Nicole Harris: You have been working with Sam Mullen quite regularly for almost two years. You will be performing two duets, Connexa (choreographed by Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch and Sarah Feinberg) and Firk II (choreographed by Karen Krolak and myself) in this concert. Can you talk about what it has been like to work with Sam? Olivia Scharff: Working with Sam has been wonderful! From the moment we met at Musing, we both knew we were kindred spirits and would get along well. This friendship is clear when dancing with Sam because our personalities mesh and performing becomes easy. I would like to point out that Connexa is especially easy for us. It is as if Sarah and Nikki set the characters on us specifically and we have a great time bringing them to life!  Photo by Sarah Friswell Cotton N: When we did re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT} in the OnStage Summer Series in July Karen created a new solo, [82], for you. Since then the piece has also been taught to one of our guest artists, Kim Holman. Can you talk about what it was like to see a work you helped generate performed by someone else for the first time? OS: I really enjoyed watching Kim perform [82] at Groton School in the beginning of February. This piece created by Karen has many different interpretations, which is what I love about it. I enjoyed how the piece had the same background and story but the journey throughout was different. It’s like if you give two children instructions to construct a house, the result you get will be a house, but the journey to create this structure will be very different!  You can catch Olivia at
re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT} on March 29-30th at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA Get your tickets today for $5 off the door price!
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Nicole Harris: You will be doing two duets with Olivia Scharff during the show. Can you tell me a bit about what it has been like to have one partner that you work with with more regularity? Sam Mullen: Working with Olivia has been a completely different experience than I’ve had with any other partner. We had a natural connection from the instant we met and partnering together was completely organic. We gravitate towards each other when working on improv prompts in monthly Musings and have similar movement styles. It was obvious early on that we needed to explore partnering pieces together. Our personalities compliment each other well which comes through in our movements. We trust each other entirely which allows us to try out tricks that we would otherwise feel anxious about. We’ve been able to grow together by supporting and encouraging each other over the last year and a half. I cannot wait to bring our quirky friendship to the stage this month!  Photo by Clayton Raithel N: Connexa is a duet you and Olivia have performed before but you're adding a new one to this show called Firk II. The piece was originally choreographed in 2006 by me and Karen and this is the first time anyone else has danced it. Not surprisingly for the two of us, there is no small amount of partnering in the piece. What has it been like to learn the piece and all the new lifts? SM: Most of my recent work in Musings and rehearsals has been very grounded and slower paced. Learning Firk II for the first time was shocking! There are flips, tricks, and lifts sprinkled throughout the choreography. At first, I was afraid my body wouldn’t allow me to do some of these tricks anymore. Would my body still be flexible enough in the ways needed to be able to perform this piece? Within the first two hours of learning the piece, I was obsessed. Karen and Nicole choreographed this high energy, strong piece in a way that is very easy to learn. There are tricks to the tricks that make them much easier to perform than they appear. It is so invigorating to perform! It might even be my new favorite piece.  You can catch Sam at
re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT} on March 29-30th at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA Get your tickets today for $5 off the door price! |
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