Performances
My work focuses on the personal, intimate relationship between the human animal body and our precious Earth. Seeded by my own longing to feel more connected, then nourished by a few profound experiences alone in nature, I became consumed by the questions:
What have we forgotten about how to be with the plants and the waters?
How much does my human body share with Earth?
What more is there to discover about belonging and love?
When not dancing with or for the natural world, I study world dance and partner dance forms that highlight humanity, partnerships, and community.
Don’t miss my larger projects of
Global Water Dances & Postcards to the Earth
On stage at Boulder Theater ~ I’m 34 weeks pregnant!
Photo by Adam Riggs
Be Tree (2021)
SEE your body as Tree ~ FEEL your body as Tree
Dancers embody trees inspired by their own personal relationships with specific trees in their worlds. Combined with live music and performed in a natural setting, this dance celebrates the interconnectedness of trees, rivers, and society. We used these questions as some of our prompts in design: How can we feel at home in the forest? How can we create and experience abundance in relationship with the land and each other? How do I belong to water and forest restoration? This dance was a rich collaboration with Left Hand Watershed Center, Lisa Cheney-Philp, Ashylnn Manning, Mattie Grove, Katie Carothers, & Cassidy Clark.
Dancing with the Boulder Stars (2018)
In this cha-cha with Daniel Aizenman of Stantec ViBE, we used dance to advocate for the social services provided by the YWCA of Boulder County. Our team raised over $6000 to support programs that address women’s empowerment and ending racism. While my other performances more directly address environmental issues, I’m proud to contribute to the intersecting issues that disrupt our world. Watch our performance (start at 30:25).
Zazu Dreams (2018)
What do roles do salt, sand, water, and trees play in nature and in our lives as humans?
A wonderland of nature dancers (Melinda Harrison & Momo Freehill of NatureMoves, Dhanwant Garcia, myself) perform outside as the pre-show for Zazu Dreams. Zazu Dreams was an evening of cross-cultural, multi-media edutainment including live acoustic music, song, dance, and storytelling--combining science and indigenous wisdom.
Heartbeet (2017)
“To behold beauty dignifies your life; it heals you and calls you out beyond the smallness of your own self-limitation…the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind.” ~ John O’Donohue
In this solo for the stage, I explore my own sensations of beauty both in my body and in what I observed in the wild. With a costume of branches, I designed movements that imitated and subtly referenced birds, roots, and wind. At its core, this is a piece about love.
postcards to the earth
environmental dance documentary film
(2015)
If you could send a message to the Earth, what would you say?
This film is part interview project - part dance. The interview section lays theoretical groundwork for the site-specific environmental dance film that follows. Artists and environmental stewards are asked, "What does the body have to do with climate change?" Followed by the more personal question, "If you could send a message to the Earth, what would you say?" This second question motivates the dance which considers themes of protection, grief, and deep love for the natural world.
Photo by Steve Stoychev
enough (2014)
“We are within a biosphere, not on a planet.” ~Nala Walla
A group work choreographed for the seven women on stage, Enough investigates water as a connecting force. Dancers use their bodies and voices to make the visceral and visual connection that water moves the same way in us as it does on the planet. We created performed this work to remember our connection and our responsibility, and that our choices matter to each other and to the planet. Our dance is a prayer, a testimony on behalf of Earth, and a call to action. How much is enough?
Human Glacier Project (2013)
A collaboration between Boulder students and community members who joined a flash mob that demonstrates an active glacier. The project attempts to use human bodies to accurately depict a calving (or melting) glacier.
