Choreography

My choreographic works focus on creating ballets around the lesbian experience. These ballets are thus inherently estranged from the classical imposition of strict binary roles, which are foundational to ballet. My works contemplate the performance of gender and lesbians’ relation to it. By giving performers and spectators opportunities to consider and embody a broader interpretation of gender, my choreography creates space to indulge in being physically and emotionally present in space while inviting a dyke-centric approach to intimacy. 

I am enamored with the ephemerality of live performance, especially in this era of reels and shorts that play on repeat forever. To counter this trend, I create works emphasizing transition and theme in movement while also considering that my works can be viewed from any perspective or angle. The unique experience shared between a spectator and a live performance is something I cherish and wish to cultivate. I aim to bring ballet off the proscenium and present my choreography live in non-traditional performance venues. My movement is music-driven at its core. It is not possible to separate my choreography from the music it was created for. 

There is little precedent for partnering work between two dancers on pointe. I often explore this technical challenge in my work. I wish to cultivate a better understanding of this technique of partnering and attempt to contextualize and utilize it in the framework of classical ballet technique, with an end goal of sharing these techniques widely. I am not only interested in the technical aspect of this partnering work, but I am also driven to convey and center intimacy through my choreography by using this exploration of partnering technique as a tool. Using fluidity in transitional movements, a physical closeness of the dancer's centers of gravity, balanced rolls where both dancers “lead” and “follow” interchangeably throughout the work, or simply intentionally creating dynamic movement for all ballet dancers and not just for the “partnered” dancer, all of these fasates and concepts contribute to this goal of palpable closeness that I wish to bring to my work. 

In my experience, live dance performance is inherently collaborative in nature. Importantly to me is the collaboration between me and the dancers I work with. My choreography is not realized into art until the dancers and performers also create it.