23 and Miller Gallery Exhibit

 "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." ~Helen Keller

How do you overcome grief? 

With art?

With stories? 

With sharing? 

I've been exploring the embodiment of grief through dance with JCWK Dance Lab, but we're also exploring grief and healing through other mediums. 

Visual art. 

Sculpture. 

Written reflection. 

Photography. 

Poetry. 

Check out The Miller Gallery in Alvernia University's Francis Hall to experience the diverse ways some people are sharing their grief and healing. The exhibit is up through March. 

Here's a short video I made - 

Thank you to the many folks who have shared their stories and vulnerabilities through this project! 

Wellness awareness

Our intellectual and physical bodies are connected. 

I love leading classes in dance technique and creativity to model this. Today is a mid-semester point and many of my students are deeply invested in their intellectual work. Mid-terms. 

I take time in class to remind them of their physical bodies through mindfulness and self-care practices. They reflect that using time to create physical space creates mental and emotional space for them. The picture below is of some of the tools we use - resistance bands for strength and stretching, tennis ball/ spikey ball for massage and tension release. I forgot to include my water bottle, but that's important too. 

In the "real world" this is also a stressful time. It's the end of the first quarter and tax season. How are you taking care of the different aspects of yourself and the ways that your bodies are interconnected? 

 

Pics from Mourning Morning and performance research

 "The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie." ~Agnes de Mille

JCWK Dance Lab has spent the past 10 months unpacking grief and hope in our communities and in our bodies. 

We most recently shared part of the process at Reading Theater Project's 5-Minue Fringe. The theme of the festival was "Inspired by True Events" and our piece, "Mourning Morning" definitely was. 

Performance practice is creative research. 

I provide my dancers (professional and students) many opportunities to engage in this research. The performance process is like when a new product is in its final trials where it has a limited release. We learn and return to refine. 

When we're onstage, we're learning about how to "read" the aural and non-verbal cues of our audience, navigate variations of physical space, and work collaboratively to ensure the success of the performance. We "test" the impact of the story we're sharing. 

Dance performance and practice is a transferrable skill applicable to many other professional paths. 

Griffith Yeyna captured these moments and Marty Bonk continues to build the music for us. We take the stage with the full experience on March 28-29. 

Thank you, Reading Musical Foundation!

Thank you, Reading Musical Foundation, for your support of JCWK Dance Lab's The Grief Project!

We're collaborating with Berks-County based musician, Marty Bonk, to create original music for this work. Composer Dr. Stephen Grieco has also granted us permission to use a few selections from his album, Reflections. 

RMF awarded JCWK Dance Lab an Outreach Grant for The Grief Project.

This is our fifth project collaborating with Marty! 

Here are a few moments from behind the scenes..