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My first, and definitely not my last, book contribution combining my work in intimacy direction and dance is now available.
Check out “The Intimacy Coordinator’s Guidebook”, edited by Brooke M. Haney, with contributions from professionals in various specialties. My contributions can be found in chapter 16, specifically on academic dance and touch in dance. My contributions are alongside those of Intimacy Direction in Dance co-founder, Sarah Lozoff.
2023 was a really creatively fulfilling year. I got to do so much in dance, intimacy, and movement direction, and I am so grateful to have had these opportunities.
TL;DR:
I did a lot of fun stuff with awesome people.
I work with students, who then become professional colleagues.
I work with director colleagues who value me, not just as box to check, but as movement artist who makes story better/more interesting/clearer.
Theatre improves your Spanish!
I interact with incredible artists, at the top of their craft. But my 2023 award for star collaborator goes to Morgan Parker.
Photos of all of these moments are on my Dance and Intimacy Choreography works sample pages.
January: I actually performed again, as well as choreographed for the 2nd "KINesphere", funded by the Broward County Cultural Division. I was also back at Theatre Lab ID'ing "Last Night in Inwood" by Alix Sobler, directed by Matt Stabile, featuring Aubrey Elson and Javon Jacobs.
February: I ID'd 3 shows: "Good People" at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, "Chicken and Biscuits" with the incredible Bianca LaVerne Jones at Asolo Rep, and "Company" at NWSA.
March: I got to movement direct and choreograph as part of TheatreLab's New Play Festival. I also ID'd a Miami story, "Defacing Michael Jackson" at Miami New Drama.
I was also honored to be a speaker at the 40th annual Miami Film Festival, on Intimacy Coordination. I got to be with a wonderful creative and conversation partner, Chris Molina.
April: I had the honor of working on the Rolling World Premier of the incredible Spanish/English play-with-music, "Refuge" with friends and colleagues.
I also ventured into violence, as well as intimacy, for “Marisol” at NWSA.
May was a rest, which was great, because I needed to plan for my VAP position at FAU Department of Theatre & Dance, before jumping into rehearsals.
June: I had a blast with my second Summer Shorts at City Theatre. Extra bonus was working with Melissa Almaguer, Alex Alvarez, and Maha McCain on these.
A film I worked on the year before, "Jagged Mind" premiered in Miami at the American Black Film Festival, and then dropped on Hulu. It later makes Decidr's Top 10 List of Movie Sex Scenes for 2023! Masie Richardson-Sellars stars, with direction by Kelley Kali.
July: I met one of my new favorite humans and collaborators, Christopher Michaels! I did intimacy and violence for "Thrill Me", which he directed, starring Dylan Goike and Kevin Veloz. They were accompanied by Eric Alsford, and honestly, he and the 2 actors did NOT get enough love and notice this theatre season. They were perfection.
August: I got to work with Miami's hottest new theatre company, Lakehouseranchdotpng, on the world premier of "XOXO, Lola" starring Noelle Nichols and Samuel Krogh. Lauren Witte captured some of our rehearsals for the Miami Herald.
September: Was all about "Love! Valour! Compassion!". I worked my tail off on this one. Re-staging the "Little Swans" variation from "Swan Lake", creating a modern dance solo for Robert Koutras (who was flipping amazing at it), and collaborating with the legendary Michael Leeds on the intimate and violent moments. All of these actors were amazing and they ripped my heart out.
October: I FINALLY got to ID "Spring Awakening". It and "Romeo and Juliet" are like THE shows for IDs, and I've done R&J twice, so, it was time. This was for the BUTC at FAU. My favorite moment was actually the fantasy about the piano teacher. I am appreciative of the students' clear communication, bravery, and joy in the process.
A film I worked on the year before, "Pain Hustlers", also came to Netflix. I was the Miami unit IC.
November: At the end of October, I got to rejoin Bianca LaVerne Jones, this time in Philadelphia at the Lantern. I was so excited to come "home" to create the dance and intimacy for the powerful, beautiful "Crumbs from the Table of Joy".
I also did dance and intimacy for fun musical "9 to 5", at FAU. The dance captains, Sarah Sun Park and Marissa Spurr were invaluable, and working with Ted deChatelet and Caryl Ginsburg Fantel was a dream.
I also got to go back to the Lab, this time as the movement director for "The Berlin Diaries" as the forces that are Niki Fridh and Avi Hoffman tackled 14 characters in 85 minutes.
December: Was a month of joy as I watched Ballet 2 of FAU be more beautiful than I hoped in the fall dance concert. And right before the holidays, we closed "La Gringa" at City Theatre. This play exemplified the magic of theatre, for me. But also, the magic of the work I get to do.
I was a guest on “Making the Impact: a Dance Competition Podcast” this season. I was alongside Keanu Uchida, talking about abuse in dance. Check out the episode here, or on your favorite podcast service.
During peak pandemic times, a colleague, Ali Duffy, at Texas Tech University had one of her undergrad classes interview dance makers with specific missions in their work. I was honored to be one, and to have that interview now published in an Open Educational Resource text available from Raider Press. Check it out!
Last month, Renee Redding-Jones and I, representing Intimacy Direction in Dance, joined a panel of dance educators, scientists, social workers, and mental health professionals on a panel for IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine and Science) to discuss creating consent culture in dance.
IADMS has made the recording available, for free, for everyone. Watch it here.
In the past 2 weeks I’ve been on two podcasts-
Apolla Performance/Turning Point Creations’ “Beyond the Steps” talking about how, as dance educators, we can help students distinguish the difference between a boundary and a risk.
Audra Allen’s “Dance CEO Coach” talking about equity and professional development in dance.
Both of these are great resources for dance educators and dance entrepreneurs!
Sadly, DanceGeist ezine will be going away soon. DG was a great alternative to competition, commercial-based dance publications, with its focus on Somatics, disruption, and community. Unfortunately, that also means it was hard to sustain. But, I have been given access to all of my pieces from DG! I have link the power and consent series here, and the rest of the articles are all over on the Dance page, if you scroll to the bottom. Enjoy and share!
Creating Consent Culture in Dance
originally published in the Dance Geist ezine, Feb-April 2021
Clock-time is a colonial construct, followed to support capitalism. We know that is only a construct, and that time is much more spiraling than linear. And yet, we have agreed to live in society following this guideline.
As a teacher or leader, I can’t create more time, but I can shift how we feel about time.
Read MoreLast week on my TikTok, I stitched a video in which 2 women were discussing the fact that grown women really only get parties for things that make them define their identity in relationship to someone else- getting married and giving birth.
So, I decided I wanted an MFA shower. Not a graduation party. I want to all grown folks to have showers. I’m reclaiming that word for all of us to be showered in celebration and congratulations for the big life achievements that matter to each of us.
So, later this spring (after all theses shows wrap) I will have a shower (And that thesis was labor.). And I’ve created a little registry if folks want to help me celebrate.
Read MoreFinally, after a long road of graduate exploration beginning in 2016, I am excited to share I officially hold a Master (hate it) of Fine Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Arts with concentrations in both Decolonial Arts Praxis and Performance Creation Concentrations from Goddard College.
This wasn’t a journey I took alone. The following is my acknowledgements page from my thesis, Working Consent: Ethical Engagement with Collaborators, Audiences, and the Land in Dance and Theatre Pedagogy and Practice.
Read MoreStyres (2019) quotes Marie Battiste (2013), an Indigenous scholar focused on protecting and promoting Indigenous knowledge systems and education, “in order to effect change, educators must help students understand the Eurocentric assumptions of superiority within the context of history and to recognize the continued dominance of these assumptions in all forms of contemporary knowledge” [186] (33). So, in the ballet class, we examine the particularity of the ballet situation. Students’ first reading is a choice of An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet by Jean Kealinohomoku (2001) and a post from Marlo Fisken’s (2020) blog, A Letter to the Pole Community: It’s time we talk about toe-point supremacy. These two pieces clearly connect the dots of assumptions of supremacy culture—that Euro-centric is more valuable—to the prevalence and significance of ballet in Western dance training and on concert stages. Tuck and Yang (2012) write “The settler positions himself as both superior and normal;...” (6), and this is often what happens to ballet in dance studio settings—it is considered a baseline for other genres, rather than its own particular form, drawn from its own cultural context. In every class, students are encouraged to find the appropriate cultural context from which to consider their situation.
Read MoreYesterday, I reposted an article from Dance Magazine on my Facebook feed, speaking to the use of “my” in dance class, aka, “my dancers”, “my dance”, etc. It caused some good discussion there, so I thought I’d share what I’ve already explored on this topic. The following is an excerpt from my thesis on the ways I am examining language in dance class.
Read MoreWe know, somewhere in our brains, when we see social media posts that we aren’t always getting the whole story. So, this post is my attempt to be transparent. To share the whole story, or at least another side of it. CW: depression, anxiety, negative self-talk, ED
Read MoreI came to Intimacy Direction and Intimacy Coordination because of my work in theatre. I came to work in theatre as a choreographer and a dancer. Dance has always shaped the journeys of who I am and what I do. Since I started learning Intimacy Direction in 2018, and particularly once I met Sarah Lozoff, I had a goal of bringing Intimacy Direction to concert dance- especially ballet and modern. And now, we’re one step closer,
IntimacyDirectionInDance.com
Sarah and I, with the fantastic Renee Redding-Jones are excited to launch Intimacy Direction in Dance! We are here to let dance companies know that Intimacy Direction is available to them! And that there are professionals specifically trained in both dance and intimacy. The power dynamics, vocabulary, and performance demands of dance are all slightly different than those of theatre of film. So we want dance companies to work with folks who are well-versed in the dance performance, creation, and teaching worlds, so that the application of Intimacy Direction to dance performances is beneficial to dancers, choreographers, and audiences.
We are excited to get to work!
Bringing Consent to Ballet, One Intimacy Workshop at a Time. 13 April 2022. Laura Cappelle for the New York Times.
The Impact of Intimacy Direction on Educational Theatre. 14 April 2022. Kaila Roach for On Stage Blog.
Did you catch me on IG live with Apolla Performance and Turning Point Dance? You can see the full discussion on boundaries, consent, agency, and touch in dance over on the Intimacy page. But here’s a teaser!
From DanceGeist’s May issue.
Read it here, and then leave me a comment with your thoughts!
Find it in the DanceGeist ezine!
Last month we defined how Power Dynamics show up in dance classes and dance rehearsals. This month, I offer some ways dance teachers and choreographers might mitigate those power dynamics to help create consent-based dance spaces!
Find it in the DanceGeist ezine!
The article will link to Part 1.
The full series is linked on the Consulting page, as this is a resource given all my clients.
Nicole LaBonde- Transformation Coaching of Mind and Body, Pilates, Nutritional Cleansing
CABARRET- Barre and Dance Fitness
Public Persona- Professional Image Coaching for Public Speaking and/or Online Branding for Fitness Instructors, Life Coaches, Healers and other Heart-Centered Entrepreneurs.
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