PROJECTS
I,Thou
"Hatreds never cease by hatred, but by love alone." Buddhist teaching
I, Thou is a confrontation of our culture of conflict and contempt. Violence, intolerance, and hatred have plagued humanity for eons. It seems we are destined to inflict misery on each other. But throughout time the sages have told us otherwise - Jesus, Buddha, Rumi, Amma, Gandhi and so many others have pointed the way toward compassion and love.
Through movement and storytelling we seek to find our way out of conflict while never looking away from the destruction we cause.
The Storytellers
The Storytellers is a weaving together of dance, music, and spoken word. As part of a second generation Irish American family, I grew up immersed in storytelling. Every family gathering is spent endlessly telling stories. Almost everything is told with humor, no matter how unfunny the original circumstances. This trait stands out as the one for which I am most grateful, finding the humor in the heartbreak by telling a story about it. For over a year I recorded my family’s stories, adding many of my own, and worked with dancers to express all of this through our shared mode of communication, dance.
Pining for the Moon
Each September a gaggle of performance artists gathers in the woods of Saugerties, New York to honor the moon, the trees, the mountains, and each other. It is a night filled with dance, music, poetry, and puppetry.
Traces
Traces is a public dance happening in the parks, streets, and sidewalks of Burlington, VT sponsored by Vermont Dance Alliance. My dancers and I presented "Coalesce" in Waterfront Park, Burlington in June 2017.
The Giant in the Washing Machine
In January 2011, I presented “The Giant in the Washing Machine,” a dance theater exploration of motherhood and childhood. The evening-length piece is a series of vignettes, alternating between these perspectives. “Childhood is a wild journey in a constantly changing landscape. Motherhood is a trip back to it, a ride alongside it, an invitation to re-enter the lost world of innocence, wonder, and fear."
This work was commissioned by Burlington Dances in Burlington, VT where I was Artist in Residence.
