NEW CREATION FOR THE NORTHWEST DANCE PROJECT, PREMIERE MARCH 2024

“Generally speaking I am pro care and I am pro love, in a world in which so many do not have enough care and indeed are often punishingly uncared for or are regularly coerced into caring for others at the expense of caring for themselves; not to mention a world in which the regular triumph of something we frequently call freedom, over and opposed to something we frequently call care, may very well end up responsible not just for much past and current suffering but also for extinguishing the possibility for human survival on the planet. It certainly makes sense to seek care in everything, including art,  and with some urgency to boot” 

________Maggie Nelson

“FISTFUL” is a dance piece for five performers (Created for the Northwest Dance Project https://nwdanceproject.org) centred around the exploration of dance as a space for unimaginable shifts in practice.  Every time I begin a new dance I am confronted with questions of utility: what can dance accomplish in such a chaotic and seemingly constantly fraying world?  What changes can we make in our approach as theater practitioners that better align with the world we would like to see; and what forces (both institutional and societal) work against these goals? What can we learn from these frequently oppositional forces and what is the best place to put our energy?  

Set to the emotively political music of ANOHNI, this piece focuses on the individual performers and the histories that lie in their bodies.  The song cycle ponders our initial conundrums of making art in 2024.  The dancers and myself have taken these already verbose works and attempted to personalise them; making them evident through the lived experience of the body.  Themes of global warming, love, grief, and hope are woven through the work with the goal of reflecting the whiplash we’ve witnessed living under a confluence of oppressive systems, at increasingly unsure times.