ARTIST TALK
STILLNESS AND LIVENESS IN CHOREOGRAPHY SUNDAY, AUG 4
MORGAN THORSON
AUG 1 – 4
STILL LIFE
11:30 AM
This talk will center around Morgan Thorson’s work Still Life that uses the gallery space as a container for an endurancebased dance work that at times functions like a slow moving still life and at other times resembles an ensemble dance installation. Thorson will be in conversation with On the Boards’ Artistic Director and Curator, Rachel Cook, and Base co-founder and Choreographer, Dayna Hanson. Tickets: seattleartfair.com/Tickets (Includes general admission to the Seattle Art Fair) On the Boards is a proud Cultural Partner of the 2019 Seattle Art Fair. Presented by AIG, Seattle Art Fair takes place August 1-4 at CenturyLink Field Event Center, and features over 90 local, regional, and international art galleries presenting modern and contemporary art.
PHOTO: VALERIE OLIVEIRO
PHOTO: JIM COLEMAN
AT THE SEATTLE ART FAIR
Base Occasional No. 3 Co-presented with On the Boards
Base and Equinox Studios are situated on land that is the traditional home of the Duwamish people. The descendants of Chief Si’Ahl, the Duwamish people"—"or the “People of the Inside”"—"are the first people of Seattle and this entire area. This is their ancestral homeland and, as a people, their strength and cultural traditions carry into the 21st century. If you’d like to support the Duwamish people’s fight for federal recognition, please visit Duwamishtribe.org or visit the nearby Duwamish Longhouse.
Base exists to elevate risk and invention in dance, performance and multidisciplinary art. An artist-run, nonprofit organization founded in 2015 by Dayna Hanson, Peggy Piacenza and Dave Proscia, Base is accessible through a range of programs, all designed to encourage artists to take creative risks. Learn more at thisisbase.org. The Base Occasional launched in 2017 as a periodic platform for new work in contemporary dance, and has featured work by Dayna Hanson, Heather Kravas, Peggy Piacenza and Maureen Whiting, as well as Paul Lazar of Big Dance Theater in his solo Cage Shuffle. This third edition of the Base Occasional is made possible in part by The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Civic Partners Program.
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On the Boards and Base are Cultural Partners of the Seattle Art Fair. Base wishes to thank Morgan Thorson and her team for animating the space with Still Life, and the staff of On the Boards for partnering with us to present this work. BASE STAFF Dayna Hanson, Co-director Peggy Piacenza, Co-director Dave Proscia, Technical Director Allison Burke, Operations Manager Sabrina Piña-McMahon, Marketing Intern Julia Sloane, Rentals Manager Kate O’Day, 12 Minutes Max Coordinator BASE BOARD Sarah Rudinoff, President Jim Kent, Vice President Lauren Gallow, Secretary
COMING UP @ BASE
thisisbase.org
Base’s inaugural season marks an expanded version of our signature Base Residency, which gives four artists three weeks of full-access time at Base. COLEY MIXAN (Seattle) Oct 14 – Nov 3 Open House: Nov 3
12 MINUTES MAX | FALL EDITION Nov 24 – 25 Auditions: Oct 13
Coley Mixan, who uses motion capture, virtual and mixed reality mediums to highlight and multiply queer bodies in motion, will work on their newest project, The Spiral Who Loved Me, a video/performance that questions the white, capitalist mythologies of Sci Fi and the American Western.
An informal showcase of contemporary and experimental performance works in dance, theater, music and multimedia, 12 Minutes Max provides a platform for artists to showcase 12 minutes of material supported by limited technical elements. Performances are curated by different members of the arts community three times a year.
COMING UP @ ON THE BOARDS AHAMEFULE J. OLUO SUSAN: A Work-in-Progress Performance Aug 8-9, 7 pm Acclaimed Seattle artist Ahamefule J. Oluo presents a public work-inprogress performance of his newest project, SUSAN. This darkly comic musical portrait of Oluo's mother builds one story out of many, a journey from Section 8 housing in 1980s Seattle to the mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta to the Clallam Bay Correctional Facility. With stunning new compositions combined with soul-baring stand-up interludes, Oluo explores two intertwining narratives: his mother’s life as the white, Midwestern wife of a Nigerian chief and, later, a destitute single mother; and his own journey to Nigeria, as an adult, to visit his late father’s village and discover a family on the other side of the world.
ontheboards.org
LIGIA LEWIS Water Will (in Melody) Sep 19–22 Melodrama is a point of departure for Ligia Lewis’ latest choreographic work, Water Will (in Melody). A gothic tale set in a cavernous landscape morphs into a dystopian fantasy, enacted by four performers. Creative (im)possibility becomes the engine by which a state of hopelessness, darkness, and unexamined emotions are explored. This is the last part of Lewis’ triptych, which began with Sorrow Swag in blue, succeeded by minor matter in red. Presented in partnership with PICA, REDCAT, and Performance Space NY.
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THANK YOU
On the Boards is grateful for the generous support of the following organizations
KREIELSHEIMER REMAINDER FOUNDATION
THE MORGAN FUND
THE NORCLIFFE FOUNDATION
TOMLINSON LINEN SERVICE
IN KIND & MEDIA SPONSORS
DAVE HOLT
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WYMAN YOUTH TRUST
Founded by artists in 1978, On the Boards invests in leading contemporary performing artists near and far, and connects them to a diverse range of communities interested in forwardthinking art and ideas. We believe if we are successful in our work that we can grow our field, enrich peoples’ lives, and contribute to civic and global dialogues. We value: artistic risks while being fiscally responsible; leadership in our field and the multiple communities we serve to strategically advance the role contemporary artists play in society; racial and social equity, and accountability, to ensure our organization includes multiple viewpoints; provocative art as a vehicle to connect people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives; our local creative community as we engage with international artists and peers; and professional and transparent management.
ON THE BOARDS STAFF Betsey Brock, Executive Director Rachel Cook, Artistic Director Rich Bresnahan, Technical Director Sara Ann Davidson, Operations Manager and Office Witch Alexandra Harding, Assistant Technical Manager Clare Hatlo, Associate Producer Ben Marx, Sound Technician Erin McCarthy, Bookkeeper Pamala Mijatov, Director of Audience Services Kiera O’Brien, Communications Associate Eze-Basil Oluo, House Manager Beth Raas-Bergquist, Director of Development Erica Bower Reich, Patron Relations Specialist Charles Smith, Curatorial Administrator BOARD Davora Lindner, Board President Ruth Lockwood, Past President John Hoedemaker, Vice President John Robinson, Treasurer Michaela Hutfles, Secretary Tyler Engle, Member at Large Tom Israel, Member at Large Norie Sato, Member at Large Kristen Becker, John Behnke, Kim Brillhart, Maryika Byskiniewicz, Jeanie Chunn, Florangela Davila, Jeffrey Fracé, Rodney Hines, John Hoedemaker, Tina LaPadula, Mari London, Lance Neely, Emily Tanner-McLean, Kate Murphy, Mary Ann Peters, Spafford Robbins, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Stumberger, Annette Toutonghi, Josef Vascovitz, Bill Way
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Still Life Choreographer/Director: Morgan Thorson Sound: Dana Wach and Sxip Shirey Original Lighting Design: Lenore Doxsee Additional Lighting Design: Valerie Oliveiro Visual Design: Morgan Thorson, Sara Long, and Valerie Oliveiro Costumes: Morgan Thorson and Sarah Baumert Assistants: Lucia Webb and Margaret Johnson Strategist: Lila Hurwitz/Doolittle+Bird Touring Cast Non Edwards (Minneapolis, MN) Allie Hankins (Portland, OR) Sam Johnson (Minneapolis, MN) Valerie Oliveiro (Minneapolis, MN) Kristin Van Loon (Minneapolis, MN) Maggie Zepp (Minneapolis, MN) Seattle Cast Alyza DelPan-Monley Fox Whitney Jordan MacIntosh-Hougham Meredith Pellon (understudy)
Still Life is made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and is supported, in part, by the Contemporary Art Council and Exhibition Series Sponsors of the Portland Art Museum. This project is made possible in part by support from the National Performance Network (NPN) Creation and Development Fund. The Creation and Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). www.npnweb.org.
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Butler, Sheryl Cababa, Robin Calderon, Lorrie Cardoso, Jennifer Chunn, Rachel Cook & Eric Zimmerman, Claire Cowie, Joe Blow, Ryan Diaz, Nancy Edelstein, Dorit Ely, Matthew Echert*^, Brian Faker, Anne Focke, Pam Fredericksen, Kai Fujita, Vallejo Gantner, Emily Geballe, Jenny Gerber, Mark Fleming & Drindy Gier, Kaveh Goudarzian, Lindsay Hastings, Alyssa Hiler, Vivian Hua, Alex Hyman, Wendy Jackson, Joey Jagod, Jane Keating, Mike Katell & Sarah Leyrer, Jake Keating, Timothy & Jayne Keating, King James, Brandon Kinports, Nikolai Lesnikov, Tessa Levine-Sauerhoff, Valerie Loebs, Wade Madsen & Eric Pitsenbarger, Ella Mahler, Sandy & Tim Marsden, Jessica Massart, William Massey, Kaitlin McCarthy, P. E. & Anna McKee, Jack McLarnan & Rachel Willner, Shamim Momin, Robert Pearlman, Zoltan Pekic, Peggy Piacenza, Jessica Powers, Maximilian Press, Christopher & Rebecca Prosser, Dan & Debbie Raas, Kathryn Rathke, Rocky Salskov, Carl Sander, Sarah Cave, Larry Schlessinger, Hanita Schwartz, Patricia Scott, Shelley McIntyre & Bradley Serbus, Heather Kravas, Robert Stumberger^, Sarah Harlett & Dan Tierney, Janet Upjohn, Scott & Tess Van Wagner, Frances, Nina Yarbrough, Jayme Yen $50+ José Amador, Jacqueline & Wayne Barnett*^, Colleen Borst & Lindsey Twombly, Kimberly Brauer, Fancy, Dani Tirrell & Marlon Brown, Anonymous, Elvia Pilar Carreon, Tamara Codor, Aaron Craddick, Martha's sister Diane^, Katie Davis & Jacob Sayles, Christine Deavel & J.W. Marshall, Eleana Del Rio & David Jeno,
John Deshazo, Michael L. Furst, Molly Gillette, Pamm Hanson, Emma Hreljanovic, Amanda Joan Hubbard, Path with Art, Maureen Kamali, Helene Kaplan, John Michael Keating, Adam Kennedy, Kristan Kennedy, Doug Keyes, Sofie Kline, Olivia Knapp, Hilary Leonard, Lisa Liedgren, Mike McCracken & Keely Isaak Meehan, Paul Mendes, Mary Metastasio, Catherine Nueva España, Rob Pastorok & Global Artists Collective, David J. Roberts, Jean RowlandsTarbox, Ruri Yampolsky, Gypsy Mandelbaum, Tim SmithStewart, Rafael Soldi, Michael Thompson^, Ellen Sollod & Ken Torp, Amelia Wade, Jason Young, Ellen Ziegler $10+ Diana Adams, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Wyly Astley, Jeffrey Azevedo, Erin Bailey-Sun, Gedney Barclay, Lucy Barcott, Tom Bardwell, Thomas Beck, Lara Behnert, Meghan Moe Beitiks, Ron Berry, Colby Bradley, Rachael Brister, Sandy Turner, Matt Browning, Ian Butcher & Carol Chapman, Karen Bystrom, Jane Carter, Elena Chernock, Renata Chew, Brendan Malec, Elizabeth Conner, Liza Curtiss, W. Scott Davis, Samie Detzer, Max Dobler, Alexander Dones, Greg Drohan, Tonya Peck & Alex Dunne, Michael Eddington, Claire Eliot Yazza, Ana Deboo & Douglas Ende, Champ Ensminger, Timothy Farrell, Kelly Forsyth, Robin Fox, Terese Freedman, E. Steven Fried, Victoria Garcia, Kiesha Garrison, Viraj Ghandi, Neil Goldberg, Helene Goss, Alice Gosti, Bruce Greeley, Can Gulan, Imana Gunawan, Michael Hamm, Lyla Hanna, Alexandra Harding, Barbara Sauermann and Wier Harman,
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THANK YOU, ON THE BOARDS DONORS! INSTITUTIONAL & COMMUNITY PARTNERS 100,000+ | The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 50,000+ | New England Foundation for the Arts (National Dance Project and National Theater Project)
10,000+ | 4Culture, Kreielsheimer Remainder Foundation, The Morgan Fund, Totokaelo, Garneau-Nicon Family Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation, Prairie Underground, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture 5,000+ | Aesop, Tyler Engle Architects PS, WESTAF
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INDIVIDUAL DONORS Thank you to all our donors! This list includes donors through July 29, 2019. Please contact Beth Raas-Bergquist, beth@ ontheboards.org, if your name should be included but isn’t, or is spelled incorrectly. Thank you!
Byskiniewicz, Monique Courcy*, In Honor of John Hoedemaker, Florangela Davila, Nicole Stellner & Peter Eberhardy*^, Beth Glosten, Pamela & Robert Gregory*, Wassef & Racha Haroun, Mark Malamud and Susan Hautala*, Stephen Hoedemaker & Thomas Swenson*, Dave Holt, Chiyo Ishikawa & Mark Calderon, Andrea Jones, Tom & Jeannie Kundig^, Caroline Dodge and Ross Lambert, Nikola Litven*, Michael Lockman & Woody Davidson, Mari London, Robert R. McGinley*^, Doug Mora*, Kate Murphy, Anonymous, Mary Ann Peters, Timothy Pfeiffer, Cecilia Paul and Harry Reinert*^, Andrew & Caroline, Mort & Sara Richter*, Spafford Robbins*, Jerry Fulks & Stephanie Saland, In memory of Jeffrey Gerson, Carlo & Eulalie Scandiuzzi, Duane Schuler & Sylvia Wolf*, Sara Dickerman & Andrew Shuman*^, Case van Rij, Moya Vazquez*, Gail Gibson & Claudia Vernia*, Greg Kucera & Larry Yocom
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$20,000+ John & Shari Behnke*^, Merrill Wright* $10,000+ Ruth & Tony Lockwood*, Rich & Leanne Reel*^, Bill True, Davora Lindner & Ro Yoon* $5,000+ Anonymous^, Tom & Cyndy Israel^, Timothy Tomlinson & Vu Pham^, Annette Toutonghi*^, Chi Chi Wyman^ $2,500+ Norie Sato & Ralph Berry^, Tyler Engle*^, Josef Vascovitz & Lisa Goodman*^, Alfred Lee & Alison Heald*, Rodney Hines*, John Hoedemaker*, Dionysus Giving*^, Marge Levy & Larry Lancaster*^, Diana Knauf & Bjorn Levidow*, Barbara Lewis*, Lance F. Neely*, Jimmy Rogers*, John C. Robinson & Maya Sonenberg*^, David & Dana Taft^, Emily TannerMcLean & Chauncey McLean*, Bill Way*, Virginia & Bagley Wright $1,000+ Chap & Eve Alvord^, Grace Nordhoff & Jonathan Beard, Kristen & Saul Becker, Greg Bishop^, John Branch, Kimberlee Brillhart^, Maryika
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$500+ Howard Goodfriend & Helen Anderson, Judy Tobin & Mike Baker, Karena and Ian Birk*, Betsey Brock & Eric Fredericksen*^, Gina Broze*, Susan R. Den*, Linda Derschang, Jennifer Salk & David Ehrich*^, Mark Foltz*, Ariel Glassman*, Ben Goosman, Aaron & Karen Grady-Brown*, Seth Grizzle, Adrianne Hersrud, Douglas Holtzman, Pierre Lenhardt & Mariane Ibrahim-Lenhardt, Sara Jinks, Marylyn Ward & Jay Johnston,
$250+ Jenny Abrams, Katherine Bourbonais, Todd Campbell, Tova Cubert, Jeffrey Currier, DowBuilt, Sarah Foster, Heath Foster & Kevin Trombold, Jeffrey Fracé^, Yonnas Getahun, Toni & Peter Haley, Jay Hamilton^, Victoria Hardy, Robert Hutchison Architecture, Sean Kennedy, DowBuilt, Marriam Leve, Jena malone, Catharina & Nitin Manchanda, Gene Gentry McMahon & Bill McMahon, @WorldFamous, Erika Nesholm, Katy Hannigan & Roy Powell, Alan & Juliet Pruzan, Braiden Rex-Johnson & Spencer Johnson, Matthew Richter, Holly Arsenault*, Paula Riggert, Sharman Haley & Michael Samoya, Kathy Savory, Thomas Van Doren, Andrea Wagner $100+ Alethea Alexander, Tessa and Chris Bennion, Maria Bianco, Wally & Julie Bivins, Karen Guzak^, Huong Vu & Bill Bozarth, Carol Brinster, CJ Brockway, Elizabeth A Brown^, David Bryant, Carolyn
Thorson creates original dance works that combine movement, light, sound, and objects while taking into consideration a number of key factors, including the site of the work, how the body is presented to the audience, and the history of the field of dance. Thorson combines these considerations into a fully realized choreographic work with intense physicality and subtle visual gestures. I first saw Still Life when it was presented at Time Based Art Festival in Portland through a collaboration with the Portland Museum of Art. This work was created for a white-walled gallery, and uses time as both a subject and practice to process larger ideas of loss, killing, and extinction. Thorson structured Still Life as a dance/time cycle that explores the death of choreography through the decay of material (light, images on the wall of flora and fauna, gestures). The piece has a five-hour cycle and the dancers explore each day what it means to create choreography through erasing gestures with each repetition. As an audience member your experience will be charged because of your proximity to the dancers/performers. The room is the stage and you become part of the piece by standing, sitting, and watching. This is the aspect of contemporary dance that as a curator I’m most excited about, how the artwork and the audience interact with one another, how they respond to each other’s presence, and in performance this becomes clear. Still Life is for both dance and visual art audiences to experience Thorson’s take on time, as we think about animal and plant extinction, as well as the limitations of our physical presence on the planet. Additionally, the viewer experiences the indeterminate relationships of light, movement, and sound. As each five-hour cycle unfolds, the performers are physically present and emotionally charge the space, and simultaneously you can feel their individual bodies perform anxiety with each repetition and loss of gestural material. Still Life offers a space for contemplation, a way to process the violence of the present moment, and creates a long-form choreographic score that investigates dance as a living and dying thing. Rachel Cook Artistic Director, On the Boards
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This installation of Still Life is dedicated to our beloved Lenore Doxsee. With the gift of her light, she transformed spaces and touched all of our lives. Her imagination, love, and craft is acknowledged and celebrated in this work, and is foundational to every aspect of its enduring liveliness. She is deeply missed and adored.
MORGAN THORSON, Choreographer and Director Since 2000, Morgan Thorson has generated a body of work that questions the conventions of western concert dance through interdisciplinary collaboration. Engaged in critical dialogue with the form, and inspired by a subject, physical process or point of view, her work honors the body as complex means of expression as it relates to the site and community in which it is situated. For Morgan, dancing provides communication and connection to people, silence, rage, space, beauty, and itinerant imagination. Twice receiving the Sage Award for Outstanding Choreography, and a MacDowell Colony Fellow (2018, 2012), Morgan’s honors also include the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award (2016), and United States Artist (2011), Guggenheim (2010), and McKnight (2009, 2002) Fellowships. Morgan’s National presentations/ commissions include Walker Art Center, Maui Arts & Culture Center, TBA Festival, PS 122, ODC, On The Boards, INOVA, and Portland Art Museum. She has received support from The Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (2016, 2011, 2009) and in 2015 was featured in Local Time, a three-month exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum. In 2012, Morgan was in residence at the Centre Choreographique National De Franche-Comte in Belfort, France. 6
Certified in Skinner Releasing Technique, she is a 2010-2016 Creative Campus Fellow at Wesleyan University where she engages students and professors in interdisciplinary practices, developing pedagogy in Dance, Archaeology, and Religious Studies. LENORE DOXSEE, Original Lighting Designer Lenore Doxsee (Jan 3, 1965 – May 19, 2017) is a lighting designer for theater, opera, and dance. Designs with Morgan Thorson include Still Life for the Cowles, YOU, Heaven, Spaceholder Festival, and Toe the White Line. Other designs for dance include John Jasperse’s Within Between, Miguel Gutierrez’ Age & Beauty, Parts 1, 2 & 3; And lose the name of action, Last Meadow (Bessie Award), and Difficult Bodies/ Retrospective Exhibitionist (Bessie Award), Devouring, Devouring for Netta Yerushalmy (set design also), and Karen Sherman’s Copperhead and Cold Comfort. Her designs for theater include Target Margin’s The Tempest, Uncle Vanya, and many other productions. Recent designs for opera include Boston Early Music Festival’s Monteverdi Trilogy and Almira. Lenore teaches lighting design at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts Department of Undergraduate Drama.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
I’d like to acknowledge and thank all of the people that have participated in making and performing this work: Linda Austin, Emily Gastineau, Hope Griswald, Amy Kristin Jones, Eben Kowler, Judith Howard, Margaret Johnson, Alexa Lautenbach, Pareena Lim, Tom Lloyd, Dustin Maxwell, Genevieve Muench, Tahni Holt, Anat Shinar, Anna Shogren, Gabrielle Weinstein, Arwen Wilder, Max Wirsing, Takahiro Yamamoto, and Lu Yim. Tons of gratitude to Rachel Cook at On the Boards (OtB), for handling everything with clarity and for taking the initiative to take this project to the next level. A huge thank you to Dayna Hanson, and Peggy Piacenza for your responsive support, and for the beautiful space and for understanding the complexities of creative production, and, thank you to everyone at BASE. Also, a special thank you to Clare and Charles, and everyone at OtB for streamlining so many aspects of this
project. Thank you to Dave Proscia and Rich Bresnahan for taking care of the details and making all things that need to happen in the space, happen. Thank you to Alex Harding for taking care of us as we do our thing. A very special thanks to all the Seattle workshop dancers who re-energized the material and actualized another area of research for this piece. Finally, thank you to everyone at NEFA, and NPN, and you know who you are. You encouraged and supported this iteration of Still Life, no matter the obstacles or set backs. I am so grateful that you had faith in this project, and wanted to see it through. — Morgan Thorson
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variety of roles with choreographers Judith Howard and Morgan Thorson. FOX WHITNEY, Performer Fox Whitney is an interdisciplinary performance maker and artist working at the intersection of dance, film, theater and visual art. Fox is the founder and choreographer/architect of Gender Tender, an interdisciplinary performance project that centers their transgender, queer and multiracial point of view. Their performance work has been commissioned and produced by On the Board’s NW New Works Festival and Solo Festival; Velocity’s Next Fest NW and Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation; the Seattle International Dance Festival; Yellow Fish Epic Durational Performance Festival and was selected for the inaugural season of Seattle’s Gay CIty Arts. Their short dance films have screened at CounterPulse in San Francisco, at Seattle’s Twist Film Festival, Translations: Seattle’s Transgender Film Festival and at Next Dance Cinema presented by Velocity and
Northwest Film Forum. They have an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and have exhibited their visual art nationally including shows at SAIC, Columbia College, Heaven Gallery, Roxaboxen Gallery (Chicago), at CalTrans Pride and Femina Potens Gallery (San Francisco), and at Gay City Arts and the Shunpike Storefronts Gallery (Seattle). They have performed in work by keyon gaskin, Maureen Whiting Dance Co., Vanessa DeWolf, Aniccha Arts, Malic Amalya, Neil Ferron, Courtney Meaker, Andrew Schneider, and Mimi Allin. MAGGIE ZEPP, Performer Maggie Zepp is a choreographer and collaborator in DaNCEBUMS and has danced in works by Mathew Janczewski's ARENA DANCES and Chris Schlichting. She teaches dance in the Twin Cities.
ALYZA DELPAN-MONLEY, Performer Alyza DelPan-Monley is a Seattlebased dancer and choreographer, seeking to brighten her surroundings with splashes of whimsy, human connection and goofy possibilities. Their work has been performed at Seattle International Dance Festival, Cafe Nordo, ArtsWest On the Boards and Washington Ensemble Theater. She performs regularly with Tim Smith-Stewart and Jeffrey Azevedo, MALACARNE, and DONNA. NON EDWARDS, Performer A dancer, choreographer, GYROKINESIS Method Apprentice Trainer, and freelance arts administrator; Non Edwards has been working in the Twin Cities since 2009. Non has recently performed with HIJACK, Mathew Janczewski, Casey Llewellyn and Morgan Thorson, Valerie Oliveiro, Kerry Parker, Deborah Jinza Thayer, and Laurie Van Wieren. Non choreographs and improvises works for the camera and the stage and is the Editor at DanceMN. Prior to moving to Minnesota, Non grew up in rural Iowa, spent two seasons with the 940 Dance Company, and earned her BA in Math from Grinnell College. ALLIE HANKINS, Performer Allie Hankins is a Portland-based dancer and performance maker. She is a co-founder of Physical Education, a critical & casual, reading & researching, drinking & dialoguing, dance & performance collective comprised of herself, keyon gaskin, Taka Yamamoto, and Lu Yim. Physical Education hosts open reading groups and lectures, curates performances, and teaches workshops nationally.
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Most recently, Allie has danced for Julien Prévieux (Paris), Morgan Thorson (Minneapolis), and Ruairi Donovan (Ireland). Her current projects include duets We Don’t Trust Suddenness with Rachael Dichter (SF), and The Thief and The Traveler with Linda Austin (PDX); teaching her all-levels movement class TRANSCENDENTAEROBICOURAGE, and learning American Sign Language. LILA HURWITZ, Strategist Lila Hurwitz/Doolittle+Bird specializes in project and tour management, communications, production, and grant writing for artists and others. Previously she was Associate Director and Director of Communications at Artist Trust; Administrative/ Co-Artistic Director of Dance Art Group, producers of the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation from 1994–2011; designer of Contact Quarterly magazine for 11 years; and a dancer working with Nina Martin, Lucia Neare, Karen Nelson, Lisa Nelson, Stephanie Skura, Crispin Spaeth, and others. She received the inaugural Velocity Dance Center Dance Champion award in 2011 for her arts advocacy work. doolittleandbird.com SAM JOHNSON, Performer Sam is a performance maker/doer. He has had the great good fortune of performing/collaborating/researching/ making with a slew of amazing artists. He most often does those things as a member of the Minneapolis based performance group SuperGroup.
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SARA LONG, Visual Artist Sara Long was born and raised deep in the Redwood Forest of Northern California. As a child of farmers, she learned to commune with nature making the birds, ferns, ancient trees, light, and fog her friends. Those relationships have stayed with her and she finds herself, nearly three decades later, painting those sacred bonds. Sara received her BFA from the University of Washington in 2008. She lives and works in Seattle, WA. saraannlong.com JORDAN MACINTOSH-HOUGHAM, Performer Jordan MacIntosh-Hougham was raised in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. They graduated with a B.A. from Bennington College in 2016 and are currently based in Seattle. By hybridizing their experience with dance and video, and actively queering these forms, they create work that challenges rigidity and encourages radical empathy. They have participated in artist residencies at EMPAC, Velocity Dance Center and Studio Current and have worked for artists such as Kota Yamazaki, Dana Reitz, Elena Demyanenko, Liv Fauver, Karthik Pandian, Andros Zins-Browne, Wade Madsen, Heather Kravas, and LanDforms. KARA MOTTA, Rehearsal Assistant Kara Motta is a dancer, choreographer and program Manager of DaNCEBUMS and has most recently danced in works by Morgan Thorson, Anat Shinar and Pedro Pablo. She practices her vocal talent in husband Eric Mayson’s band and administrates at The Wellness Center in Minneapolis. 8
VALERIE OLIVEIRO, Performer and Co-lighting designer Valerie Oliveiro is an artist born in Singapore and based in Minneapolis, MN. She is a performance maker, dancer, designer, photographer, and manager. She has performed in projects by Jennifer Monson, Morgan Thorson, Rosy Simas, as well as her own. She has also recently designed for Pramila Vasudevan, Deke Weaver, and Alanna Morris Van-Tassel. In May 2019, she was appointed as one of the Artistic Directors for Red Eye Theater! She’s super excited to be dancing with this group of amazing artists! MEREDITH PELLON, Understudy Meredith Pellon, understudy, is a graduate of the BFA dance program at The University of the Arts, where she performed works by artists including Paul Matteson, Eiko Otake, Faustin Linyekula, and Jillian Peña. Her work has been featured in Pennsylvania Ballet II: En Avant and Koresh Artistic Showcase in Pennsylvania, as well as in Ballet Inc.’s The Series, and Jennifer Muller/The Works HATCH Presenting Series in New York City. Since relocating to Seattle, Meredith has presented work at Performance Lab at On The Boards, Converge Dance Festival, Monomyth I (produced by Tuya Vale Artist Collective) and Seattle International Dance Festival. She has also danced for Allison Burke, Beth Terwilleger, Jenny Boissiere, and Elise Meiners Schwicht. SXIP SHIREY, Composer Sxip Shirey is a composer/producer/ curator/performer based in NYC. Current projects include composition for playwright Lisa D'Amour for Ocean Filibuster, premiering at the American Repertory Theater
Company (Cambridge, March 2020), and composition for a new work for choreographer Dan Safer at M.I.T. (October 2020) and his 200 person immersive choral work The Gauntlet: Each A Colossus Yearning at Rockefeller Center (August 2019). He is composer/music director for the internationally touring theater/circus arts production LIMBO which has been touring internationally for the last six years, produced by Melbourne based Strut N Fret Productions House and London based, Underbelly, and South Bank Center. Shirey created sound scapes and live foley for composer Paola Prestini’s choral opera Silent Light premiering at Banff (July 2019). Shirey composed music for choreographer Morgan Thorsen’s works Still Life (2017) and Space Holder Festival (2012) Shirey is a 2012 United States Artists Simon Fellowship winner, composed music for Neil Gaiman's short film Statuesque (2009), and presented three feature performances at TED (2008). sxipshirey.com KRISTIN VAN LOON, Performer Kristin Van Loon has been dancing in Morgan Thorson choreography since 1994: Still Life (2016-present), Faker (2004-7), Big Room (2003), Tongue Tied and Twisted (1996), Hip Wars (1995), Choreophoria (1994). Van Loon makes and performs dances with Arwen Wilder as the choreographic duo HIJACK. In Seattle, HIJACK has performed and taught often at Velocity, SFDI, and, most recently, at NW Film Forum. Van Loon also curates performance and visual art in Minneapolis and at large at HAIR+NAILS Contemporary Art Gallery, Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, and Future Interstates (Dance Improvisation Performance).
DANA WACHS, Composer Dana Wachs is New York City-based audio engineer and composer. In 2009, she debuted her solo compositions and has since continued to work on her own music, releasing her debut 7", composing for commissioned performances and recordings for fashion designer Rachel Comey, and choreographers Heather Kravas and Molly Poerstal, along with invitations to perform at Basilica Soundscape and Iceland Airwaves. Tours have included supporting Cat Power, Beth Orton, and Deerhunter Internationally. Still Life is her first commissioned work for Morgan Thorson. Her debut EP, Black Horse Pike, was released in 2016 via Styles Upon Styles. Black Horse Pike was written, recorded and produced by Wachs in her Brooklyn home between touring, and participating in parts II and III of a performance art piece titled Rural Violence, directed by Brandon Stousy, with part II presented by Matthew Barney. In conjunction, she collaborated with George Clarke of Deafheaven, forming the new duo Wachs & Clarke, for the 20 minute accompanying music piece RVIII: Invocation.February 2019 saw the release of her latest work, Tracks for Movement, a compilation of scores for dance and film. LUCIA WEBB, Choreographer’s Assistant Lucia Webb is a dancer, choreographer, and dramaturg from Portland, Oregon. She moved to Minnesota to attend Carleton College where she majored in Dance and American Studies. As the culmination of her dance major, she produced an evening of performance entitled Ephemera. Since graduation in 2016, she has worked in the Twin Cities in a 9