Waltz Slaughterhouse Requiem

Premiere: September 2017, Toronto

Program: Waltz, Slaughterhouse/Requiem

Waltz Slaughterhouse Requiem (working title: Solo Project #3) (2017) is my third solo project of newly commissioned works, including Waltz by Sylvain Émard (Montreal) and Slaughterhouse/Requiem by myself. The original unifying theme of the three works is the binary approach of designing, shaping, and building an environment in which the performer is cultivated as a decision-making, navigating, receptive, and observant person. Rather than simply making a dance we three dance-makers are aiming to build a world of our piece. We work as a team of lighting, projection, sound and costume designers while priming the dancer to exist within the world by grooming and crafting the quality, direction and speed of the performer’s responsiveness. Put another way:

The environment [E] is designed (stage, lights, props, costumes, sound), and the animal [A] is conditioned (through training, practice, and exposure to the choreographic design of both works, which is essentially a sequence of ‘proposed goals/behavior’ or ‘available goals/behavior’), so that we can see what E affords A. As this practice continues (of rehearsal and performance), we see how E continues to condition A, and, intentionally or otherwise, how A reshapes or redesigns E, as well as the mode of conditioning. 

Three Muses

Premiere: December 2015, Toronto

Program: 

Til 120, Again

Anthem for the Living

Speaking English

Fable

Three Muses was a program of two newly commissioned works by Idan Sharabi and Doug Varone accompanied by two existing pieces from my repertoire, including one by Sharon B. Moore alongside one of my own signature solo works. In a classic muse-choreographer relationship, the muse is a dancer whose character, physicality and powers of interpretation unleash new depths of artistry from the choreographer. Ultimately, the muse helped define the choreographer’s identity. As a dancer, I have found an inverse muse relationship with certain choreographers and curated the program to capture such relationships. 

The Heist Project

Premiere: December 2011, New York City

Program:

The Eight Propositions

Anthem for the Living

Blue Solo, Joni

The Heist Project involved two commissioned works by Sharon B. Moore, Idan Sharabi and a partnership of Emio Greco, Pieter Scholten, and me. I created Heist as a metaphor to a jewel heist, which must be meticulously imagined and designed, but ultimately achieved through spontaneity in response to the unfolding action. Heist investigates the value of awareness, sensitivity and reactivity to the present while pursuing the choreography - a well-known, pre-determined form or plan. The heist theme was applied to the overall project and the individual dances. Though necessary spontaneity and reactivity are essential aspects of live performance, they served as the backbone of these choreographers' work by piquing curiosity, driving creative process and shaping artistic identity. The heist theme propelled each choreographer in very different ways. 

The Desert Island Project

Premiere: September 2008, Brooklyn

Program:

Fable

Temptation

No to Eternity

Til 120

The Desert Island Project involved three newly commissioned works by Kate Alton, Andrea Miller and Idan Sharabi as well as a new creation of my own. The project explored self-diversification, autonomy, resourcefulness and empowerment of the individual by exposing me (the performer) to chosen influences (my collaborating choreographers). I then stranded myself alone onstage 30 minutes prior to the start of the performance. I coordinated the sound, video projection and lighting design to automatically run through to the final bows. 

PROCESS: