Photos by Brent LaFever, UNCSA, and Claire Schiffer
Inhale Exhale
(UNCSA Emerging Choreographer 2023)
Inhale Exhale explores the idea of the individual and shared experience of breath. how does breath change when we experience heightened emotions, like anxiety and how is the breath impacted by our soothing, or comforting rituals for ourselves and others. This piece was created in collaboration with the dancers and incorporated their own take on the idea of breath. We take for granted something so vital to our survival and yet breath can be very telling of our emotional state.
Eyes on You
(Dance for Film)
was created in response to a prompt from Brenda Daniels’ Composition and Improvisation class at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and inspired by the art, biography, and music of the amazing artist, Jean Michel Basquiat. I dove deep into Basquiat’s artwork and biography. I wanted to reflect his interest in human anatomy and love for music through my choreography, location, and music choice.
My choreography echoed Basquiat’s exploration of the human body and addressed his quick rise to fame, the pressures of which, unfortunately, led to his abuse of drugs and his young death. I integrated large and small, intense and subtle, fluid and sharp, and circular with linear movements to highlight the range of ways we show ourselves to the world. I, also, emphasized the power of the face in communicating fears, questions, and emotions that we might not recognize in ourselves or intend to share with others. In this piece, I’m acknowledging how external pressures, expectations, and perceptions impact us all and change how we perceive and portray ourselves. We are almost “performing” our lives, because of the influence of the perceptions of others. It’s difficult to go against societal, cultural, and individual expectations; but, we can learn to become more aware of and to embrace our true, authentic selves.
My artistic choices to break the 4th wall and to frame multiple phrases within the mirrors captured our struggles with the dissonance between presenting ourselves in ways we believe we “should” and recognizing and accepting who we truly are. I am grateful for my talented colleague at UNCSA, Kyler Skipper, videographer and editor, who understood, honored, and captured my vision.
The location opportunity was serendipitous. I was incredibly fortunate that Jenny Fine’s immersive installation, Synchronized Swimmers, was on exhibit at Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, and thrilled that she generously allowed me to film my work in her multi-media exhibit. Her expansive space and her mesmerizing photographic and multi-dimensional explorations of the human body provided an intriguing backdrop that amplified the central themes of my dance.
My music choice, also, honored Basquiat’s work. The song, Sweetness of the New (Free the Robots Remix) by Gray, is a remix from the band he created during his brief life.