September and I then adapted it again for the DanceWorks In Progress show through Metamorphosis Dance Company in December 2022. To keep my momentum going into 2023, I am looking to broaden the amount of dancers I work with. Coming to the Boston dance community was intimidating at first because of how well connected everyone felt and how little I knew; I’ve made some amazing friends along the past year and I’d like to continue building those relationships. N: Monkeyhouse and NACHMO Boston believe that we wouldn’t be here without the support of our community. Who is one of your favorite local choreographers and why? TL: At the OnStage 360 show, I was absolutely blown away by the dance “Rain in the Ravine”, choreographed by Pearl Young (IG: @pearlyoung21). While I haven’t had the opportunity to see any of Pearl’s work since, I would love to see more! It was a beautiful, dynamic performance with amazing synergy between the dancers.
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By Nicole Harris
Learn more about NACHMO (including where you can see Brett’s work in early March!) and take the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge by following us on Instagram! N: This is your third NACHMO, making you a pro! Do you have any advice for first time participants or artists who have felt nervous about taking the challenge?
Brett Bell: GO FOR IT. We have the control and at times only hold ourselves back from exploring our potential as artists. This is your chance to experience a new adventure. N: Despite this being your third time with us, this is the first time that you will be creating a solo for yourself during NACHMO. What made you make that decision? What does it feel like to be working on your own? BB: The past year I've sat with myself and did a check-in. The decision came about after reconnecting with my faith. I started looking into what matters to me as an artist, while pushing myself to explore my deeper connection to movement. My inspiration comes from recent time spent in church. It feels scary to do this by myself, but I know my community of friends and family keep me from truly feeling alone. N: Monkeyhouse and NACHMO Boston believe that we wouldn’t be here without the support of our community. Who is one of your favorite local choreographers and why? BB: I will forever be inspired by my very best friend, Jeryl Palaña Pilapil-Brown (She/Her). Jeryl’s appreciation for the art of dance is beyond inspirational, she has a unique way of using her voice and for this I am very grateful. Jeryl has helped me in so many avenues throughout life and I truly appreciate her willingness to help the dance community continue to grow. You can check her out on instagram @jerylpalana_  Photo Credit: Mel Taing We joyously continue our Adapting to Uncertainty Series this week with a quick conversation with Jessica Roseman. Eagle eyed readers might have noticed a photograph of her in the background of last week's interview with Kim Holman. Her Nourish project invites people into her creative practice and often utilizes some unexpected public spaces. If you are lucky, you can catch Jess in action at 6 Faneuil Hall Square Boston, MA, 02109 today from 6 - 7:30PM. And if you go, say hello to karen Krolak or Nicole Harris and share your response to the performance. For more information, click here
karen: During the pandemic you began building the Nourish project. I know that there is lots of information about that on your website but I am wondering what was different about how it developed compared to things you built pre-pandemic? Jessica Roseman: Pre-pandemic, my dances were experimental questions. I focused on understanding my choreographic vision - how do I want to present myself? What excites me? What themes and vocabularies serve me best? (Why) is it even important to make dances? Coming back to choreography after years of healing from trauma, I was examining choreographic approaches to pleasure, searching for ways to make myself - and others - feel better through dance. I was gathering tools, questioning every step and result along the way. My dances were testing the waters of my own vulnerability and creative capacity. Time and money-wise, I invested in my own self interest without worrying too much about expense, results, or exposure. During the pressure cooker conditions of the pandemic, it became necessary to use this line of choreographic inquiry as a means to process, heal, and to actively use my voice for change. I had an immediate need for connection, and to stake a claim in my art and my community. My work, the same approach and content, became at once more political. I invested in building a sustainable career, and built my business in the process . kK: One of my favorite parts of the land acknowledgements that you share at the start of Nourish workshops is how they encourage me to reflect on the specific site where we are dancing. You are going to be performing for Now +There at Faneuil Hall on August 16, 6pm How has that location influenced your thinking? What sort of research have you done there? JR: Boston is steeped in colonial history which typically does not tell the whole story. There are tons of historic maps, exhibits, books, tours, and websites about the layered history of Faneuil Hall. Boston’s wealthiest merchant of the time, Peter Faneuil, who built the meeting house, had a significant role in the slave trade. Farmers from inland, including from what is now called Lexington Community Farm (where I am Artist in Residence), brought their produce to sell in the Faneuil building. As ever, I found it challenging to process an inclusive land acknowledgement of that place without getting swept away by the sheer volume of information from a capitalistic, white supremacist perspective. To defy the confines of the colonialism, I am generating my own narrative from my personal connections to Faneuil Hall, and particularly my values for the present:
kK: You have been in residence at Bearnstow last week and previously at Subcircle in Biddeford. How do these weeks away reframe your investigations into the specificity of site where you are presenting work? How do they serve your larger creative practice? JR: I was born in Maine, and spent many magical summers visiting here as a child. Subcircle and Bearnstow's subsidized Maine residencies bring me back to my childhood self while directly supporting my growth as a choreographer. I feel so affirmed as an artist to be welcomed into their amazing spaces. I have come to rely on time away from my regular parenting routine. I also just love dancing among the plants and trees which each facility environmentally protects. In nature, I deepen my understanding of the good in the world, and my purpose in it. I reset my sense of time and space. I breathe deeper, and become more grounded. I take experimental new risks. In residency, I experience a cyclical process of nourishment in relation to the land, which feeds my creative practice. Thanks to Bearnstow and Subcircle, I become fortified to delve into politically challenging places like Boston’s Dock Square, and to make louder, more complex work.  Photo Credit: karen Krolak Recently Steve Wightman asked us about how local choreographers are adapting to the uncertainties of presenting work at this stage in the pandemic. As co-Artistic Director, karen Krolak replied, we were inspired to start a new series for the C2C blog. After helping to install Kimberleigh Holman’s installation What’s on the Line… (WOTL), at The Dance Complex’s Complex @ Canal space last week, karen thought this could be an excellent project to kick things off. Thanks Steve for for stirring up this conversation and to BioMed Realty and The Dance Complex for providing the Complex @ Canal space.
Complex @ Canal is at 650 E Kendall St Cambridge, MA 02142. WOTL can be viewed from outside or inside the building which is accessible to people who use mobility devices. More information on the exhibit and related audio files about the piece can be found here. Look out on The Dance Complex's blog too, we may soon continue this interview there! karen: Folks around Monkeyhouse know you as a choreographer and lighting designer, how did you get into creating a public art piece? Kimberleigh Holman: It’s been a bit of an identity crisis spun out of a need to take action, if we’re being totally honest. My MFA is in Interdisciplinary Arts with a Performance Creation Concentration (Goddard College) and while I also love to make what I consider installation work, it’s usually durational performance for, say, bodies in landscape or unusual settings. I love to utilize my knowledge in lighting, sound creation, and other methods of performance to make interdisciplinary work, where the elements interweave to strengthen the work as a whole, but it’s never taken the form of public art. That being said, it’s tough to sit around while hearing blow after blow for women’s rights and bodily autonomy in our news. It’s hard to hear stories from friends about their experiences with gender-based violence as a subsection of our country gets more emboldened in the political climate over the last few years especially. I feel like while I vote, and donate, and show up, we are still in a constant downward spiral in regard to how very human issues are politicized. What I CAN do is take this clothesline (from last fall’s Contradictions + Casual Self Loathing) that is always a conversation piece, put it in public spaces, and feel like I’m taking action—opening a door for people to talk with one another about their experiences with words that are predominantly used for women, and make some small scale change. Hence What’s on the Line… and thanks to the generosity of the arts spaces that are eager to house it, this step into public art. kK: Since I was dramaturg for Contradictions + Casual Self Loathing, I wonder if I can slip that hat back on for a moment and ask you to share a bit about how you chose the words for this installation. KH: We (myself, the performers, you) started generating this list of words that predominantly get used for women in both a virtual book club meeting and in rehearsal for Contradictions + Casual Self Loathing. I knew I wanted the visual of these often-derogatory—sometimes shocking—words being hung on a clothesline onstage. The juxtaposition of domestic labor and these language norms as things that are both given little thought appealed to me. Interview subjects from my research phase generously contributed some. Of course friends and family added theirs… even my husband gave me a jaw-dropper he’d heard in a work setting years ago. The funny part is that since we started listing these “words for women”, we haven’t stopped. Every time the line goes up, there are new words. Audience members at Contradictions’ debut in Dedham were eager to chime in with some of their own. We also recently installed What’s on the Line… at Bellforge Arts Center (Medfield) where viewers were quick to chime in with words (and the related stories) from their life experiences, and as I write this WOTL has been up at Complex @ Canal in Kendall Square for about a day and I’ve already received a dozen or so new additions. I keep a spreadsheet with where they came from, and I’m curious to start looking for trends in our ever-growing crowdsourced list. kK: As you were talking about questions of access to care, I was reflecting on how that intersects with accessibility in a general sense. You were just part of the 2022 ILN network, how did that program influence installing WOTL? KH: A lot of the education provided by Mass Cultural Council’s Universal Participation Initiative/ILN program is centered on access in cultural spaces, especially in museum settings. In installing WOTL I wanted to make sure that the QR codes that explain the installation are accessible from all heights, and the installation itself is viewable from all angles—floor to air. While it is currently a very visual experience, the website page that accompanies the work provides descriptions of the project, alt text on images, and audio in the form of both an artist statement and also a fifteen-minute track to listen to that can stand alone, or accompany the viewing experience. It’s also potentially difficult and triggering subject matter, so I gave a lot of thought in how to present it in a way that gives a viewer the time and space they may need to do so. I hope to eventually be working with a budget for this project that enables full access! kK: On a side note, I know you performed Maine this weekend and that you had to juggle things a bit due to COVID cases in Luminarium. Did you find that going through ILN helped you navigate that challenge? KH: I think ILN reinforced a human-first philosophy that I’ve always tried to work with, since I started making performance with others. We live in complicated times, things happen, and health and safety come first… the people come first. kK: How was jumping back into your trio, Getting There is Half the Battle, to take the place of your dancer? KH: It’s interesting to insert yourself back into physical work you’re familiar with at different stages in your life. I last did that piece (filling in for another dancer, actually) in 2016-ish, and revisiting it in 2022 was like taking a census of all that’s changed in my body (less hip mobility, more leg strength, etc) as I would dance the movement and it felt different. It was a bit of a stressor as I was dancing alongside newer Luminarium dancers Angie Benitez and Katrina Conte, and both of them are so brilliantly in tune with not just learning and dancing new movement but making the work their own, but ultimately it was exciting to have one rehearsal to insert myself into a piece and take it up to Acadia Dance Festival. We had a really engaged and appreciative audience, so that made it all the better. A good skills check!
Nicole Harris: You will be collaborating with a painter and a musician on your piece for NACHMO this year. Can you tell us about that? Abigail Ripin: We are playing somewhat of a game of broken telephone where we create art across our own mediums of expertise. I've sent both the musician and painter a video of a piece of choreography I created. Using this choreography as inspiration, they are creating music and a painting, respectively. They will share their work with me, and I will use it to inspire my next piece of choreography. I will then show the painter this choreography, and he will paint something inspired by it. We are planning to repeat this exchange a few times. N: You have extended out an invitation to work with new dancers. How has the process of finding dancers gone? How has it been working with new dancers? AR: I have been very lucky to have received a lot of interest from dancers who want to participate in my piece. I am looking forward to starting rehearsals and building a cohesive group dynamic. This is the first time I've assembled a group of dancers for a project in almost 4 years, so I am grateful for the dancers who are eager to contribute their time and talent, and I am optimistic for the potential of this work. I'm really excited to create on a group of 5 to 8 dancers and just play director and choreographer. It has been a very long time since I have not performed in my own work, so I'm looking forward to taking a step back and just focusing on creating. I'm also excited to connect with local choreographers through the mentorship tracks and see how my collaborations progress. 
Between now and the performance in February we will be sharing interviews with the 30+ choreographers who are taking the NACHMO Challenge with us this year! First up is Brett Bell, who is back with us for his second NACHMO in 2022! Nicole Harris: We are so excited to have you back for NACHMO again this year! What are you hoping to build now that we’re (hopefully) looking at live performance once again? Brett Bell: I am hoping to build a beautiful piece for the stage. My dancers are so talented and I’m thrilled to have them.
N: You do a lot of teaching all over the Boston area. What draws you to education? What do you hope your students take away from your classes? BB: Education is life, there is more to teaching just movement. I hope my students take away a sense of discipline and the importance of repetition. These are important life lessons that will keep you moving in the right direction.  N: What else are you working on these days? Can people see your work any time soon?
BB: I’m working on building my youtube channel in the hopes of my work will get out there for people to see. I would love to have more opportunities to create with other artists and build a decent repertoire. I’m also closely working with Jeryl Palaña on a new project she is developing which I am excited to be a part of. By Nicole Harris N: How was the NACHMO experience? What was something that went really well? What was something that went a little sideways? BB: I have been choreographing for over 10 years and every experience has its ups and downs. For NACHMO, I felt it was such a new experience creating dance on film that everything felt wrong, but in a good way. I was challenged to use tools that went familiar, and unsure of where to start and what the outcome would be as a whole. I am pleased to say I would do this over and over and over again, and take what I have learned from NACHMO as I continue to create for as long as I can.
N: What sort of changes (if any) did you make between the NACHMO Boston informal showing and the Malden Dance Mile? BB: The changes between the informal and MDM showing I made, were use of space. I needed to consider the audience receiving more of a personal experience. Taking away the frontal view, and giving a visually uncomfortable take of searching for happiness.
BB: YES, this is very important. We must lift each other as artists because what we do is valuable and could have great impact on our communities. Im a FAN FAV of my dancers/ Boston based creators, Jeryl Palana and Deidre Lewis. These two fantastic women have continued to support me as I have supported them. To name a few more, Angie Conte, William McLaughlin, and Joe Gonzalez.  By Nicole Harris N: In addition to being the NACHMO Boston regional director you were inspired to choreograph a piece this year! What made you excited about your idea? BB: I initially started off the year not intending to choreograph. My first year as regional director I also choreographed and danced in a piece, and it was far too much for one month! However, once the month got rolling I was so excited by what everyone else was doing that I wanted in. A prompt put forth by NACHMO HQ this year was to dance with a piece of paper constantly connected to your body and the ground, and I found that very appealing. That was how the first phrase of my piece was created and I went from there!
I’ve also learned that organizing is key, having help makes everything more exciting (yay Monkeyhouse!), the Boston dance community needs more positive experiences with what mentorship means, and that choreographers are always excited by this opportunity. My favorite part of NACHMO is seeing new connections being formed! N: This year’s NACHMO was different than past years. What was one of your favorite moments? What was something that went a little sideways? BB: It was certainly different but so wonderful! I loved forming connections in the small groups of the Mental Health Happy Hours. It was amazing to form real, deep connection in a time when connection was so hard to come by. I also loved all of the group mentorship sessions. Each one was unique, but the current running through all of them was how kind and thoughtful people were about offering insight and feedback to each other. I left each session feeling inspired and full of admiration for the community that was created.
I try to pay these gifts forward by having a door open to talk about dance and life with the younger generation that I was lucky enough to get to know through a few years of teaching dance. Plus, by offering mentorship opportunities at NACHMO Boston with the goal that they feel as safe and fortifying as mine do. N: It is important to us that we continue to lift up other artists in our community. Who are some of your favorite Boston area choreographers? Why? BB: There are so many! Evolve Dynamicz, Ruth Benson & Lynn Modell, Kristin Wagner, Monkeyhouse, Sasso and Co, Public Displays of Motion, Ryan P Casey, and more!  N: We are so thrilled to be in Malden! Do you have any connections to this fantastic city?
BB: I unfortunately have not spent a lot of time in Malden, except for one time in Summer 2020 when my partner and I kayaked in the Mystic River. It was a beautiful day towards the end of the summer and was a new spot for us. I'm looking forward to returning to kayak again at some point this year!
N: A lot happens during NACHMO Boston, this year more than most. In what ways did and didn’t your piece become the thing you thought it would at the start of the month? CC: I could not possibly have anticipated what developed from the unique circumstances of this year’s choreography challenge. My original intention was to set a work that was completelychoreographed, solid and repeatable, mainly because most of my work over the last few years has been largely improvisation-based. I also intended it to be filmed entirely outdoors. However, one thing I could not have anticipated was that I would end up being exposed to and contracting coronavirus very early on in the endeavor. That completely derailed the process but led me to examine how to conserve energy and work efficiently with the circumstances I was given. It forced me to be creative in ways that I would otherwise have resisted. It required me to set aside expectation entirely and strive for what made sense in the moment rather than trying to force something into existence. That’s where the idea of using a guided mediation came about. In the piece When We’re Stuck Inside, I was literally stuck inside, unable to go anywhere and frankly too exhausted to have gone anywhere anyway. But I am an energy healer and guided meditation plays a major role in my healing work. I decided to create a meditation as the soundtrack in an effort to suggest that one way to find joy is to find or create it in the mind. When I was able to film outside again, I used it as an opportunity to explore the relationship between inside and out that could signify finding the sense of joy as in a dream. It seems to have worked better than I intended because a number of people who saw the work in progress told me that, rather than feeling the piece as a suggestion, they went on the journey through the meditation as it was happening, feeling relaxed and happier afterward. The most unexpected part is that this led to an expanded project around this idea that is now in the first stages of production! I can’t say too much yet but I’m bursting with excitement over the possibilities of the first iteration and many more to follow!!! Now I definitely didn’t think my piece for NACHMO 2021 would become that, but here it is and I am so grateful!
For the Malden Dance Mile, I entirely re-filmed the piece but spent a great deal of time planning and implementing the production. Having the opportunity to hone the piece after the first showing was such an incredible learning experience. It’s still not perfect, (when will it ever be really) but I took to heart the suggestions given in the workshops and mentorship opportunities that NACHMO Boston provided this year which I feel elevated the piece in ways I had never considered before. And let me pause here to say how grateful I am for the grace and skill with which NACHMO Boston handled the challenges of this format. N: Who are your mentors? What makes those relationships special to you? What are you doing to pay forward the gifts they have given you? CC: I am lucky to have had some wonderful teachers and mentors in my life as a dancer. I went to Bard College as an undergraduate to major in dance. I met some wonderful teachers there, two of whom I would like to mention in particular because they are no longer with us and I often think of them when I dance: Lenore Latimer and Aileen Passloff. Both of those wonderful women inspired me to dance with authenticity and honesty to who I am as a human being. I can never thank them enough for what they taught me in the short time I knew them. The rest of my professors in the dance department at Bard College all had a hand in making me the dancer and choreographer I am today. Peggy Florin, Jean Churchill, Maria Simpson, Leah Cox, Stuart Singer, Marjorie Folkman…each of these wonderful teachers and more all gave me something important. They inspired me, challenged old thought patterns, supported me while I learned to dance on pointe (even if they weren’t thrilled about it at times), and pushed me to discover what my way of dancing through the world is. In a completely different way, my Master’s Tutor at the Glasgow School of Art, Michelle Hannah, challenged me as an artist. Without that challenge, I might never have thought to push beyond what I thought of as dance performance, stretching into the world of fine art performance as well. Her support was invaluable in that process. And then there’s Dance Prism Ballet Company. Dance Prism, and its Artistic Director Mary Demaso, have become like an extended family to me. Though I have come and gone back and forth over the years that I have been dancing with the company, every time I walk through that studio door it feels like coming home. I am so lucky to call Mary and the wonderful group of dancers at Dance Prism my friends. Truth be told, I don’t know that I can ever do enough to pay forward what these wonderful dancers and teachers have given me over the years. The best I can do today is to keep making work and bringing dance into the world. Hopefully, someday I can inspire someone the way they did for me.
That being said, I have had some incredible experiences over the years with organizations like The Dance Complex, Dancing Queerly, Luminarium Dance Company, and of course Monkeyhouse. The works I have seen, classes I’ve attended, workshops I’ve taken and auditions I’ve been to have all been integral to the process of understanding who I am as a choreographer and dancer.
by Nicole Harris
 Get your tickets to see Colleen and the rest of the artists at Ignite on June 23rd! Nicole Harris: You began your relationship with movement as a competitive gymnast. How does that experience inform your choreography today? In what ways are the two worlds similar? Different? Colleen Walsh: In my very young years I actually danced before my career as a competitive gymnast, but as gymnastics became more serious, I stopped dancing and didn’t return to it until college when my time as a gymnast came to an end. Although looking back, as a gymnast I choreographed my own floor and beam routines, so even during that time there were signs that dance would play a part in my future... My time as a gymnast influenced the person I am in so many ways- and does continue to influence my choreography today. It taught me a lot about dedication during times of trial, overcoming obstacles, respect, and consistency- all of which we know to be required skills of a choreographer. My work also tends to be quite athletic, rooted in my love for pushing boundaries with gravity and being upside down. Certainly there are some differences between ‘the two worlds’ of gymnastics and dance, but I see them as more similar than they are different. Both are communities of deeply passionate and dedicated individuals who love to move. As I became more involved in the dance community, I used to be embarrassed to admit that I didn’t study dance for hours in the studio during my childhood and teen years. I felt like without that, my place in this community wasn’t validated. But, I did spend hours in the gym during those years. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate that there’s a lot of different ways to do something right- there’s a lot of different ways to get to where you want to go- and no way of getting there makes your journey any less valid.  Photo by Doug West N: Who are the dancers you’ll be working with as part of ChoreoFest? CW: I’m actually still finalizing this based on availability and unfortunately a few dancers I work with dealing with injuries. I’m very interested in continuing to develop both solo work and group work- so no matter how things end up, I’m thrilled for this experience...I’m trusting it will work out exactly how it needs to best serving this experience. If I move forward working with dancers, I’ll be sharing who they are and how amazing they are on my social- so keep an eye out! N: What are you most nervous about for ChoreoFest? CW: My choreographic process tends to spend a lot of time in the ‘gathering inspiration’ or research phase, and I’m truly trying to not think much about what I’ll create until I walk in the door on June 21st, to really embrace the purpose of this festival, so that has me a bit outside of my element right now.  Photo by Doug West N: Who are your mentors, past and present? CW: I feel really lucky to have had such tremendous mentors in so many different areas of my life. I’d love to give a shoutout to Duane Lee Holland, Jeanine McCain, Pam Pietro and T Lang who have each had a profound impact on me as a dancer and choreographer, teaching me along my journey a little bit more about the artist and human I want to be. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude when I think about the many beautiful people who have cheered me on, supported me, picked me back up, and loved me along the way. N: What do you most value in a mentor? CW: A big open heart and honesty. N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? CW: This Boston dance community is the dang best. I’m lucky to come into contact with a lot of truly beautiful artists and companies and to have the opportunity to talk with them and watch them share their souls. Get out to festivals, classes, workshops, and performances this summer and support local artists! A few people whose work, teaching, dedication, guts, service to the community, and artistry have been inspiring to me recently: J Michael Winward Jean Appolon Kristin Wagner’s That’s What She Said Michael Figueroa Aysha Upchurch Ali Kenner Brodsky Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion ...and truly so many more... ...and the people I get to stand alongside during this ChoreoFest...come on! Amazing!!  N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? CW: You can find me teaching at The Dance Complex’s Summer Sizzle Dance Festival, on a regular basis at Shanti Yoga in Hopkinton, and getting my butt into the studio a lot. A few years ago I lost a lot, and to be honest choreographing and performing has felt a lot like ripping off a bandaid since then...but it’s time to get ripping.  By Nicole Harris  Welcome to be Here - PC: Derek Fowles Introducing our next ChoreoFest choreographer, Kelsey Saulnier! She will be working in one of the site specific locations at Green Street during the festival.  Don't miss Kelsey and all of the ChoreoFest artists at Ignite on June 23rd! Get your tickets today! Nicole Harris: Your work incorporates both choreographed movement and improvisational scores. How do you weave those two things together within the same work? What sorts of improvisation scores are most interesting to you? How have you developed an idea from simple improvisation to a repeatable score? Kelsey Saulnier: I like to think of improvisation and set material as not so different, and this helps to weave these two ideas together and transition in and out of them within the same work. Improvisation is simply about in the moment choice making, and because of this there is always some degree of improvisation in all that we do. Even in set material, we are not necessarily choosing to come up with new movement, but we are constantly choosing how we embody what is already there; we are choosing how to make it come alive… how to make it more profound than just a shape; or how not to. I am most interested in improvisational scores that stem from a more visceral place… scores that provoke movement from the inside out. It is one thing to put on a piece of sound and simply improvise to it, but this sort of feels like a wash for me. I do not know where the movement is coming from or why, and although this is a valid way of working it does not sit right with my dancing body. Which is sometimes okay, but not ideal. Scores that deal with an imagined density or resistance, a cooking of the organs, a spreading of skin or imagined imprinting of the air. Scores like this really allow me to work without the notion that my movement has too look a certain way, and dance from a place of true investigation. I like to video myself improvising sometimes, then relearn only the best bits and string them together into a more repeatable phrase. Improvisational scores are also wonderful choreographic tools. For example, I can propose a score that deals with attempting to move exclusively from your most inner bone marrow, and instead of improvising with it, create set movements that embody this task and string them together into phrasework.  of Her - PC: Peter Raper N: What are you most nervous about for ChoreoFest? KS: I feel most nervous about being invested in a particular artistic process for twelve hours straight. I enjoy creating work in pieces because it allows me to step outside of it for a bit and get some perspective on what the heck I just made. This is especially helpful with solo work. I can revisit it later with fresh eyes. Being IN a work for this extended amount of time feels frightening but also like a totally exciting challenge. I am interested in how far I will fall into it.  Small Memory - PC: Stacey Hazen N: Who are your mentors, past and present? KS: Two movers/mentors that have been super important in my development as an artist are Chris Aiken and Leslie Frye-Maietta. They’re two very special humans in the Five Colleges that taught me during my time in undergrad and really helped me find my voice as an improviser. Chris teaches at Smith College and is a master at improvisation both in contact and composition. I have worked closely with him over the years in both class and rehearsal settings and he has supported me endlessly. Leslie really opened my eyes to what else dance and movement could be artistically when I first arrived at college. She is an amazingly thoughtful choreographer and really great at pulling heart and soul out of everyone she works with. I’ve danced for her in many of her works over the past four years and her rehearsal process has always been super transformative for me.  Welcome to be Here - PC: Derek Fowles N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? KS: This summer is filled with lots of dance, work, and travel, which is so wonderful. I am showing a newish-solo around NYC throughout June. I’ll also be spending some time in Vienna during July/August dancing/studying at ImPulsTanz. I have had my eye on this festival for years and feel so grateful and excited that it was able to work out this summer. Other than that, I work as a nanny and a dog walker (the hustle is real). So, you might find me out walking some pooches.  Welcome to be Here - PC: Derek Fowles N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why?
KS: Jenna Pollock is a thoughtful and fiery choreographer who is doing wonderfully progressive things in the Boston area. She emphasizes the importance of improvisation and works to create thought provoking dance. I recommend checking her out if you haven’t. Also, David Dorfman Dance Company. They are not exactly local to Boston, but they often hold rehearsals and intensives in Connecticut as well as NYC. Their work is humorous, quirky, abstract, athletic, and truly joyful. They are a company of kind and caring individuals who everyone should really check out. by Nicole Harris  by Curtis Reaves Introducing another 24hr ChoreoFest artist, Nick Daniels! He is coming to us from Pittsburgh. We are thrilled to have him in the studios with us at Green Street in a couple of weeks!  This year the ChoreoFest artists will show their work at Ignite, Luminarium's gala event on Sunday, June 23rd. Don't miss this opportunity to see new work and support a whole range of choreographers! Nicole Harris: You recently returned to choreographing after quite a few years. What has been different in this “second chance”? What are you most excited about doing with your work at this stage in your career? Nick Daniels: When I left the dance world in 1994, the internet was a new thing. I’m most excited to take advantage of technology advancements. Also, during my hiatus I lost both my parents at separate times. Through that loss I found strength and knew I had to come back to honor them.  Photo by Nick M Daniels N: You recently resurrected Pittsburgh Dance Week. Can you tell me a bit about what that is and why it was important to you to bring it back? ND: When I returned, things in Pittsburgh’s community were very different. I asked my dancers about Pittsburgh Dance week, but they weren’t aware it was even a thing. At that point I knew I had to reinstate the tradition of having a week of classes, discussions, showcases and performances to showcase how very diverse and talented my hometown is.  Photo by Nick M Daniels N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? ND: This summer I will be performing in Dancing Queerly here in Boston at the Dance Complex, then more work in festivals, teaching and developing new work for our next season.  Photo by Nick M Daniels N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? ND: Companies to look out for... In Pittsburgh, SlowDanger. In Boston, I love Peter DiMuro’s work. There’s an honesty that I am drawn to with both groups.  by Nicole Harris
24hr ChoreoFest is a unique choreography event fashioned after 24 hour play and film festivals. Choreographers are locked into Green Street Studios overnight on June 21st with the mission of creating something new. All of the work will be shown at Luminarium's Gala Event, Ignite, on Sunday, June 23rd. Keep an eye out here for more information about the festival and the artists involved! Get your tickets to be part of the magic!  The first interviewee is choreographer Emma Morris. She comes to us from Atlanta where she works as a dancer and freelance choreographer. Nicole Harris: Who are the dancers you’ll be working with for ChoreoFest? Emma Morris: I’ll be working with a couple dancers and long-time collaborators that I met during my time at USC. Meredith Price is a Boston native, who in addition to being a talented dancer is an outstanding visual artist as both a photographer and graphic designer. I will also be bringing Lauren Bobo, a dance artist and teacher who I’ve worked with on nearly every work I’ve created. N: What are you most nervous about for ChoreoFest? EM: What I’m most nervous for during ChoreoFest is shortening parts of my process to fit into such a short period of time. As a choreographer, words are used as a jumping off point. I discuss with my dancers the theme of the piece, and let where the conversation develop where it may between the people and the experiences in the room. I then collect words and phrases from those conversations and use them to inform gestures and base choreography. In only having a limited time, I will have to condense this process and I am nervous if my work will loose the layered intentionality my work possesses. Or it might allow for an even more intentional piece!  N: Who are your mentors, past and present? EM: I have never really found myself in the direct mentorship of any one artist. I’ve learned so much from so many people, be it colleagues, teachers, or directors. But, I’ve learned the most from and still continue to look to for inspiration and advice from Shaun Boyle D’arcy. I met Shaun while a sophomore at USC when she selected me as an understudy for the creation of a new work, she saw something in me I didn’t see in myself yet. Her creation process deeply influenced the way I create, and working with her again my senior year, her encouragement in my personal voice gave me the confidence to pursue choreography. N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? EM: This summer I’m working a lot in Atlanta. I’m premiering a new work on June 14th at MIXTAPE, a feminist dance festival produced by Zoetic Dance. After 24hr ChoreoFest, I’ll head back to Atlanta to continue to work with multiple companies in the area- I’ve got a few new projects in the works. I’m hoping to head to WA for another project in August but its not finalized yet.  N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? EM: So I’m not from Boston, so maybe not the best person to give advice on the dance scene but I can tell you all about the gems in Atlanta and Columbia SC. In Atlanta I love Zoetic, they’re an all female company that creates work centered on female empowerment, and Kit Modus, a company creating beautiful and intricate work with some of the most talented artists in the city. In Columbia I have to say Yuhas and Dancers is amazing, creating highly intelligent work that is socially relevant- most recently creating a work with SC’s poet laurate. 
Nicole Harris: Collaboration can be rewarding and difficult. What is one great moment and one challenge you’ve faced during this process? Erica Nelson: I loved seeing our dancers, who have never met or danced together before this project, move together as one. It was great to see their interactions, and who danced well or similar to each other. Composing the music was difficult because we composed it as the rehearsal process was happening. I usually prefer to work with music set beforehand so we can have a clear plan and pathway for the choreography inspired by the music, but for this project the dance happened first and the music followed which was a challenge for me.  Photo by Crystal Perez N: The End Ensemble’s goal is to “challenge audiences to face new concepts, dark themes and the outright bizarre.” Can you talk about what that means to you and why you wanted that to be your company’s focus? What’s a specific example of the outright bizarre that you’ve come across so far? EN: We mainly want to challenge our audiences to be more active in their experience of dance. We want to be unpredictable, and force them to think deeply about the art presented to them, both during and long after the performance. We never want them to settle! As far as the outright bizarre, we also like to mess with our audience sometimes! In some pieces we have presented humor aspects or just general creepy/distorted movement and concepts that are very unusual for the audience to experience.  Photo by John Long N: The End Ensemble is based in CT. How did you wind up in Malden for this project? EN: I am originally from the Boston area. I grew up here and returned here after college. I danced with a few companies in Boston and became familiar with the dance scene here before I moved to Hartford. Over the years I have stayed connected to the area, which has always been supportive of my company. We try to return to Boston to do a show at least once a year and visit our hometown!  Photo by Erica Nelson N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? EN: The END Ensemble will be presenting work throughout the spring as the resident dance company at Central Connecticut State University. This summer, we will be in New York City at Dixon Place to present a split-bill upcoming choreographers showcase titled ‘8 in Show’ on June 26th. We will also be presenting work and workshops throughout the summer in Hartford as part of ‘Art on the Streets’, a Hartford Arts Council campaign to invigorate the downtown public arts community.  N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? EN: Check out Contemporarily Out of Order! Another Boston-based female-run company that I danced with for a year, CooCO (artistic director Wendy Bryne) always puts together strong shows that connect her students, apprentices, and professional dancers to the Boston dance community and incorporate all styles of dance.  Photo by Ray Shaw   Photo by Kathryn Swayze Photography Empower One Another was a collaboration between Nozama Dance Collective and OnStage Dance Company. Here are a few thoughts from Jennifer Crowell-Kuhnberg of OnStage! Nicole Harris: Collaboration can be rewarding and difficult. What is one great moment and one challenge you’ve faced during this process? Jennifer Crowell-Kuhnberg: My collaboration with Erica Nelson was very rewarding and ran very smoothly. We worked so well together and I felt like we were able to mesh our ideas and styles quite well. I think we each contributed equally to the piece but also felt comfortable to suggest adjustments. Our dancers were also phenomenal in generating movement phrases and improv based on our prompts and allowing us to cherry pick our favorite pieces.  Photo by Kathryn Swayze Photography N: In addition to collaborating in the studio you have been collaborating with Nozama on this entire project. What is something you’ve learned through this experience? JCK: I have gotten to know Gracie Novikoff so well in the last few months and it’s been a joy to, not only work together on producing this show, but also to build a friendship. We have very similar sensibilities and goals when it comes to our respective companies and it’s been great to learn, share and reflect with her on both our mutual and varied experiences as dance company directors. That Director role can feel isolating sometimes so it was helpful for me to connect with her in that way.  Photo by Kathryn Swayze Photography N: Why was it important to you for OnStage to be part of this project? JCK: It’s my continuing goal to have OnStage be an open space for emerging dance makers and a safe space for experimentation. When Gracie came to me with this idea, I saw it as a perfect opportunity to provide those much needed resources and help support her goal of collaboration for this project. I think more companies and choreographers should be seeking out ways to collaborate or support each other. Since moving my company to Malden, I’ve also been on a mission to bring more dance artists into this city and hopefully get my local community more involved and more exposed to this type of performance art!  N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? JCK: We have so many exciting upcoming projects: Malden Dance Mile OnStage is collaborating with Monkeyhouse to produce the first-ever outdoor dance and movement festival to Malden. Find us on the Malden Community Trail on Saturday, April 27 from 12-3pm for performances, choreography games, dance class demos and more, featuring tons of local performers! Later that evening, OnStage will be performing at the West Medford Open Studios event at 4pm at 400 High Street in Medford! I will be showing work at the AS220 Modern Movement Festival in Providence, Rhode Island on April 25 and 27. OnStage Dance Company’s Season Seventeen Performance will be held at the BU Dance Theater on June 15! And I am currently auditioning dancers for a reboot of a special project called “What Is Love?” which will debut in July at OnStage!  N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? JCK: Obviously I want to encourage everyone to check out the other performers in this series and support the other projects they have going on!   All images by Olivia Moon Photography by Nicole Harris Here's another interview with the wonderful Lacey Sasso! On Saturday go see her and her company at Empower One Another on Saturday at 4pm to catch a Skort (post show conversation) with ME! Then join us at the Dance Complex to see An Animated Addition of the Dictionary of Negative Space at 8pm! Nicole Harris: Collaboration can be rewarding and difficult. What is one great moment and one challenge you’ve faced during this process? Lacey Sasso: As a unit, we decided to fully collaborate, meaning that every dancer has contributed movement, ideas, choices, etc. This decision greatly shaped our creative process by opening the door for everyone to have a voice. At times, we almost had too many ideas; this is where we had to step back as a group and really discuss what should come next, what made sense, and what might be an idea for later. The most difficult part of the process was scheduling. As artists, we all have multiple jobs and creative projects, so simply getting our bodies in the space at the same time was a large hurdle.  N: In addition to running a company you have a Masters in Counseling Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy. How does your work in those fields impact your work as a choreographer? LS: As time moves on, the work I do both as a therapist and an artist blend more deeply together. Some of my choreographic work tackles specific psychological ideas such as the theory of attachment, which is explored in our work, Deeply Rooted. Some of the repertoire is inspired by the themes, movements, and diagnoses that I work with on a daily basis. For example, the company is currently working on a piece entitled Entwined Days which will debut on May 10 and 11 at the Dance Complex. This piece is a visceral and emotional response from my work with clients who have experienced trauma, or who deal daily with intense anxiety and life altering depression. The movement is a method of processing my therapeutic work while also trying to honor the stories in which I am entrusted to keep safe as a therapist.  N: You used to dance with Undertoe Dance Project in New York City. My understanding from when I’ve seen their work is that they are a combination of jazz/contemporary and tap dancers. Are you also a tap dancer? If so, does tap dance ever appear in Sasso & Co? How does working rhythmically impact your current choreography? LS: Yes, I am a tap dancer! I performed as both a tap and jazz dancer in my first season with Undertoe Dance Project, then focused specifically on jazz for the remainder of my tenure with the company. There currently is no Sasso & Company repertoire where tap is featured, however I am always open to collaborating across genres. Rhythm plays a large role in my movement and teaching style. I often find myself teaching movement with sounds or specific attention to parts of the music, rather than focusing on counts. I love syncopation and greatly enjoy finding ways in which movement can both support and oppose music.  N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? LS: Sasso & Company has a fun and exciting performance schedule this Spring! Our spring season culminates with our full evening length performances of Days Gone By at the Dance Complex on Friday, May 10th and Saturday, May 11!! We will be debuting new work as well as performing some of our favorite pieces of repertoire. You can also catch us at goodTHANGpassing on Friday, April 19 at 2:30 pm in Somerville, and we are performing at the Providence Movement Festival on Thursday, April 25 and Saturday, April 27th at AS220 in Providence, RI.  N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? LS: Lynn Frederiksen and Paul Kafka-Gibbons also known as Lynn and Paul Dance - they create work that has a classical modern base, but often has a humorous element involved. I love humor in dance and find it incredibly hard to create. Colleen Roddy - creates innovative partnering mixed with athletic framework. She's always pushing the bounds of movement and never afraid to try something new. Erin McNulty -- she has a gift for combining technical elements with gesture and creating a dynamic is both bold and smooth all at once; it's beautiful. 
You can catch their show at OnStage Dance Company, 665 Salem St, Malden, MA Saturday, July 7th @ 4pm Use VIP Code NDC10 to get a special ticket price here! Follow Nozama on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter to learn more about them!! Nicole Harris: Can you tell me about the work you’ll be performing as part of the OnStage Summer Performance Series? Gracie Novikoff: Nozama Dance Collective is thrilled to be a part of the OnStage Summer Performance Series! We will be presenting a 45 minute set on Saturday, July 7th at 4pm. We will be performing predominantly new works, which is very exciting! We have been crafting a series of pieces surrounding the concept of “Enough”, in that as women we have seen enough, we have heard enough, we have had enough; now is the time to embrace that we are enough. Under this concept’s umbrella, we are presenting empowering works of frustration surrounding the threats to women’s rights, as well as uplifting dances of women coming together to celebrate one another. The tumultuous political climate of 2016-2018 has inspired us in numerous ways, particularly in how bold women have stood up and claimed their voices against oppressive forces. We are committed to bringing female empowerment to the Boston dance community, and this performance will fully embody that. This set list will then make up a large percentage of the choreography for our own full-length production, appropriately entitled “Enough”, which will be on August 3rd and 4th at Green Street Studios in Cambridge, MA.
In creating our pieces, we pull inspiration from our own experiences as well as the other women in our lives and our relationships with them. Specifically, Natalie Schiera and I (Nozama’s Co-Directors) are inspired by our mentor from Boston University, Micki Taylor-Pinney. She taught us the bulk of what we know about the art of choreography, and how to captivate an audience with your message. She is our greatest instructor and guide! N: Last time we spoke it was during NACHMO Boston and you were presenting work of a new choreographer for your company. Have any additional company members choreographed work during 2018? How has it been for you and for the dancers to expand the number of choreographers you’re working with? What have some of the challenges been? What has been really successful? G: One of the internal missions of Nozama Dance Collective in 2018 was to offer opportunities to our dancers that would promote their own individual goals as artists. With this, we now have numerous choreographers within the company. Natalie Schiera and I as Co-Directors still choreograph many of the pieces, but we have had stunning pieces choreographed by Kelly Gauthier, who has been with the company since its inception. Additionally, this season Dana Alsamsam is choreographing a phenomenal trio, while Juliana Wiley is crafting a fantastic duet. We are also excited to produce solos choreographed and performed by Teresa Tobin and Katy Esper, individually. We look forward to fostering the creativity and passion of our dancers as choreographers and as artists, and we are consistently seeking opportunities for them to achieve their goals.  Photography by Christopher Huang N: I know it hasn’t been nearly as long between the last interview and now as it was between the first two, but what what are a couple of amazing things that have happened to the company since January?
G: So many things! We are especially proud to now be officially partnered with the Big Sisters Association! We teach monthly workshops to girls ages 9-13 years old with their “Big Sisters” from the program. These workshops focus on topics such as girl power and positive body image, and incorporate movement and choreography to express these concepts. The partnership has been tremendously beneficial for both parties, and we are excited to donate a proceed of our ticket sales from our August 2018 production, “Enough”, to this organization.
N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month?
Q: I'm most excited about dancing alongside some of Boston's very best Choreographers and dancers but also I'm reeeeally excited to present a piece of work I believe will move and transform all in attendance very very deeply and profoundly. N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? Q: This is a solo performance. The reason for a solo performance is to highlight the context of the music and lyrics by maintaining a solitary focus on a isolated emotional stimulus. It's more of a challenge as such but, in this case, very appropriate. I'm looking forward to presenting this very emotionally relevant new Piece and rising to the challenges that comes with a solo performance. N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers? Q: Wow! There are so many! At the top? In the Contemporary Hip Hop genre? Ricardo Foster Jr. ..without a doubt the finest Instructor and Choreographer of his genre having worked with a number of famed R&B artists, Usher, Lady Gaga etc!!! Next is Papa Sy, PaSy Modern West African Dance Company, of which I'm a proud member. Lastly, Loraine Chapman who witnessed my teaching abilities in the area of healing movement, Contemporary hip-hop and hired me as a Contemporary Hip Hop Instructor for a special project. Her work is simply gorgeous!
N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? C: I'm actually creating a solo for myself. This is fairly outside of my comfort zone, as usually I like to work with a big cast and I don't like to perform in my own work. This summer I created and performed a solo for the first time, and it's a form that I'm excited to continue working in. In this process I have found that as a dancer it is a lot harder to listen to my own direction than it is to listen to the direction of others.
N: Kinetic Synergy covers a lot of different dance styles. That’s very exciting! What do you feel is the core of who you are as a company? L: KSDC loves featuring all our dancers talents, which is why we showcase all styles of dance. We strive to reach our inner dancers dreams of the art we love and let dancers learn and teach each other. As a group, contemporary dance is a style we feel all of our dancers excel in. Contemporary dances allows dancers to interpret movement and music in their own way, making each piece whole. N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? L: Being able to collaborate as a group to create a piece for this show. We worked as a group exploring the movement and patterns to create the sequences throughout the dance.
N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers? L: Survey Says: Mia Michaels, Sonya Tayeh, JoJo Gomez, Matt Steffanina, Kyle Hanagami, Gregory Hines, Travis Wall
N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? C: This is the first National Choreography Month that I’ve participated in so I’m excited for the experience and to see what kind of work the choreographers come up with. I’m really excited to be getting my work out there in a public setting. Since I graduated from Bard College about five years ago I’ve been dancing as a company member in Dance Prism, a small ballet company in West Concord, MA. It’s a wonderful company and community but with a degree in modern choreography I only really get to showcase any of my own work during our summer studio performance. Most of my solo work is done on pointe so I’m also interested to see what the general reaction is to my kind of work with a man dancing on pointe, being that it’s my first time putting it in front of a wider audience.
N: Who are some of your favorite choreographers?
C: My favorite choreographer is Antony Tudor. I love his understated style of ballet. It is so smooth and yet says so much. I often show clips of his Jardin aux Lilas and The Leaves are Fading to my dancers when I start a new piece, to give them a sense of the subtle arms and understated emotional cues that I love to see. I also love a lot of Twyla Tharp’s work because of her use of pointe shoes in a more modern setting. I love to see subtlety in a choreographer’s work. My “wow” moments happen most often when a choreographer hits all the right notes, in movement design, music choice, and their ability to elicit just the right response from a dancer. When a choreographer is able to make all the pieces fall together, it is just magical. N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? C: Honestly, I am fairly well used to creating work in less than a month. For the summer performance that I mentioned earlier I am usually working on up to four of my own pieces while learning other choreographer’s pieces as well in an equally short time. I’ve been doing this for five years now so I am no stranger to this process. I do like to have time to go back and modify the work if the piece needs it. Having more time allows for more precision but the shorter rehearsal period, as I said before, has forced me to let go of my perfectionism. It has actually allowed me to produce a piece to which I feel surprisingly connected thus far because I don’t have time to obsess over the details. I’m also working on a piece now that won’t be performed until the summer and I am setting it on two dancers from Dance Prism which means that I am experiencing two very different kinds of process at the same time. It has certainly been an interesting experience to hold back to back rehearsals, one in which I can take all the time in the world to communicate the piece to my dancers, and one in which I struggle over trying to let go of detail enough to fall in love with my own movement in a very short period. It has been a very enlightening month of choreography and art.
We interviewed you back in 2015 when you were part of 24Hr ChoreoFest. What sort of amazing things have happened in your life since then? I am grateful ChoreoFest sparked the re-birth of Freedom Dances in the Northeast, following my return to Rhode Island from North Carolina. Since then, I have created many new works, co-produced a concert at AS220 with Heather Brown Dance in January 2016, produced “Verge” at the Providence Fringe Festival (FringePVD), and collaborated with composers Kirsten Volness, Dan VanHassel, and Verdant Vibes. Freedom Dances has also performed new work in a number of shared dance events including José Mateo’s Dance for World Community, AS220’s Dance Works in Process, The Dance Complex’s Friends and Faculty Showcase, Tiny and Short, Festival of Us, You, We and Them, and NACHMO 2017. In fall of 2016, as one of the guest choreographers for the Providence College Dance Company, I created “Silver Threads Among the Ashes”, inspired by the 15th anniversary of 9/11. I have joined the dance faculty at AS220 and am completing my 2nd year of the Boston Feldenkrais Training Program.
Freedom Dances’ mission is about creating works that explore individual, social, and cultural identities. This last year has been a doozy in dealing with those departments. How has the climate of the country impacted your work of late?
Last year’s NACHMO piece was very much a reflection of the results of the 2016 Presidential election, set to Kirsten Volness’ composition, “Complacency Will Kill You – (Contentment Is a Choice)”. There are so many incredulous and baffling things happening in our country and world recently, it is hard to grasp onto one strand before the next thing happens that leaves me with my mouth agape. There are a multitude of topics which infuriate me and pull on my heart strings promulgating a call to action. However, amidst the chaos, and changes in my personal life, I find myself logistically and emotionally much closer to my family. In troubling times, I find it important to remember that when push comes to shove, what is most important are the connections with those we love, those we can help in our day-to-day lives, and those who bolster us in times of need. Who are some of your favorite choreographers? Christopher Wheeldon, Alvin Ailey, Dwight Rhoden, George Balanchine What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? I find every process creates itself out of necessity of the parameters surrounding it. As dancemakers, we never have the luxury of time or money to pay for a lot of space, dancers, etc. so in that way, all processes are restricted by time. Of course, when in university, we are afforded free dancers and space, and a semester to make a piece or maybe two. In the past couple of years, most of my dances are created in less than 15 hours, unless the work is one of my longer multi-media productions. In that way, this process isn’t much different in total hours, but shorter in overall duration. We had our first rehearsal on January 15th! My dancers are great – they love dancing and being in the studio, so they are super generous, amazingly talented, and a joy to work with! We have been meeting twice a week, a total 4 hours per week, plus company class.
N: I’ve noticed a theme with several of the choreographers participating in this year’s festival splitting time between New York and Boston. How has living in such close proximity to two major cities changed the way you build work? What are the cons of splitting your time between two cities?
I am able to find many dancers and build work for large groups. I mostly love it, after about 6 months I get bored of the same routine and need a change! The logistics of just remembering where I left things and maintaining relationships that include long absences. N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? I am doing a solo so for me the challenge is finding inspiration. I am working from the sound more than I usually do in a group work. With a group I generally bring the sound in later but [for this piece] I am building it with the movement. N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? Mostly finding adequate time within such a short span of time to work on the piece. January is a particularly busy time for me because most years around this time we are finishing up a piece. I have been in NYC performing a new work which we will bring to Boston March 16-17th at the Dance Complex. I have packed up my NYC apt and moved back to start my spring semester of teaching this week. Getting my Boston place set up after subletters have departed and sorting thru all those details in the midst of trying to focus on creative work and starting classes. January is the busiest month of the year for me! N: How long do you usually take to create work? I usually take several months so I am finding that I have to be less precious about the details, a bit easier in a solo. There is a freedom not to worry about perfecting something so much.
Don't miss the NACHMO Boston Concerts at the Dance Complex on Friday, February 9th and Saturday, February 10th! N: We interviewed you back in 2016 when Boston Community Dance Project was participating in 24Hr ChoreoFest. What sorts of amazing things have happened since then?
It has been a world wind of excitement since 2016! In 2017 BCDP showcased in over 15 guest performances, held 8 workshops, continued our Thursday Contemporary Fusion class, had two successful CONTEMPORIZE! Intensives and sold out our 5th Annual Benefit Show! We solely have raised over 2,000 for charities and keep continuing to spread the love of movement through our hashtag #FollowTheArtistry. N: What are you most excited about for this year’s National Choreography Month? HEELS HEELS HEELS! We have ventured into some new ways to approach the stage and have worked very hard to bring a new dimension to our pieces! We have broadened our repertoire and explored some new moves to express which we are extremely excited to perform! We also have asked other dancers from the community to join us in this movement that highlights empowerment in young women to succeed and make life happen! N: What changes in your process to build a piece in such a short time span (one month)? How long do you usually take to create work? We seems to put ourselves in these tight matters a lot with producing a two hour show in just a few weeks each summer. BCDP seems to thrive in these situations and accept the challenge with open minds! To be honest, one month makes us feel better relieved and unstressed compared to the demand we go through to create for other events. We are sending so much love, creative juices, and positive energy to all the other artists as they put together for NACHMO 2018! Happy Dancing!
N: Can you talk about the dancers you’ll be working with? What are you looking forward to and what are the challenges of working with this particular group? J: Turning Key is excited to announce that we are working with Orchard House, home to Louisa May Alcott and author of Little Women, to present a Little Women piece this summer to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the novel. All of the movement will be generated from the original text. For this particular piece, dancer Melenie Diarbekirian will be dancing the role of Jo March, transposing the poem “My Beth” into a solo. In the novel, Jo writes this poem in response to her sister Beth dying of scarlet fever. I am intrigued to see how Melenie can bring the emotion of the text to the stage.
N: Can you talk about your college mentoring program? Why do you put so much emphasis on college programs for dancers?
J: Turning Key Dance Company supports dance in higher education, and offers a college mentoring program to young dancers seeking a career in the performing arts. We are passionate about informing students about all of the possible job opportunities in the field of dance. Our company has dancers that have graduated from undergraduate, and graduate dance programs, as well as dance conservatories. We have a good understanding of these programs and their differences. Artistic director Juliana Utz offers private lessons and seminars on finding the right dance program, choreographed solos for auditions, resume and application guidance and how to make a career in dance. We strive to present our students with the tools they need to thrive in higher education and the dance community. Turning Key Dance is proud to have successfully mentored seniors into prestigious dance programs such as Boston Conservatory, University of South Carolina and Marymount Manhattan College. |
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