April Rain brings Blossoms of Dance

Hi, Friend. 

How are you? 

I hope that the spring holidays and opportunities for transformation are finding you inspired and connecting with yourself and those you love. 

It feels hard, sometimes. (There's a lot going on...) 

I've been cultivating sprouts of joy in my own small way through growing my community and connections through dance. It's sometimes challenging and not everyone understands my optimism, and that's okay. 

I'm hosting another episode of The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange tonight at 6:30pm EST on BCTV.org. You can watch the live stream by clicking here at 6:30pm -->> click "watch now" -->> click BCTV.org. There's a lot blossoming, dance wise, around the Berks County community right now. In preparing this program, I was inspired by the tenacious endeavors of people who live within a few miles of me to use dance to create joy and build connections. To use dance as a vehicle for non-violent, positive social change. 

What is blossoming in your world? Please let me know. 

Take care!

Warmly,
Jessica

PS. You can watch previous episodes of The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange on BCTV.org's YouTube channel by clicking here or catch the rerun schedule by checking out the program page, linked here.

P.P.S. In case you're interested in my own germinations...  In Feb and March, I continued sharing my We Are StarDust workshops with several communities, both in person and virtually. I've been working with Alvernia University's Dance Company on several projects that involve dance as service, including for Berks4Peace, which is a non-violence campaign in Berks. I led a pop-up dance in front of City Hall with the Mayor of Reading and several other community groups where we performed the dance I co-created last fall for the YWCA's Week without Violence. We'll be dancing again as part of the Berks for Peace event on April 30th, which concludes the National Youth Violence Prevention Week. April 29th is International Dance Day. Happy Dancing! 

A few pics of the excitement below....

#womencrushwednesday

 I'm thrilled to be working with these women on "Domino". 

The backstory: In November of 2021, Mikaela Krall approached me about choreographing a ballet-like dance to one of the songs on her upcoming album release. The dance would ultimately be a music-video. 

Reading Theater Project graciously accepted this piece in their 5-Minute Fringe and I'm thrilled to have the additional opportunities to learn from live performance for this work. 

This process is all new to me and its been an experience of growth, patience, and cooperation. I want to highlight the three women immediately involved in this piece:

Mikaela Krall is a songwriter, mix-engineer, music educator, and leader of the band Dipped. She writes, "at the age of 5, my dad taught me how to play the saxophone. Growing up learning clarinet, flute, guitar, and piano, I began to explore different genres and styles of music. I became invested in learning about recording technology and music composing... Along with my passion for composing, recording, and playing musical instruments, I made my regional musical theater debute as an actress during the Summer of 2019." Mikaela has recorded and produced an original album at the Visconti Studio in the UK and has worked on an MIDI Sprout Plant recording project with sound artist Civyiu Kkliu and Lebanon Valley College professor Dr. Robert Machado. Click here to hear Mikaela and Dipped's album Shadow.

Cady R. Monasmith, BFA, MA, is a Certified Dancing Mindfulness Facilitator. Movement is a powerful way of speaking throughout bodies. Cady emphasizes change and choice through movement, awakening the conscious by letting the spirit dance in the flesh. Her use of interpretative movement helps individuals reflect their story of emotional pain, explore the past and bridge their experiences to their present self. Cady has helped her clients reconnect to their bodies by finding compassion, self-acceptance, and a sense of freedom and inner strength, as well as reintegrating physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual aspects into the client’s past experience with present meaning. Cady was given artistic guidance from Philadelphia artists, including Kun-Yang Lin, Jillian Harris, Ellie Goudie-Averill, and Laura Katz-Rizzo. Along with performing, Cady has presented nationally on the topic of mindfulness and dance as beneficial modalities for the older adult population, ranging from addiction disorders to physical rehabilitation. Cady has an M.A. in Clinical Counseling from Alvernia University. A Temple University alumna, Cady received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a secondary concentration in psychology. She is a Berks-County based therapist, integrating expressive arts with evidence-based therapeutic practice.

Genevieve O'Conner has danced ballet for fifteen years, and she will be graduating from DeSales University this May with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication and Theology. Over the years, she has danced a variety of roles, including a Spanish dancer and Marzipan dancer in Repertory Dance Theatre's Nutcracker and the titular role in Fredericksburg Ballet Center's Giselle. Genevieve is passionate about all things art and beauty and she is so honored and thrilled to be participating in Reading Theater Project's 5-Minute Fringe Festival! 

A full February

I've got a lot of excitement happening in the next few days. Will you join me? 

Tonight (Feb 15) at 6:30pm, I'm going behind the scenes with Reading Theater Project's 5 Minute Fringe Festival with The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange on BCTV.org. You can watch it on the local stations if you're in the Berks County area, or you can watch the livestream by clicking here and then clicking "Watch Now" and then "BCTV.org". Or, you can check it out at your convenience on The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange playlist on BCTV's YouTube page by clicking here. The G.R.A.D.E. is an outreach program by JCWK Dance Lab to bring awareness to dance opportunities for adults in Berks County. 

Feb 16 at 7pm, I'm leading a professional development workshop for the Pennsylvania Dance Education Organization. PaDEO is working hard to support educators and students of dance. Check them out - and their current movement to get a direct path to Dance Education Certification for K-12 teachers - by clicking here. 

Feb 20 at 1pm, Widener University is hosting the second workshop in a three-part series where I'm sharing my research and process. “We are StarDust" is free and open to the public. Please review Widener’s Covid policy before attending. Sign up here. 

Feb 24-27. Reading Theater Project's 5-Minute Fringe goes live! And I have a new piece in RTP's Fringe! I'm working with new friends and old on a ballet that will also evolve into a video. Click here for more details on tickets and event info for the Fringe!

Dance as Service

 1/17 was Martin Luther King, Jr Day. 

A day of service and reflection. An opportunity to take steps in creating a more just world. 

I was honored to be a part of Alvernia University's Day of Service through dance. I've long-proclaimed that dance can be a form of service to ourselves and our communities. I'm grateful that Alvernia's Office of Mission and Ministry supports this idea. Move and be moved with me:

I made something for you

I made something for you. 

You might remember that I consider myself a collage artist. If you've seen my work or read anything else on this blog, you know that I gather information and make sense of the correlations through my artistry. 

It's hard to do that these days... but I'm still gathering. 

So

I made this for you. The quote is from The Conscious Dancer newsletter (check it out). The images are stock from Canva. Canva's a fun way to collage when I can't create dances in the ways that I've been trained. Thanks, Canva and forms of digital communication. 

 

Happy New Year!

 

2021 Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!

How are you? 

Today used to be one of my favorite days of the year. The longest night meant that tomorrow would bring a little more light. And a little more. And a little more each day. Today always held the literal promise of a brighter tomorrow. 

This year, I've spent a lot of time with The Night Sky. She has encouraged me to be patient; to sit in the darkness and trust in time, mystery, and surprise. The Night Sky has enveloped me in the joy of new perspectives and new ways to experience light. What has The Night revealed to you? 

Serendipitously, today another episode of The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange airs on BCTV at 6:30pm. If you're not local to Berks County, you can tune in by clicking here and selecting "Watch Now" and "BCTV.org". For this show, I had the opportunity to revisit Berks Ballet Theatre, where I danced as a younger person, and connect to the holiday classic, The Nutcracker, with a fresh approach. Join me. (And if you miss it, you can catch it again on BCTV's Youtube Channel.)

I also invite you to move and be moved today and everyday. Here's a short and simple seated sun-salutation dance:

I hope you're well, finding opportunities to connect with yourself and those important to you, and are creating joy within the journey of your stories. I look forward to hearing/ reading/ seeing them and you. 

PS. In case you missed the live-stream, here's the link for Epi3 of The Greater Reading Area Dance Exchange: