April Showers bring...

Shows!

We're deep into the Philadelphia performance season! Mark your calendars and get your tickets! Here's a quick rundown on what's reigning (raining...?) on the April calendar - and into the summer. (Click on the links for tickets and more info).

April 8th & 9th. Koresh Artist Showcase at Koresh Dance, Philly. April 8th - 6pm & 8pm. April 9th 6pm. We're sharing a new work inspired by the music of Carrington Kay. 

April 8th. Boundaries and Bridges presents Theatrical Bridges. An evening of film and theater inspired by building bridges in Chester, PA. 7pm at Widener University's Alumni Auditorium.

April 13th. KYL/D's Deconstructing ONE - Immortal Game at KYL/D's CHI MAC at 7:30pm. Get a behind-the-scenes look at Kun-Yang Lin's process of creating and reconstructing ONE - Immortal Game.

April 21st & 22nd. Nora Gibson Contemporary Ballet's NothingThatIsNotThere presented in conjunction with the Philadelphia Science Festival at the Performance Garage. (I'm not performing because I'm deep in the process of Becoming Mom, but I've been a part of Nora's work since 2009. More on Becoming Mom as a contemporary ballet dancer in another post...)

April 23rd. Widener University's Spring Chamber Music and Dance Concert. 3pm at Widener University's Kapelski LC1.

April 27-29th. Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers at Prince Theater. Use my artist code: Jessica8 for a special friends and family discount on your tickets! Read author/scholar/artist/incredible person Kimerer LaMothe's article from Deconstructing Santuario in Psychology Today and check out this interview preview I did with my super cool friend and colleague Nikolai McKenzie:

KYL/D's Artist Chat: Jessica and Nikolai from Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers on Vimeo.

May 12th & 13th. KYL/D's InHale/ ExHale Performance Series at KYL/D's CHI MAC, 7:30pm both nights. More info coming soon! Different artists will be presented each evening, including work by KYL/D's own talented group of creators!

June 9th. The Embodiment Project travels to NYC for the The Moving Beauty Series. 8pm at the Hudson Guild Theatre.

June 28th. The Embodiment Project's back in NYC at Dixon Place for 8 in Show.

Whew! I look forward to seeing you during these adventures! Check back for updates on the performances and process.

Discount to KYL/D's show - and why you should see it!

KYL/D is performing April 14th-16th at Prince Theater in Philly. Use the code "Jessica5" (without the quotes) for a special discount when you get your tickets: http://princetheater.org/events/kun-yang-lin-dancers

This show is really special to me because "Autumn Skin" was one of the first KYL/D pieces I learned and performed. I've grown so much as a person and as an artist over the past few years and I carry my reflections and maturity into this new work. I have a deeper understanding of the intention of the piece and the nuances of relationships as I experience them through the movement, but also as I've experienced them in my own life journey. I feel as through the past few months, especially, have allowed me the time and space to shed my own skin and walk into a new path of becoming. If you've been following, you know it's time for me to shed. 

"Dreamscape," "Moments," and "Vertigo" will be new to KYL/D's Philly audience! We received such an enthusiastic response from our new friends in Michigan, when we traveled to Grand Valley State University to perform with The Grand Valley State New Music Orchestra. There's an extra energy that fills the air when live dance and live music can come together. We'll have a live violinist adding to the performances on Saturday. 

I'm grateful for the amount of TIME we've had with each of these pieces and the opportunity to preview them during the year. This practice of returning to the movement over time has allowed me to deepen into the work through understanding my breath and how it influences the nuances of my movement. Time has also allowed me to engage with difference elements of Kun-Yang's CHI Awareness Technique. I have become more aware of my own body in space, my breath in relationship to the other dancers, my own use of energy and tension, and the relationships I can create between the space and the audience. Understanding the breath was such a large part of KYL/D's residency at Grand Valley State University in Michigan that the time between that performance and now has allowed me to reflect and embody what I learned and continue to explore. 

Artist Margi Peterson wrote about this TIME that Grace Stern and I had with the students and faculty at GVSU and how we deepened our own breath practice during this week: http://sacredspacemdp.weebly.com/blog/breathe

For me, this April performance feels like a culmination of my past and an explosion into something new.  Please join me!

KYL/D's 27th (!) InHale Performance Series & "Unspoken"

The early 2016 excitement of performances culminates this Friday at KYL/D's InHale Performance Series.

I've written much about how meaningful this series is to me. For this performance, I'm especially excited to share more research on HomeFrontLines with Unspoken: Everyday Hope.

Katherine, Melissa, and I have taken some of the lessons learned from the performance of Unspoken at An Evening of Duets and continued to research the work. In a review of the show, Megan Stern wrote of Unspoken: "Rather than portraying a relationship, the dancers highlight and illuminate each other, but seem to exist in different realms." Thanks, Megan, for getting the work! (We were playing with the idea that two individuals could be experiencing the same "thing" but in different times and spaces. More specifically, I am interested in understanding the way that military people/ families/ spouses can feel isolated, despite having peers in similar situations. I've been interested in this time/space continuum and how it relates to the way we approach or shy away from relationships for some time now.)

Read more: Evening of Duets Review

But there's more than just my work at this Friday's InHale!

Get your tickets: KYL/D's InHale on the DanceBoxOffice

Check out the artists:



And here are a few moments that Bill Hebert caught from Unspoken at An Evening of Duets: 

Isolation... Of the foot

I love Katherine and Melissa for their discipline to technique, craft, and individual expression of their artistry!

Vulnerability. Questioning. Power. 

Evening of Duets

I've been hesitant to talk, privately and publicly, about my dreams and work for HomeFrontLines. 

I've been pushed and prodded by the Universe to get this project in motion and more information will be forthcoming. 

But for now...

I'm honored to be presenting part of the project at Philly's annual "An Evening of Duets" presented by Melissa Chisena. This particular program has a(n) unique line-up of artists from Philadelphia, NYC, and DC. (Grammar side note - an extensive Google search couldn't answer my inquiry of "does 'unique' need 'an' or 'a'?" to personal satisfaction... So, readers, you choose.)

Melissa has invited me to share "Unspoken". This is a new work featuring the artistry of Katherine Kiefer Stark and Melissa McCarten. With it, I'm still exploring what it means to be on the other side of the military and how families (more specifically women) negotiate persistence, courage, fear, isolation, and connection. 

Read more about the other companies in the Evening of Duets Press Release

Get your tickets here

And check out more information about the companies and the performance: Evening of Duets website