Notes from Unexpected Lessons and the InHale Performance Series

I love the InHale Performance Series!

I have the opportunity to meet and work with so many amazing artists!

Our July 13th InHale was particularly special to me. We had an unfortunate situation where one of the performances had to drop out at the last minute. Kun-Yang suggested I present my solo.

I was excited at the opportunity to get feedback from my community, but also reluctant because I view InHale as an opportunity for other members of the community. But this was an emergency. And, several of my former students, now friends, for which this piece was created, were running tech. They graciously and bravely accepted the challenge a year ago of learning how to work and produce an evening-length dance concert. Many of them had previous tech and performance experience in the theatre, but dance is a whole different animal.

And I challenged myself - for several months I challenged these young people to explore dance as a lens to view the world. I need to do this work with them here. It was quite special. As I was performing, I received a text message from another former student now taking on a new challenge as an elementary school teacher with a report that her summer-class students had improved exponentially. Together, we're all creating positive energy and change.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Qt3ORLHoA&feature=relmfu

Notes From Unexpected Lessons
Choreography & Performance: Jessica Warchal-King
Music: Tracy Scott Silverman (used with his kind permission)

Here's the review from the Dance Journal:
http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2012/07/14/review-inhale-performance-series/

And here are some previous posts based upon this process:
http://jcwarchalking.blogspot.com/2012/07/creative-alternatives.html
http://jcwarchalking.blogspot.com/2012/07/building-community-through-dance.html
http://jcwarchalking.blogspot.com/2012/07/embodiment-project-reflection-by.html
http://jcwarchalking.blogspot.com/2012/06/raw-notes-from-unexpected-lessons.html

I an eternally grateful to the individuals who inspired this work and to those who have allowed me to share it.