My work acknowledges movement as a form of embodied knowledge and communication, housing and sharing vast amounts of information. This embodied knowledge is a product of lived experiences that reside within the body. Born from a childhood climbing towering Magnolia trees, playing highly competitive sports, and dancing for endless hours in DC night clubs, my movement practices have always been a vital way I engage with my environment to deepen relationships with those around me.
My recent project, letting the body lead, draws upon my background in the somatic arts, dance, video, and collaborative practices. I invite people to engage with the work, both as viewers and active participants. I lead score-based movement workshops in which participants are invited to question the ways movement makes meaning through object manipulation, improvisation, and guided visualization. In addition, I invite experienced, somatic practitioners to lead workshops in their areas of expertise including mind/body centering and social dance. We gather and share insights into our shared experiences through guided conversation.
In addition, letting the body lead presents a series of video works and an installation piece that document score-based movement experimentation. The subjects of these videos, Mom at Lake Terramuggus, Basketball/Spinner, and Mom and I, Red Coat, move through outdoor spaces and interact with familiar objects in unconventional ways. letting the body lead also presents a life-sized video installation, These Embodied Walls, that documents a solo, duo, and trio of women manipulating huge, spinning walls. This work explores the concept of embodied empathy, constrictive movement patterns, and expansive movement possibilities.
At the heart of my creative practice lies a deep curiosity about discovering new ways of moving through the world and understanding the implications related to how these new forms of embodiment can act as a catalyst for personal and collective transformation. I ask how can we use movement to help us create a “new shape” and shift what we embody. I believe in the transformative potential of how movement and contemplative practices can support a more liberated way of being both within an individual and, by extension, within broader communities and social movements. When we move together, we know one another.