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By Nicole Harris  Photo by Victoria Awkward One of the best parts of this year’s NACHMO is that, because it’s entirely virtual, people can participate from wherever they are. I was thrilled when former Monkeyhouse artist, Elyssa Berg, chose to choreograph something! She moved to NYC a few years ago and it’s exciting to be able to work with her again! Learn more about Elyssa and NACHMO, and play along with the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge by following us on Instagram! N: What have you been doing since you moved to NYC? (P.S. We miss you!) EB: Thank you, I miss you all too! Since moving I have been doing a variety of different things. Fitness has been a huge focus for me the past three years. I have been teaching for barre3 at the Long Island City studio where I am also a mentor to the instructors. For some time I was teaching Movement Education at a private school in Queens until the pandemic hit. I have also continued to take dance classes and have done some freelance work performing since I have moved. N: How have you been handling quarantine? What have you been doing to keep moving and creating during this year? I know you started a new business that seems to be wildly successful…! Can you talk a little about it? EB: Quarantine has definitely been a huge challenge for myself and I know it has been for many others too. Being in NYC, it was really difficult to shift life and adapt to living inside your small apartment. With so many people living around you even going for a walk at times felt almost impossible. As difficult as it has been thus far, it has also been a tremendous year of uncomfortable but necessary growth. My employment has changed a lot since last March but I was able to adapt to teaching fitness classes online through Zoom. That has definitely kept me moving and given me some consistency during this time which I am so grateful for. During quarantine I decided to open my own Etsy shop, String and Dowel. It consists of macrame pieces and handmade home decor. I taught myself how to create macrame a year ago as a way to create holiday gifts for friends and family and I honestly never stopped! I have even started to explore dip dying yarn and redoing furniture which have both been really fun ways to experiment and create without any expectations of the outcome.  Photo by Lindsay Wenning N: What will you be making for NACHMO? Will you be working with dancers or on your own? EB: I will be creating a solo for NACHMO. I am going to be choreographing, dancing, filming, and editing myself. I have created some dance films in the past with the help of other moving bodies but I am excited to approach this piece very differently than I have in the past. N: You have performed for NACHMO before but this is your first time choreographing. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? EB: Yes, I am very excited to be choreographing this time! I am most excited just to get back into the process of creating movement. I have been finding different ways of creating throughout other aspects of my life and I had recently taken a step away from dance, especially through 2020, so I am excited that NACHMO is serving as my way to get back to doing what I love. That makes me both excited and nervous at the same time. Since I am creating this piece for myself it makes it feel a lot more personal and vulnerable and that can always be a little scary to share. 
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By Nicole Harris
N: You have done many virtual performances in the last year, between 24hr ChoreoFest and OnStage’s most recent season. What are the joys you are finding in this format that you wouldn’t get in live performance? AF: For 24 hour ChoreoFest, I found joy in creating a duet that could never be performed in a conventional theater. In this duet, I was projected onto a screen in the room where my collaborator was dancing in, allowing us to look like we were in the same place, while we were miles away. The duet that I created was inspired by the ending of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, a story that I wouldn’t have been able to approach if not for the virtual format. For OnStage’s Season 19, it was inspiring to be able to dance in nature at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. While it took a couple of rehearsals to learn how to dance on grass, I have never performed in a more beautiful space than that!  Photo by Olivia Moon Photography N: This year’s NACHMO is different than anything we’ve done in the past, with all events entirely virtual. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2021 brings us? What is the first thing you did at the start of the month? AF: My goal for NACHMO is to embrace the fact that we are all dancing in our homes. Because of that, I started this month with playing around with dancing on my bed and other places of my house. It took a little bit of time to understand how to work in a narrow hallway or a bouncy bed, but these experiences certainly opened up the movement vocabulary of my piece.
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? AF: Larissa Ursprung is my constant sounding board and mentor. She’s usually the first person I run my dance ideas by and sometimes, like for 24 hour ChoreoFest, I get to collaborate with her! Being a member of OnStage has also provided a community of dancers who mentor each other. The OnStage choreographers often provide feedback and help each other think through their pieces. 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? AF: Wendy O’Byrne of Contemporarily Out of Order is among my favorite Boston area choreographers. I find her way of incorporating a story into her choreography compelling. Natalia Maldari is another one of my favorite Boston area choreographers. I appreciate how she juxtaposes traditional ballet vocabulary with novel movement.  By Nicole Harris
N: The piece you are building this year is a bit of a love letter to your kitchen. Can you talk a little about why dancing in your kitchen is so important to you? RR: Haha- yes, my kitchen. I have a number of reasons. One is that some of my silliest memories with my mom are of dancing together in the kitchen. In fact, one time she dipped me and dropped me but we were giggling so hard. It was awesome! I also have so many different memories in the various kitchens of my life- eating breakfast and listening to the radio while my mom blow dried her hair in the next room; making pies with my dad; the portable dishwasher I grew up with; sneaking treats like whipped cream or M&Ms when I wasn't supposed to; dancing around the island pretending we were on a 3 hour tour; making applesauce with my parents, my friends, my own family; hosting after Thanksgiving parties....you get the idea. I think most people have these kinds of memories. The kitchen may not be the central point of a home any more, but it is an essential point that everyone goes through every day. Then in addition to all of that, I keep exploring my own challenges with the kitchen and food and the essential life as the food maker for a child. A frequent question in our house- "What should we do for dinner?" "I don't know." "What do we need from the grocery store?" "Will you do the dishes?" "Is there coffee?" And I also have a love of negative space and reactionary movement- how can you dance with the refrigerator? Or the microwave? Since it won't be often that I can bring these partners to the stage, I decided to take advantage now.  Photo by Olivia Moon Photography N: How have you been handling quarantine? What have you been doing to keep moving and creating during this year? RR: I am mostly at home- WFH, school from home, date from home, movies from home, dance from home...you name it! My house is all healthy but the pandemic has meant changes in parenting schedules. I have been learning how to do what I want while also seeing to my child's needs and letting him learn what I do and want to do. I made a playlist of dance videos I like and exercise to. We take walks and bike. My creation isn't always in movement- I have also completed 4 quilts, various projects with my son, and a fully online musical for kids. N: This year’s NACHMO is different than anything we’ve done in the past, with all events entirely virtual. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2021 brings us? What is the first thing you did at the start of the month? RR: I did a lot of thinking- I usually do before choreography. I have a sense of what I want to do and think a lot. Then write a bit and explore. The challenge is finding time to video when I won't be interrupted!
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? RR: I don't have a specific mentor right now. I very much reflect on the classes and work I have done with Susan Creitz who was an improv professor of mine in college and a former Nikolais dancer. She helped train us to be very connected to the moment of the group so that we could improvise together and create beautiful work. I also respect the work of karen Krolak and her work on grief. I think it's incredibly important to explore all our grief and sometimes the best way to process is through movement. I also like the work of Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion in creating work and choreography that is elegant and approachable to all people. I hope to bring these gifts through my work and to work and honor dancers who offer the same. 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? RR: As mentioned above- Karen Krolak and her work on grief and movement of the every day. Peter DiMuro for his work that honors places and stories. Kristin Wagner for her work with women and telling women's stories. Aysha Upchurch for her powerful storytelling. There are so many others....  By Nicole Harris
N: I know you have been expanding your definition of what dance is during quarantine. Can you tell us a little about what you’ll be working on in 2021? JR: I’m starting my Nourish Project for 2021, which was developed over the past 9 months of suspended performance and isolation. I’m asking some key questions: How can we find creativity with so much unrest in our world? Who nourishes the nourisher? More specifically relative to my own experience, how can Black mothers take care of themselves in order to provide for their families? How can we find the nourishment of art and creativity when adapted performances are relatively limited? Is there a way for everyone to experience a shift of perspective, communion, resonance with a shift of attention to the resources we’re already accessing? I’m drawing parallels between attentively tuning inward, and physical dance forms. What is the intersection of movement and racial/social justice? I’ll be addressing these Nourish Project questions in two different ways: This year, I’ll be Artist in Residence at Lexington Community Farm, helping farm visitors to embody the choreography of picking their produce. I’ll offer movement directives so visitors can engage with their senses and physicality to bring a creative experience to growing and harvesting. I will also be working in partnership with Cambridge Center for Families, in which I’ll Zoom interview, chat, and choreograph with Black mothers (non-dancers), asking them about their states of being, asking HOW are you doing? What exactly do you feel right now? Given their responses, we’ll dance toward positive transformation, making personalized choreographies that fit each mother's experience. Culminating both engagements at the farm and online, I’ll be creating a Body Map of my findings, a visual guide to these physically related stories. I’m planning an installation experience, where individual visitors will be able to enter an environment to interact with these movement directives and sensory questions. I’m interested in how sharing personal experiences - the heart of dance communications - can be translated into other art mediums, an adaptation of a dance concert.  N: You will be heading up to Subcircle Residency in Biddeford, ME this year. What are you hoping to work on while you are there? What do you most value about this opportunity to be in residence somewhere? JR: I so appreciate the opportunity to take time and space away from home life to be able to really go deep in my creativity. Since the pandemic started, I, like many others, have not felt safe enough in my body to dance as I once had. Between parenting my school aged children and minding the needs of my parents who live with me, and all the other political and health concerns happening, I’ve been quite limited. Working hard to hold on to what’s important for my basic survival and artistic growth has been such a challenge. Going to Subcircle in Maine will provide much needed respite from all those concerns. I’ll resource a physical practice again by reconnecting my Nourish ideas to feeling secure in a studio again. It means so much to me to have the support from Monkeyhouse and Subcircle to make this residency possible.  N: This is your second time participating in NACHMO. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? How are those things different than last year? JR: I love the feedback sessions NACHMO provides. It’s a great way to learn firsthand how other local choreographers are developing their own work, and to share resources and perspectives. I really like how generous everyone is by sharing encouragement and inspiration! I like having the support of my community, getting to know my dance peers, and what the focus of a daily choreographic practice brings up, be it resistance or productivity. I think this year is even better, because NACHMO has broadened the parameters of what dance means to us, be it making phrase, a picture, a film, a full piece, a discussion or a sketch. We get to think about what kind of investment in dance we want to make, relative to our differing needs. and there’s more support this year, with peer to peer mentoring, group mentorship, one on one mentoring sessions, as well as regular self care meetings. I get nervous when I start to judge myself on what I thought choreographing should look or feel like. My prepandemic value system of productivity is readjusting. I believe in the quality of my work so far; there’s a lot churning in my head and journal, even though there isn't any dance to show! 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? JR: Deborah Hay has been my mentor starting over 30 years ago when I was a dance major at Wesleyan. Deborah is getting well deserved international recognition for her 50 plus years as choreographer. I reconnected with her recently in a residency, which was significant to mark the life changes and creative developments we’ve each been through since the first time I studied with her. From her, I’ve learned how to keep fascination going, and how to kindly challenge myself. Deborah taught me how to be an artist while parenting, to work with the resources and abilities I have on hand. Deborah is an excellent writer and ruthlessly candid editor; I learned how to write dance and dance my writing from her, among many other teachers. Karen and Nicole have been mentoring me weekly for many months through COVID, providing me with words of comfort and affirmation in a very humane, honest exchange.Through Monkeyhouse, I’ve become more comfortable with my own creative voice. and made incredibly deep friendships in so doing. I'm honored to be able to pay it forward by teaching dance students how to help each other in lecture demonstrations and workshops. I also enjoy mentoring my peers in their work, offering my point of view in support of their process. I value the opportunity to be there and help in whatever way I can.
 By Nicole Harris
N: How have you been handling quarantine? What have you been doing to keep moving and creating during this year? SC: As an extrovert with a typically very busy schedule, quarantine has been really hard. I’ve tried to do as many walks and outdoor activities as possible, both alone and with friends and loved ones, in order to still have some social time (and lots of phone calls and Zoom chats). After some initial numbness/resistance in the early pandemic times, I soon started taking online dance master classes and yoga classes – and I started some online teaching in the fall which really helped me get back into the creative groove. N: What will you be making for NACHMO? Will you be working with dancers or on your own? SC: I’m making a tap piece based around one of my favorite pieces of classical-jazz music; I’m working on it as a solo. This year’s NACHMO is different than anything we’ve done in the past, with all events entirely virtual. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2021 brings us? What is the first thing you did at the start of the month? This is my first time doing NACHMO, so I don’t have past years to compare to. However, I will do a LOT more improv/self-filming and then selecting aspects I like to build upon. I use my computer and phone to note my choreography ideas much more than I used to, even speaking steps and rhythms into Voice Memos! At the start of the month, the first thing I did was reflect quietly and listen to what inspired me – and pretty quickly, an idea came to mind that started with the music. N: A lot happens in a short amount of time during NACHMO. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? SC: I’m most excited about feeling the collective motivation and push to create something, and the opportunity to connect with other choreographers. I’m most nervous about actually creating something that I feel is “good” and interesting – not boring or “standard.”
These choreographers came to mind because they each have a powerful voice and commitment not only to making creative work, but also to building collaborative, loving communities. They are supportive of others and dedicated to making the Boston dance scene a thriving one. 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? SC: I had the joy of taking class with Dianne Walker over the past couple of years, pre-pandemic, and she is one of the most fun, funny, and nurturing mentors you will ever find. She is hugely supportive of the Boston (and global) tap scene and encourages all of her students with such love! Most recently, another wonderful mentor has been Brenda Bufalino. I took a virtual course with her in the fall, which launched into individual mentorship, and she has shared so much insight, not to mention tons of information and resources to help shape my process and work. The fact that someone so amazing (she has done so much in her life!) is willing to share her time – on Zoom, no less – with younger creators just shows how generous she is! Also: my mom has been one of my mentors! She is also a tap teacher, and has continued to coach and support, and to share her ideas with me as we both navigate the world of teaching virtually. I hope to pay it forward by teaching my own students with the same encouragement and openness that all of these women bring to the table – or tap floor.  By Nicole Harris  Photo by Tone Evans One of my favorite things about NACHMO Boston is the number of new people I get to meet! It’s so exciting to watch our community strengthen and grow every year! Here is Jennifer Binversie, a NACHMO first timer! Learn more about Jennifer, NACHMO, and follow the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge by following us on Instagram! N: You have done a lot of teaching in your career. What is your favorite thing about being an educator? What do you hope your students can take away from their time with you? JB: Teaching is my passion and my strength. It amazes me how our job as educators is to make our dancers better than the generation before then because we have that much more information in us then our teachers had in them! I hope my students take away an appreciation for the art of dance. I teach dancers varying from outreach programs to classical ballet schools and I always say that if after all of this you decide you don’t like dance at least when you see dance on the stage you have an appreciation for the art and an understanding that what those dancers are doing is not easy and in the very least you give them credit for that. N: How have you been handling quarantine? What have you been doing to keep moving and creating during this year? JB: My creative dance juices turned into creative knit juices. I became a test knitter for an amazing knitwear designer Knit Sisu. I learned how to cross stitch. Took up a new language and even took golf lessons because I just never learned! N: NACHMO brings unusual challenges to our creative processes and this year adds a whole new slew of things to think about. How will you change your process to deal with the short timeline and the obstacles 2021 brings us? What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? How are those things different than years past? JB: This is my first year with NACHMO as I identify myself as a dancer and dance educator. Choreography does not come easy to me so already joining NACHMO was a huge step for me and I’m already nervous! I’m really falling back on different exercises I learned in college at the University of Hartford to help me out. With the choreographic prompt of “searching for Joy” I have been writing down all the things that have made me happy over this last year and surprisingly there are more than you think!  Photo by Ron Compton 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? JB: It’s amazing to think about all the people that have impacted you in a positive way and they don’t even know they did! When I moved to Boston three years ago I was so lucky that I was taken in by a supportive female ran business at Upward Spiral Studio and then followed by my Education and Community Initiative family at Boston Ballet where I have learned and continue to learn so much from teachers like Erin McNulty and Mary Teuscher. Never have I felt the importance of the statement, females supporting females then I have during my time here in Boston and I make it a priority to continue that mentality whenever I can be it via the dance community or otherwise. N: It is important to us that we continue to lift up other artists in our community. Who are some of your favorite local choreographers? Why? JB: I have worked with dancers of NSquared twice now and they never disappoint when it comes to feeding off of each others energies on stage. I also love watching pieces and taking class from choreographer Jenna Pollack. And of course another shout out to choreographer Erin McNulty as I worked with her in a contemporary music video she choreographed for.  By Nicole Harris  Photo by Olivia Moon Photography Next up on the NACHMO Boston interview list is the one and only Evolve Dynamicz. I am so excited to be working with them not only as choreographers but as co-hosts of our Mental Health Happy Hours! You can join us any Tuesday or Friday in January at 7:30pm EST! You can always find the link to Happy Hour on the front page of our site. To learn more about Evolve, Collective Moments, NACHMO Boston, and to follow the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge, follow us on Instagram! N: Evolve Dynamicz is co-hosting Mental Health Happy Hours as part of NACHMO Boston this year. Why are these mental health breaks so valuable to you? Evolve: We believe taking the time to focus on something that sparks joy (like dancing!) is important for our sanity, especially during this pandemic. We put on a production in October 2019 called LUCIDITY that Monkeyhouse was also involved in! The production was a series of vignettes about people’s experiences with mental health and illness: written, danced, choreographed, and spoken. We also partnered with a national non-profit called, This is My Brave, whose tagline is “storytelling saves lives” and we’ve really adapted that mindset as well. Normalizing conversations of mental health is essential to making it out of this pandemic on the other side. We are not only losing lives to COVID-19, we are also losing lives to the effects of social isolation on top of the preexisting systemic issues which add to the burden of mental illnesses. And we believe that community support is one of the best ways to combat this by enhancing mental health and wellness. And so, we are excited for others to join us and take a moment to take care of our mental health together, as a community. N: Kaylee, what made you decide to start your own company? Kaylee: I could write you a novel on why I decided to start my own dance company simply because I could talk forever and ever about dance. Instead I’ll give the short answer. I decided to start my own dance company because there is nothing more interesting and exciting for me than choreographing and getting to work with people. It has always been a dream of mine to create my own dance company! So, I decided to just go for it and here we are! Why wait to chase your dreams, life is too short to not wake up and do what you love to do everyday!!!!  Photo by @KebnerPhotos N: This year’s NACHMO is different from anything we’ve done in the past, with all events entirely virtual. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2021 brings us? What is the first thing you will do when the month begins? Evolve: We shifted to Zoom rehearsals at the beginning of the pandemic and have been working that way since. So we’ve had some time to work out the kinks of virtual rehearsals. We’ve also put together a few films already, but not yet in one month’s time! We hope that by providing Kaylee with our pre-established virtual rehearsal structure, she will have more space to focus on creating and teaching her choreography! Kaylee: This first thing I am doing is having a (Virtual) meeting with everyone in the piece, sort of as a check in to see where we are all at! We all have different living circumstances etc, which is something important to be mindful of. I am doing this piece completely stationary which I am excited to play with. In having that challenge, I hope it helps alleviate some of the potential pressure/ anxious feeling of wanting to be able to dance but not having the proper space. Again, for me as a choreographer and individual it is important for me to be aware of everyone as individuals and try to keep in mind the dancers needs and/ or challenges!!!! N: Evolve Dynamicz has participated in NACHMO Boston several times in the past. This year you are collaborating with Kaylee Mahan’s new company, Collective Moments Dance Company, which is a new way to tackle the month long challenge. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? Evolve: We are so excited to mentor Kaylee and support her through this process. Lisa: After knowing Kaylee since she was 7, it has been inspiring to watch her through high school, college (as an Evolve apprentice, too!), and now launching her own company. Nicole: I have not had the pleasure of knowing Kaylee as long as Lisa has, but she has been with us as an apprentice since our first production as a company SPACES in 2017 and it has been a pleasure having her on this journey with us! (She is now a full member since graduating college in May.) I remember in SPACES we did an improvised piece and I was injured at the time, so I was improvising while sitting on a prop we had built for the show. She came over to me during the performance, danced with me while I was seated, and the piece ended with us hugging. I knew in that moment that our souls connected on a deeper level and that our dance careers would be intertwined for years to come. We are very excited to both be a part of her new company and watch her grow as a leader and artist. The only thing that we are nervous about this month is hitting ceiling fans as we are dancing in our homes! Kaylee: Nicole that moment will stay with me forever. I truly cannot begin to come close to expressing my gratitude and love for these two people! They truly are an inspiration to me everyday and I cannot thank them enough for sharing their dance journey with me! I still cannot believe I have been with Evolve since basically the beginning and I had never gotten the chance to be a part of this event! I am very excited! I think I am most excited to honestly start the new year off creating a new work! I can have quite the difficulty in trying to make decisions/ be decisive, but, I feel with the prompt of having a month to do it will help push me to make decisions and be decisive. And I think that is also what I am most nervous about.
Luminarium - we really look up to Luminarium as a company doing things that we hope to be doing in the next 5 years. A lot of the decisions we have made in growing our company have been inspired by Luminarium!
Ellen Oliver - Nicole had the pleasure of participating in The Dance Complex’s aMaSSit residency and was inspired by her thoughtful and carefully curated body of work. Lisa got to meet her this past October when we were performing at the Starlight stage and we were both mesmerized by her choreography and movement involving tinfoil! She is such an elegant mover, choreographer, and filmmaker! She is also producing a film festival this winter that everyone should check out! By Nicole Harris  Photo by Olivia Moon Photography Ruth Benson Levin and Lynn Modell’s piece was one of my favorite parts of NACHMO Boston in 2020. (Which might make it one of my favorite things in 2020 all the way around!) I’m thrilled to have them back this year and to get a chance to learn a little more about them! To learn more about Ruth & Lynn, NACHMO Boston, and to follow the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge, follow us on Instagram! N: I noticed in your bios that you both went to Adelphi. Is that where you met? R&L: Yes, we met in 1972 as 17-year-old freshman dance majors in the Adelphi U. dance program. After college, we moved to Boston with 2 other AU graduates and formed a company, Kineticompany, 1976-84.
R&L: The heart of Boston is the dance studios. For us, it was Green Street Studios and The Dance Complex (formerly the Joy of Movement Center). This is where we took class, taught class, rehearsed, and performed. The loss of Green Street is huge. N: How have you been handling quarantine? What have you been doing to keep moving and creating during this year? R&L: We have performed outdoors 4 times since June: Twice at Larz Anderson Park, Lynn's neighborhood, and at the Starlight Theater. We have rehearsed over Zoom as well as outside. Lynn has continued teaching her classes that used to meet at United Parish in Brookline and now are on Zoom.  N: This year’s NACHMO is different than anything we’ve done in the past, with all events entirely virtual. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2020 brings us? What is the first thing you will do when the month begins? R&L: It has been difficult for us to get together since winter arrived. Rehearsing outside is unappealing and the rise in Covid numbers has limited our in-person work. We are doing most of our brainstorming and planning on Zoom. N: This is your second NACHMO as a collaborative pair. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? How are those things different from last year? R&L: The constraints of virtual performance have motivated us to develop skills in creating and editing video. We're excited to be part of NACHMO to use these new skills.
By Nicole Harris  Alive Dance Collective - Photo by Olivia Moon Photography January is National Choreography Month. We are working with NACHMO Boston again this year. I can’t wait to introduce you to all these incredible artists! First up is Alexandria Nunweiler from Alive Dance Collective. Follow NACHMO and Monkeyhouse on Instagram to learn more about this month’s events and participate in the #MonkeyhouseNACHMOChallenge! N: Your work is described as being “rooted in community, history, and daily life.” What does that mean for you? How do you involve those things in your process? AN: As the Alive Dance Collective we create dance for the human experience. We use that art to process and connect with others to better understand each other and grow as a community. Connecting that overarching theme to me and my process, I root my work in relatability and storytelling. Whether that be something as universal as your arm falling asleep, or the life of Henri Matisse, or the lore surrounding the Loch Ness monster I seek to surprise and connect with my audience on every level. N: I understand you grew up in a dance family. What was it like to be part of a studio owned by your mother? How did she impact the dancer you became? AN: Great question! I see my mom as the center pillar in my dance training and a wonderful mentor to how I create and teach today. I always refer to myself as a "studio brat" because I did my real growing up in a studio... and when I say "growing up" I mean from the womb until high school graduation-- my mom was still rolling around on the floor teaching Graham technique 9 months pregnant with me! My mom put a strong emphasis on education as well which pushed me to pursue my college degree in dance. I regularly return to Dance Theatre of Greenville to set work for my mom's students, teach master classes and attend performances. She runs a truly special program in the upstate of South Carolina and many (including me!) have benefitted from her education, approach and experience. N: This year’s NACHMO is different than anything we’ve done in the past, holding all events entirely virtually. How will you change your process to deal with the obstacles 2020 brings us? What is the first thing you will do when the month begins?
N: Alive has been part of NACHMO for many years, and you performed in 2020, but this is your first time choreographing for NACHMO. What are you most excited about in this process? What are you most nervous about? AN: I am most excited to take on the challenge of a new work in one month. I love the open-endedness of NACHMO and that as long as you're creating you're right. Additionally, being a somewhat new member of the Alive Collective, I'm nervous/excited to work in the group as a choreographer for the first time and make something new with them. 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? AN: I lean a lot on my mom as a mentor and I will be paying that one forward for the rest of my life. Outside of that relationship, I rely on a lot of peer-mentors. One person in particular is my collaborator Ashlea Sovetts who I am currently working with on a research project. She is the ultimate sounding board and creative yin to my yang. I'm able to pay this forward by participating in things like NACHMO where peer-mentorship is encouraged and growing the tightness of the dance community is a must. N: It is important to us that we continue to lift up other artists in our community. Who are some of your favorite local choreographers? Why? AN: Kristin Wagner has been a real inspiration to me personally. Her work is always so truthfully raw and I'm constantly reminded to dig deeper while working with and watching her. I'm also very inspired by Brian Feigenbaum. He really gave me my dance family in Boston when I first moved here and started showing up to his classes. He is so gifted in a way that transcends words and makes movement the only language that matters.   Photo by D. Feller Eva Yaa Asantewaa celebrates her birthday on August 26th. In celebration we are reposting and interview our then intern, Daniel Foner, did with her on 08/15/2014. Orignally posted here. By Daniel Foner I recently had the opportunity to ask a few questions to Eva Yaa Asantewaa, an acclaimed dance writer based in New York City. If you’d like to learn more about her, I encourage you to visit her blog, InfiniteBody. For now, however, I’ll leave you with our conversation, which speaks for itself better than any introduction could. DF: What first interested you in writing about dance? EYA: I was always a writer, from childhood, writing poetry and satire and creative versions of the television shows I loved (what today might be called fan fiction). I read a lot and wrote a lot, training myself to write, and I was always very good at it. I was one of those introverted kids who expressed herself best in writing--and perhaps I still am! I have also loved dancing since I was a kid--at family parties with lots of Afro-Caribbean and Black American music and, later, rock and soul and the like. It's only now that I realize that not only was I a talented dancer at that time, I was a choreographer! I'd had limited exposure to ballet classes when I was young but, in the coming years, I would pick up folkdance, modern (Graham, Ailey, even Isadora Duncan), jazz dance and Middle Eastern dance classes but never with a serious thought of becoming a professional. I didn't really have a role model for that, and I had absolutely zero family support for that as a career option! When I graduated from college, I needed something to relieve the depression that I'd fallen into, and I remembered how good and healing it had always felt to take dance classes. So, I went back--to jazz dance, to Afro-Caribbean--and took up bellydance, which is probably the dance form that I studied for the longest. And it was great feeling to get my authentic energy and my body back. That same summer, I discovered two courses in dance criticism were being offered, and it just made sense for me to put these two interests together. I wanted to share my observations and thoughts and feelings about an art that had meant so much to me as a student and a fan. At first, it was a complicated task to write about dance performances. As a newbie, I think I overcompensated, struggling to capture too many details, not sure of my authority--especially in a field dominated by white writers, as it still is. A friend said, "You are working way too hard." That stuck with me, and I eventually trained myself to relax, to be discerning about what information was significant and sufficient to tell the necessary story, and to allow the keen observer and the poet in me to come through. Writing for non-conventional outlets like The Village Voice and Gay City News was also incredibly freeing. As I went along, I felt more and more permission to be exactly who I was and to express myself on the page. In fact, I think I caught that kind of courage from the art that I was seeing, and I still do. DF: Dance is heavily dependent on visual and audio aspects. To face this challenge, what's your process for translating these into prose? EYA: I don't really see a distinction between perceiving, processing and documenting movement and doing the same for visual and audio aspects of a production. I've been "raised," if you will, on interdisciplinary approaches in the performing arts and feel not only able to process and express the intersection and interaction of multiple elements in a performance but excited by that challenge. I have to weigh the relative impact of each element in the overall context and effectiveness of the piece, but I also have to keep all of my senses open for whatever's incoming. I also do something else, on a professional basis, that's similarly complex--divination using imagery from Tarot and other card oracles, the kind of thing that can be intimidating in its complexity, because there's just so much going on in and around these visual images and symbols--and yet I relish this challenge, too! DF: What are your favorite styles of dance to write about, and why? EYA: When I got into this field, I was seeing a wide variety of work--from Ailey and other Black American choreographers to ballet to Graham and various forms of dance from other cultures. Also lots of postmodern dance. So my head was opened up to a lot. I never got stuck in one mindset about what dance could and should be or who the sacred cows were. My first review editor--Tobi Tobias at Dance Magazine--insisted that I stay open to covering many kinds of dance. That was exciting and empowering, and I'm grateful for Tobi's insistence. I'd say my range was bigger than than it has been in more recent years, since I don't really cover ballet anymore. I consider New York's rich slate of progressive, contemporary dance to be my beat. That world, in itself, is pretty big and diverse. But I also love opportunities to see and cover traditional dance forms from a variety of world cultures because that most often speaks to my spiritual values as well as my love of travel and a broad range of music from around the globe. DF: You've been writing on dance since 1976. In your view, how has the art and the community changed through the years? EYA: There are so many valid answers to that question, but the one that most haunts me concerns the impact of money--or, rather, lack of money--on the field. When I started out, there was much more funding available. It was a great time to be in love with dance. I think, in this society, you always have to have noble courage to stand up for dance and dancers, but things were a little easier then. Since the funding has dropped off, I think it's just harder for the individual dance artist or small dance organization--and even some big ones--to stick their heads up and take big risks that could impact their careers and opportunities for funding and presentation. Certainly, it's hard to be the kind of artist who speaks truth to power--and I don't just mean political power, although I do mean that, too. I also mean the power of all those who hold control--the funders, the presenters, certainly the critics and journalists, even arts administrators and individual teachers. There's too much fear of consequences for saying what you're thinking. I have a triple heritage--Black, feminist, lesbian--from kickass communities with solid histories of not only speaking truth to power but also banding together, hanging tough and building our own resources for the common good. (I should add that the women in my immediate family were all union women in the garment industry.) I especially saw that and participated in that kind of activism in the lesbian community in the 1980s, and I kind of miss that communal energy and determination and get a little impatient when I don't see it around me with the people I care about. But I have to remind myself that a dancer is usually working overtime not only to make excellent work but also to just plain survive on the daily as a human being, especially in an expensive city like New York, to have a viable life. And dance artists give us their very best, for which I remain respectful and grateful every single day.  The choreographer, Jordan Rosin, performing in The Ume Group's "Facet" at the 2013 WAVE RISING SERIES at WHITE WAVE; photo by Anton Martynov In 2014 Monkeyhouse interviewed many of the participants in the CoolNY Dance Festival, including Jordan Rosin of the Ume Group, who celebrates a birthday this month! Originally posted here on 01/28/2014. By Nicole Harris Our next interview in the CoolNY 2014 Dance Festival series is with Jordan Rosin of The Ume Group. You can see his work on Friday, February 7 at 9:00pm & Sunday, February 9 at 6:00pm. All performances are held at the WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theatre, 25 Jay St., Brooklyn, NY and are FREE! -Nicole. N: Butoh is such a distinct movement style. How do you find it blends with the other movement styles you experiment with? Are there things that you struggle to meld due to the nature of Butoh?
JR: While from the outside eye it may appear that there is not much in common between butoh and some of the other physical disciplines we practice (like gymnastics or kung fu), there hasn't yet been a movement style we've hands-down failed to meld with Butoh. Mostly, I think this is because of the fact that we view Butoh more as a philosophy and as a physical / spiritual discipline than as a movement style in and of itself. There are certain characters and situations in drama where our most self-sacrificial Butoh practices may seem out of place in performance, but things like embracing the physical hardship of a choreography or offering our dance to the benefit of others can really only deepen the resonance of a given performance (in any style). N: Your company, The Ume Group, is called a physical theatre company. Can you talk a bit about what that means and how it differs from dance or dance theatre? JR: Primarily, our core ensemble has come from the world of theatre. All of us have trained in method-based acting and a realistic approach to telling stories onstage. The word "physical" comes in because we aim to train our bodies and to practice our art with the self-discipline and dedication characteristic of athletes or dancers. Every 2nd & 4th Tuesday for example, our core ensemble and community of followers join together in a free & open-to-the-public event known as "Open Training" where 3 teachers share 3 radically different approaches to training the physical body of a performer. I'm excited that in February we'll also begin our first weekly "Company Classes" which will focus (at least initially) on tightly goal-oriented training in gymnastics, yoga, and butoh for our most frequent performers. Many would say that the work we do is like dance, but not coming from that world myself, I wouldn't really know. N: It looks like your work is a very intense and hands on. How do you find the people you work with? How much say do they have in the creation process? JR: In the last year or so we instituted a physical training program known as the Training Ensemble, where for three months at a time one day each week a group of 6 artists gather to learn a variety of physical disciplines, create new work together, and practice their own skill as teachers. From this program - now in its third quarter - most of our principle dancers have emerged, including Marie Putko and Dave Herigstadwhom you will see perform when you join us at the CoolNY Festival on Feb. 7 and 9. In our first two years as a company, membership was all about participation in our flagship martial-arts / butoh-dance epic, BUTOH ELECTRA which we produced at numerous venues and for which casts of actors and actor/dancers selected from extensive rounds of auditioning trained and rehearsed for months at a time. That's how we met Yokko and Hannah Scott, who still teach and dance with us on a regular basis. Now we've begun - through the Training Ensemble - to develop a more formal, but still remarkably organic way of initiating new artists into our creative process. As far as that creative process is concerned, it is always truly varied and highly ensemble-based. As a "choreographer", I pick a few of the landmarks (sometimes themes, music, words; occasionally the body positions) which I think will render the most interesting or resonant journey for the artists to undergo in front of an audience and then I ask the artists to practice that journey, discovering their own landmarks with sometimes similar, sometimes different destinations. Their commitment to moment-to-moment honesty with themselves and with the universe around them is more important than any combination of poses or words, which I think of as part of that final destination. N: People in the arts often develop strong mentor/mentee relationships. Did/do you have a mentor throughout your career? Do you have a person or people that you have taken the mentorship role for now that you're a more established artist? How do you feel those relationships change your work? JR: Awesome question. I believe that mentor-ship is fantastically important. I was lucky enough when I was in acting school to have a teacher by the name of Steven Cross who truly pushed me to explore alternate ideas of what "theatre" could mean. As one of the school's two "movement" teachers in the acting program, he not only advised all of my directing work, but was also the first one to introduce me to the tools-of-the-body I use on a regular basis today... yogic asanas, whole-body listening, handstands (which are a fabulously useful trick for anyone to explore), and centering myself with breath. From these seeds I developed a whole variety of interests in disciplines as diverse as butoh and competition-style gymnastics, but perhaps more importantly, he helped me develop an awareness of my body as a playground and a temple, across which my spirit is thrilled to dance and play in new ways every day. That's what I aim to cultivate in the artists I mentor when I am blessed to teach in The Ume Group's workshops and Open Training sessions.  B-A-R Dance is a new company co-directed by our very own Elizabeth Powers along side Michelle Boilard, Cayley Dorr and Erin Saunders. We can't wait to see what they've been working on as part of Uplift! Get your tickets for Saturday's show today and you can catch Monkeyhouse hosting the post show conversation, too! Nicole Harris: What will you be doing for Uplift? BAR: B-A-R is founded on the idea that dance is fun and bodies are rad. We are passionate about using the power of movement to incite radical joy and transcend socialized and politicized boundaries.We believe in the power of using movement to instill a positive environment in which all bodies can thrive. Through this performance experience, we can continue to fulfill our commitment to creating work that is both accessible and challenging.  N: B-A-R Dance is new to the community and is directed by 4 choreographers. How do you know each other? How do you work together? Sharing direction under so many people can be challenging. What is the division of work between you? BAR: The four of us met while we were all studying Dance and Performance Studies at Roger Williams University. After working together and becoming so close in college, we knew that we shared similar artistic and personal values, as well as a common vision for what dance can and should be and do. B-A-R was born out of our desire to contribute something new and deeply personal to us to the Boston/ New England dance community. We all have different strengths, from community outreach to education to arts management to social media prowess, so we find that our individual work complements our work together quite naturally. Yes, working with four different voices at the table can be challenging, but we came together to form a company with a deep commitment to our friendship first. We dance together because we love each other and value one another as humans. We know that movement brings us together, and cannot drive us apart.  N: Who are your mentors past and present? BAR: We each have our own personal mentors but we are all extremely lucky to also share the same mentors from Roger Williams University. While we were studying, we were taught and mentored by Gary Shore, France Hunter, Cathy Nicoli, Michael Bolger, and Michael DeQuattro. Being a part of such a small program allowed us to be vulnerable and create close relationships with all of our professors and accompanists. We strongly feel that our time at RWU and these important connections with our mentors greatly influenced our decision to pursue our goals and form B-A-R.  N: Aside from the amazing people in this festival who are some of your favorite local choreographers?
BAR: In the Boston dance community, there are so many amazing choreographers/dancers we look up to and we feel so lucky to be included. To name two, we owe so much to Kenzie Finn of Project31 and Lacey Sasso of Sasso and Company. Both of these strong women run dance companies that we admire and look up to. They have also given us opportunities to dance and perform in their shows, which we are extremely grateful for. We strive to be as calm and collected as they are when they are producing their own shows, while pushing their limits to create innovative and challenging works. If you have the chance to see their companies perform, do it. You will not be disappointed!
 Nicole Harris: What will you be doing for Uplift? Lisa & Nicole: We will be performing a piece called “Purlieus.” It’s funny because we choreographed the piece before Nozama even announced the theme of their show this year and it is actually about how we support one another as a group of women!  N: We have been thrilled to hear about your recent focus on mental health. Can you tell us about LUCIDITY and why the topic is so important to you? L&N: LUCIDITY is our upcoming production, premiering this fall! As artists, we’ve recently been focused a lot on who we are and what we want to say with our dancing and choreography. We believe mental health (not just illness!) is something that is not discussed enough in our day to day lives. We believe that taking care of your mental health should be just as important as taking care of your physical health… you workout to keep your body healthy, so why shouldn’t we discuss what’s going on with our mental states on a daily basis? There is so much stigma surrounding mental health and talking about emotions, and we want to end that! We all have emotions— happiness, sadness, anxiety, grief, excitement… the list could go on forever, but we want to bring those emotions to the surface and explore them without stigma. LUCIDITY is a compilation of the emotional experiences of us and our dancers and topics range from eating disorders to anxiety to injury induced depression, as well as community mentality, support systems, and authenticity. We are also partnering with a non-profit called “This is My Brave” (look them up if you don’t yet know them) and we will have a few of their speakers as a part of our show too! We are so excited to be part of UPLIFT because we think it is a great compliment to our show! Nozama works hard to empower women and in doing that they are also ending the stigma surrounding women’s emotions. And we think that is great!  N: Who are your mentors past and present? Nicole: A past mentor of mine was my college dance professor, Missy Pfohl Smith. She shaped my choreographic mind before I even really understood what choreography was. Missy was the one who helped me bring my academic background of physics into my artistic and creative work and I am forever thankful for her continued presence in my life. A current mentor of mine would be a current grad school professor, Mary Hale. I am pursuing a Masters in Architecture and Mary is a practicing architect with her own creative firm that works specifically with dancers in the performance realm! Mary has taught me so much so far and I am excited to keep learning from her in the next two years of my degree program. Lisa: My biggest mentors are my former dance teachers, Karen White and Terry Paretti. They taught me every style of dance and instilled a pure love for the art form that dance can be. They also supported and encouraged me to pursue my dream of having a career in dance once I graduated from high school! A current mentor of mine is a former coworker and good friend of mine, Melenie Diarbekarian. Although we aren’t far apart in age, I am constantly blown away by her hard work and dedication. She is a part of some of my favorite local dance companies and is a bright light in everything she does. Not to mention someone I can count on to be my barre buddy in ballet class! Through our time in knowing each other, she has shown me how to make things work and keep the flame of passion burning inside no matter how crazy life gets.  N: Aside from the amazing people in this festival who are some of your favorite local choreographers?
L&N: Modern Connections Turning Key Dance Company Luminarium by Nicole Harris Nicole Harris: What will you be doing for Uplift? Hannah Ranco: For Uplift I will be doing a contemporary solo, Soft Season (although I like to call it a duet as I am using a chair as a prop, the chair being just as important as me). The choreography was done at my school (Dean College) and I performed it for the first time this past Spring at Kelley Donovan & Dancers Third Life Choreographers Series. The music I will be using is #3 by Aphex Twin.  N: You are interested in creating work that layers many simple gestures to communicate a complex idea. Can you talk about specific examples of how that manifests itself in your work? HR: In this dance specifically, I use many humanistic gestures which prove to be vital in communicating with the chair. These gestures apart are what we would use in everyday life, but together creates a clear conversation with the chair. Being frustrated with the chair but also showing kindness towards the chair. I also enjoy taking simple gestures or movements (head nod, a wave, etc.) and manipulating them into something more abstract.  N: Who are your mentors past and present? HR: My mentor Ali Brodsky was my professor during both my freshman and sophomore year at Dean College. She taught many different classes that all transformed the way I think of dance. Freshman year was pilates, which allowed me to understand my own body. My restrictions and natural movement pathways. It also gave me a better awareness of the human body in general and the way it works. Sophomore year she taught my contemporary and composition class. My contemporary class taught me how to effectively move through space and allow myself to take up space. My comp class was probably the most transformative. She taught me the basic choreographic tools needed to create a piece. She also questioned my perviously held beliefs about what dance is, as well as introduced me to many pioneers in the field of dance that I hadn’t heard of before. Apart from me connecting with her personal aesthetic and movement, I really respected how honest she was with me and the other students. She wasn’t afraid to critique us but still did it in a way that was helpful rather than harmful. I grew the most from her classes. N: Aside from the amazing people in this festival who are some of your favorite local choreographers?
HR: Ashlee Rapoza is a friend from my school who graduated this year. She is an artist who I really look up to and admire because her art is so uniquely her. Her work screams Ashlee but she still manages to always find something new, a task I aspire to do in my own work. Apart from her dancing, she is also a very accepting and kind human, and I think that translates into her teaching, choreographing, and dancing. You can learn more about Ashlee and her work by following her instagram: @ashrapoza
Get your tickets to see Alex and all of the ChoreoFest artists at Ignite at Green Street on June 23rd!  Nicole Harris: You talk a lot about tying fiber arts into your work as a choreographer. Can you talk about places where those two worlds have intertwined in your work? What draws you to those two art forms? Alexander Davis: Fiber is a very empathetic medium. There are lots of shared, tactical experiences with fiber and textiles. When one sees fiber in a heightened artistic context, it is easier to have a physical, empathetic response to it. For this reason I have always believed that dance and fiber are connected. I have created fiber works that are simply wall hangings, or installation experiences, but I have also create knit costumes and performance environments. Everything is related.  Photo by Olivia Blaisdell N: You are the director of Urbanity Dance’s Summer Choreography Intensive Program. Can you tell me a little about the program? What makes that particular program unique? AD: Urbanity's Summer Choreography Intensive program is a highly curated, one-week intensive focusing on creating a platform for helping emerging artists continue to develop their voices as makers. The cohort of artists work and support each other throughout the week. They create work across community spaces in Boston's South End, and it culminates in an informal showing. I believe what makes this program unique is the individualized attention and mentorship that each student receives during their time. I (along with a group of guest artists) take the time to first identify each individuals goals as a dance maker before then helping them gain the skills and experience to achieve growth within towards those goals.  Photo by Celso Enrique N: You will be working in one of the site specific locations at this year’s ChoreoFest. Where will you be working and what made you choose that spot? AD: I enjoy adapting my work for specific spaces. In this case I was attracted to the nook between studios 1 and 2 as a challenge to explore entrance and exits. The nook is framed by two door ways. I am looking to use this time to research entrances, exits, beginnings, and endings in order to inform future, evening length works that are currently in process with my collaborator Joy Davis. N: What are you most nervous about for ChoreoFest? AD: I am most nervous about being exhausted. I usually go to bed around 11:00pm and wake up around 7:00am. I am anxious about staying up all night, and how that will affect the following few days and the work I have to get done in those days.  Photo by Sarah Bilotta Belclaire N: Who are your mentors, past and present? AD: It takes a village, and I am endlessly grateful to all of the folks who have supported me and continue to support me along my journey. I would say my collaborators are my primary mentors; Joy Davis, Jenna Pollack, Harrison Burke, Eric Mullis and beyond. Peter DiMuro. Monica Bill Barnes. William Seigh. Too many to count and name. Thank you to all.  Photo by Celso Enrique N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? AD: I will be performing at Gibney Dance in NYC with Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion June 13-15th. This summer I am focusing on my own dance training by participating in One Body One Career at Springboard in Montreal. This is a two week Counter Technique intensive in July. In August I will be directing Urbanity's Choreography Intensive and preparing for the upcoming semester at Endicott College, where I am on faculty in the Visual and Performing Arts Department.  Photo by Celso Enrique N: What other local companies/ choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? AD: Boston has a dynamic and growing dance community. Joy Davis is my dear friend and collaborator (together we are The Davis Sisters), who is developing beautiful and thoughtful work. I am a huge fan of Heather Stewart. Her recent premier of "against hard air" at the Boston Center for the Arts was unbelievable.  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   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.  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.  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. 
Nicole Harris: Collaboration can be rewarding and difficult. What is one great moment and one challenge you’ve faced during this process? Jackie Bowden: One great moment we had in our collaboration process was finding our vision for the piece itself. We had a great time coming up with topics and discussing issues we have in society today. One challenge we faced with this collaboration was communication. It’s difficult to translate feelings and ideas associated with a piece since we do not share a brain, a lot of thoughts and feelings get misconstrued in the process. N: Kaleidoscope was started by yourself and Jessica Prince just a couple of years ago. What made the two of you want to create work together? What are the commonalities between your individual choreographic styles? JB: We both danced together throughout our years at Salem State University. A few times before we even graduated we joked about creating a company together and how great it would be. Once school was over, we wanted to find an outlet for our choreography. What once felt like a far future dream turned into a current reality and we decided to finally put in the work and get Kaleidoscope going! We both enjoy the process so much of choreographing pieces. Our work has both similar elements that bring us together and unique elements that set us apart.  N: As co-directors, how do you create work? Do you choreograph things together? Do you each tackle different projects? If so, how much impact does the other choreographer have on your work? JB: As co-directors we have a sort of give and take approach to our work. We do keep our pieces separate for the most part and it’s also great for when we have a block in our creative process to bounce ideas off of each other.  N: What other local companies and choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why? JB: We recommend people check out Angelina Benitez and her work. She helped Kaleidoscope Dance Company get started as a dancer and has since ventured off to create her own work and perform in various performances!   One of my favorite things about my job is that amazing people like Gracie (Nozama) and Jen (OnStage) reach out to me when they have exciting projects like Empower One Another and ask me to interview the artists and host their post show conversations! Get your tickets to see six female run dance companies/choreographers on April 13th. You can catch the matinee, check out the Spork (post show conversation) with yours truly and then head over to the Dance Complex just in time to see karen Krolak's I-ARE Residency Showcase in the evening! It's a perfect day of dance! But first, check out this fabulous interview with Gracie Novikoff about Nozama's role in this show and her experiences in collaboration! (More show at ticket info at the bottom of this post!) Nicole Harris: Collaboration can be rewarding and difficult. What is one great moment and one challenge you’ve faced during this process? Gracie Novikoff: When Jen (of OnStage Dance Company) and I were coming up with the concept for “Empower One Another”, we were primarily driven by the idea of bringing Boston dance companies and independent choreographers together. We wanted to not only promote collaboration, but support for one another and to build a network in which directors can share the highs and lows of managing a company in Boston. With that, the overwhelming reward of “Empower One Another” has been to see six companies share their visions, talents, and experiences to work together and create beautiful new art. I am also thrilled to see the companies creating works under the themes of female empowerment, as this is what drives my company Nozama Dance Collective’s entire mission. At the same time, working with others can be tricky when you all have strong, powerful ideas that are worthy of being shared. With our partner company, Kaleidoscope Dance Company, they are also directed by not one but two incredible women. Along with my co-director Natalie, that makes four collaborative partners with bold ideas. Finding space and time for all four of us to be heard in this process has been tricky, especially when even the co-directors disagree with one another! But overall, that challenge has made me even more proud of this process.  N: In addition to collaborating in the studio you have been collaborating with OnStage on this entire project. What is something you’ve learned through this experience? GN: Working with Jen from OnStage Dance has been a gift. She is not only an experienced instructor and choreographer, but studio owner. She also single-handedly runs a 60 person company, which is a phenomenal feat. Jen juggles all of her tasks and jobs so seamlessly, and I have learned an incredible amount from her. She has taught me about prioritization, time management, and how to push beyond one’s limits. Our partnership materialized into “Empower One Another”, which is such a dream and accomplishment to me. I cannot wait to see what else our partnership creates!  N: Where did the idea for this concert come from? GN: Unfortunately in the Boston dance community, there is not nearly as much support between companies as we would like to see. Companies do not often attend one another’s shows, or take one another’s classes. Companies are insular, and do not often collaborate or help one another with things such as fundraising or networking. Jen and I wanted to tackle that, and bring companies together to collaborate and share one another’s gifts and creative visions. At the same time, we wanted to help form a network between Boston dance company directors and choreographers. Managing a company is hard work, and doing it without any support is nearly impossible! Having the six company directors meet for a Round Table Discussion about how we all tackle the challenges of managing companies was a massive priority for Jen and I. The “Empower One Another” performance is the exciting culmination of this collaboration, but we know that the partnerships will last beyond the show as directors continue to lean on one another for support.  N: Where else can we find you this Spring/Summer? GN: Nozama Dance Collective has a lot of exciting things coming up! We are launching our Spring Company Class Series, in which we will teach master classes at Green Street Studios on 3/18, 4/19, 5/6, and 5/20. Additionally, we have our annual concert “Uplift” at Green Street Studios on August 9th and 10th. We are also looking forward to performing in a few festivals and concerts around Boston, so keep an eye out for us!  N: What other local companies or choreographers do you recommend people check out? Why?
GN: SO many! It is so hard to pick just a handful. The Boston dance community is filled with incredible talent, visions, and creativity. Personally, I am drawn to choreographers who tell poignant, empowering stories about the female experience through their work. Putting the other artists of “Empower One Another” aside, I am forever drawn to Colleen Roddy’s choreography. I am also inspired by the work of Luminarium Dance, particularly because that is another company managed by two incredible women who collaborate together so well. But honestly, if you have a free night, just check out the Dance Complex or Green Street Studios and check out whatever is happening! There is no bad dance experience out there. Support other artists! They will support you back!
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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