Thank you, 2025!

 2025 was filled with laughter, community building, tears, exploring new places, and lot more!

Thank you, 2025! I'm excited for what 2026 has in store. 

Here's a short, quick video I made of some of JCWK Dance Lab's experiences...

International Cello Day 2025

Dr. Mara Parker and I have collaborated on many projects. She hired me as a part-time instructor at Widener University in 2012 and I haven't stopped learning from her. 

While I was at Widener, we led our students in several semesters of collaborative projects. Dr. Parker would choose some music at the beginning of the semester for her Chamber Music students and faculty. We would chat about ideas and themes for both the music and movement. She'd send me some rehearsal recordings. The Widener dance students and I would create dances based on the themes. At the end of the semester, we brought the two groups together for a performance. Dancing to live music is such a thrilling experience! 

We were able to provide this model of inter-disciplinary collaboration to our students for several years. 

Dr. Mara and I always talked about creating a duet show, where she played and I danced. 2023 was our first collaboration. 

In 2025 we embarked on a different type of collaboration. One that built on the lessons from our previous experiences - we rehearsed on Zoom and met in August for a performance in Massachusetts. 

That experience was life-changing for me. Thank you, Dr. Mara! 

December 29th is International Cello Day. Here's a quick video I made to celebrate my time with Dr. Mara in August. (I need to make a longer video... but I'm not quite ready to let go of the experiences. For some reason, putting something together feels "final". Intellectually I know its not... emotionally, I'll get there. 💕)

Advice from a Glacier pt 3

 

Trying new Trends

One of the things I teach is to try things out and not be afraid of making mistakes. 

Research suggests that young people are afraid of trying new things or making mistakes because so much gets posted online - sometimes without that person's consent. People are afraid of leaving a permanent record of their mistakes, of being canceled for saying something "wrong," or appearing to be less than... 

I try to demonstrate a willingness to try new things and be okay with making mistakes. So, I've been replicating some trends in the social media world. The JCWK Dance Lab artists humored me in making this "what's always in your bag" video. 

Because its fun and a bit silly. And we're always carrying a lot in our bags. 

What do you always have with you? 

Advice from a glacier pt 2

 

World Mental Health Day

Today's World Mental Health Day. 10/10!

The "W" in JCWK Dance Lab stands for "Wellness".

Mental and Physical Wellness. 

We embody mental wellness in rehearsal through: 

• Check in's at the beginning of rehearsal and Check out's at the end of rehearsal
• An agreement to not "keep the peace". If something is bothering someone or feels "sticky" we need to talk about it before it becomes a bigger issue. The Check in's provide us space to introduce any "stickiness" that we're feeling - whether its in the studio or in another part of our lives. We're whole-people and dance demands that we engage multiple aspects of ourselves. If we try to "shut off" one part of ourselves, we're not able to access our whole-selves. Now, also as whole people, we sometimes need to compartmentalize something(s) in order to function. But we need to acknowledge that, too. Sometimes, just admitting that something is off is helpful.  
• Honoring physical wellness. We had a performance tour, recently. Three weeks prior to the performance, one of our dancers was in a car accident and was injured so that she couldn't perform some of our material. So, we changed the material to make it work for her. Another dancer had a sprain. I'm still working with my broken foot. There's a way to get the work done while also honoring the needs of our physical bodies. It takes a bit of patience and creativity, but sometimes that's a benefit. I think the latest iteration of "Mourning Morning" is stronger, choreographically. More importantly, we found a way to keep the energy of the group focused on building and problem solving. 

One of our friends, Sharon Matthew, is a retired counselor. She shares her wisdom with us. Here's one of her quotes: 

The Review is in

In the past few years, written reflection of dance has drastically dwindled. Just like newspapers and old-school media have been cutting back, arts writers have also needed to find new ways to share ideas and build audiences. 

When I talk about the Village Voice, now, my students don't know to what I'm referring. But when my work was reviewed in it in 2005, it was one of the greatest joys. 

Thank you, thINKingDANCE, for continuing the tradition of dance writing! Thank you for taking the time to come to our Fringe show. 

Fringe is also a time that is very crowded with art and performance in Philly. It can be both overwhelming and exhausting. Thank you, for making sure our show was on your calendar! 

Click here to read the article about TORRENT: Dancing in the Churn. 

I created these images from anika's writing and Mike Herwitz's photos.