Upcoming Adventures

I'm very excited to announce that this summer I'll begin my next phase of higher education!  I've been accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Master of Fine Arts program in Dance, and will be headed to the midwest to begin an intensive on-campus residency during the months of June and July.  I'm so looking forward to deepening my physical, teaching and performance practice, and bringing what I learn back to the New River Valley of Virginia.  Can't wait! 

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here: Capital Fringe Fest 2014!

Ya'll.  I am so, so, so excited about the premiere of Mountain Empire's new work, Everybody Knows This Is Now Here! 

The evening-length multimedia duet between myself and Eliza Larson was created primarily via Skype, and deals with themes of cross-country travel, homesickness, proximity/distance and miscommunication.  Also we wear old-fashioned bathing suits and sing Neil Young.  So, you know, something for everyone!  

Eliza created all of the accompanying dance film projections, and I have made an original soundscore for the piece.  Also appearing (on screen, but not in person) are Seattle dancers Annie McGhee and Emily German.

Don't miss it!  Ticket info here: https://www.capitalfringe.org/festival-2014/shows/359-everybody-knows-this-is-now-here

New year, new dance projects!

Hello friends,

It's hard to believe that I've been back in the Southeast for almost a year now-- the time has flown by and 2014 has gotten off to an exciting start!  I'm involved in several collaborative projects that are keeping me engaged, creatively fulfilled and extraordinarily busy.  These include:

 

  • The Telephone Dance Project, a long-distance collaboration between myself, Eliza Larson (MA), Barbara Tait (PA) and Katie Sopoci Drake (DC).  In this project, we turn the classic game of "telephone" into a long-distance dance collaboration tool. Participants send little dances through the mail, interpret what they receive, and pass their version on to the next person. We've already performed one version of the dance in Northampton, MA.  Other upcoming shows will take place at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC; the Black Mountain College {RE}Happening outside of Asheville, NC; and the H-O-T series in Philadelphia, PA.  We're running an indiegogo campaign to cover travel funds for this innovative series, and you can donate HERE!

 

  • Mountain Empire is a collaboration between myself and Eliza Larson.  We are invested in exploring ways to make work beyond locational boundaries. Using dance, video, and text, we make live performances that defy definition or known modalities. Upcoming performances will take place in NYC, Seattle, WA, Blacksburg, VA, and Lewisburg, WV.  We have also been invited to produce a full-length version of our current work, Everybody Knows This is Now Here, at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC this summer. 

 

  • Salt Marsh Suite, a multimedia collaboration between several faculty in Virginia Tech's School of Visual Arts/School of Performing Arts.  This piece will premiere in the brand spanking new Center for the Arts' installation black box space, the CUBE, from April 24-27.  More details coming soon...

 

In other news, I've also started teaching dance classes for children and teens at Trillium Performing Arts Collective in Lewisburg, WV and LoCo Arts in Newport, VA.  I'll be finishing my Hatha Yoga Teacher Training at the Breathing Space in Blacksburg this May, and look forward to expanding my teaching practice to include yoga asana that is accessible, joyful and safe for students of every age and experience level. 

reaching east and west

My college professor, bj sullivan, used to always to tell us to reach both to the east and to the west with our distal ends, moving expansively, eating up the space.  I seem to have internalized her words more than I realized, and for the past several years have been split in two by the coasts of this big wide country.  I've spent three years in the Seattle, and have thrived in the artistic community I've found out here.  Now a new job opportunity has arisen for my partner, and we're headed back to the same town we left three years ago.  I am curious to find what is the same and what has changed, and also anxious to create a similarly nourishing dance family for myself back in the Southeast.  I will officially be a resident of Blacksburg, VA, as of early March 2013, and plan to hit the ground dancing, so stay tuned and wish me luck!