Wednesday, March 25, 2015

"Unveiled" - Behind the scenes

I'm interested in the perspectives of the people with whom I work. Their voices contribute to and reflect the intention of the process. Check out some of their thoughts on (in)visible veins:









Tuesday, March 24, 2015

"Unveiled" updates - Thank you!

It's been just a little over two weeks since we kicked off our Hatchfund campaign and we've received so much support! Thank you! Thank you!

Original Photo by KChow Studios. Excerpt from Brandi Ou's "Not All Who Wander Are Lost"
Pictured, Brandi Ou and Lauren Williams

Original Photo by Bill Hebert. From my solo "Wheels of Light". 






Friday, March 20, 2015

#whydancematters - Dance Skills = a deeper relationship with your Everyday Body

Your Dancing Body is your Monday Morning Body is your Math Class Body is your Thursday Dinner Body is your Saturday Night Body is your Business Body is your Ballet Body... You have one body and everything you do in that body is connected.

Kristine is a former student, friend, dancer, and Occupational Therapist in a pretty cool hospital in California. She sent me the following story, sharing how her experiences in her dancing body allowed her to re-pattern and heal her "everyday body".

(The italics are Kristine's words. The non-italic are mine.)

I've been experiencing back pain on and off your the last few years, and recently it has become bad enough to go to the doctor to go get a script for physical therapy.

(Insert me here saying - please don't ignore your body! But as dancers, we are used to tolerating a certain level of pain - soreness from a new rehearsal, fatigue from a long week of performances...)

Through various exercise (and completing me AT HOME as well), my back pain has gradually decreased, but something wasn't quite clicking. Since moving (to CA almost a year ago) I've been passively looking for ways to make new friends and telling myself I'm going to go to a Swing dance class. Last week, I finally just paid for the class and went. (The class I'm taking right now is the Charleston. I want to do the Lindy Hop next!)

I had to learn very isolated movements (feet, then hands, etc), before putting everything back together. I figured out the same was true for my back recovery. Before I could learn how to pick up a box again, I needed to learn how to properly hinge my hips, the squat, then finally reach for the box.

Taking the dance class finally helped it all click. First you learn the parts to a step, movement, or phrase, then you put it all together and create something that flows.

As in dance, so in life. As in life, so in dance.

This afternoon, my PT told me that I'm making great progress and next week I will be discharged. Dance wins again.

Thank you, Kristine!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

"Unveiled" Updates - what just happened?

This dance-making stuff is serious business.


Hours in the studio, physically researching.
Hours in conversations and reading, scholarly researching.
Scheduling rehearsals, meetings, performances.
Attending and leading rehearsals and meetings.
Designing and determining the images and text for marketing materials.
Communicating with collaborators.
Fundraising.
Advertising. (How many social media sites popped up yesterday?)
Create. Review. Revise. Repeat.
Create. Review. Revise. Repeat.
Create. Review. Revise. Repeat.
Create. Review. Revise. Repeat.


Until a puppy emerges. Or I sneeze.


In the process of creating our Fundraising video, Brandi and I had a lot of outtakes that we wanted to share with you.


Ultimately, this busi-ness about art making is one that is also about joy creation, community building, and sharing. It's time consuming and challenging, but it's important for me to remember that it's also about something so much larger than myself.


Please laugh with (and at) us!





"Unveiled" Updates - Thank you!

A huge, giant "Thank you" to everyone who's been involved in the process thus far! Rehearsals and research have been in the works for several months, as you know.


Brandi and I launched a fundraising campaign on Hatchfund and that's moving quickly! Thank you!!





Here's the link to our campaign: Unveiled Fundraising


Sunday, March 8, 2015

Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women's Day!

To the women in my life - thank you for everything you're taught me.

To the women in the spotlight, thank you for your examples - for better or for worse.

To the women who rarely receive public recognition.. thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your commitment to your families and communities without asking for recognition. Thank you for your positive examples of how to be gentle and strong.

On this International Women's Day, I offer my own, quiet dance for you!


And I'm sharing for the first time, publicly, my work-in-progress - (in)visible veins.



Thursday, March 5, 2015

Upcoming Events in March and April

March 7th-8th - Lehigh Valley Spring UP Dance Festival. FREE Festival open to dancers and dance lovers sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange, Monarch Dance Company, and Northampton Community College. I'm presenting work at the Guest Artist Performance on March 7th and teaching on March 8th. For tickets, reservations, and more info, click: Spring UP Dance Festival

March 11th - Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet performs at the 2015 ACDA Northeast Conference. American College Dance Association

March 21st - KYL/D performs at Shut Up & Dance - a benefit performance by the Dancers of the Pennsylvania Ballet for MANNA at the Forrest Theatre. Get tickets & more info here.

April 6th - KYL/D performs at Scratch Night presented by Fringe Arts. For more info, see Fringe Arts Scratch Night

April 17th - Unveiled - An evening of dance by Brandi Ou and ME! Come see the full length premier of (in)visible veins. Get your tickets: Unveiled Tickets 

April 18th - KYL/D Open Dialog at the CHI Movement Arts Center (FREE!) KYL/D Calendar

April 19th - Widener University Spring Concert - presenting members of the Chamber Orchestra and the Dance Program, 3pm.

April 24th - Widener University Student Project Day. A collaborative symposium between the Widener Chamber Orchestra, the Widener Dance Program, and Widener biology faculty.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Pics from Performances (in the recent) Past


KYL/D at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 2015
KYL/D at Temple University's Faculty Dance Concert, January 2015
(in)visible lines work in progress showing at KYL/D's InHale Performance Series
Dancers pictured: Katherine Kiefer Stark, KC Chun-Manning, Jodi Obeid
February 2015


NGCB's 2^57,885,161 - 1
February 2015