Inspirations.

As a dance artist, I believe in connecting to human experiences and emotions driven by the body’s relationship to internal and external space. I am inspired by the way we live, the way we move, the way we feel, the way we interact as dancers, humans, and a society at large. I create through a lens of motion, emotion, and change. I create work from a touch of inspiration in the form of context, content, or movement impulse. With a focus on the body and its spatial relationship, both near and far, I have crafted an individual approach to study and create dance, pinpointing my choreographic views into a category of vast inquiry. I have found conceptual threads that drive my work and reveal themselves in different ways throughout my process: humanity, intimacy, and relationships. The experiences of distance and intimacy, inhabiting the same or distant spaces, and the passing of energy from one body to the next are commonalities in my work. It is within these changing relationships where opportunities for understanding and personal relationships emerge. I am inspired by words with many meanings and use poems or other textual sources as the initial impulse for emotional polarities: the trust and the heartache, the love and the loss, the free and the paralyzing.

Movement + Structure.

Infusing my commercial dance musicality with modern dance movements, I work in highly gestural and athletic movement phrases emphasized by rhythmic patterns. The structure of movement motifs and dancer relationships is highly important to how my work is viewed. Each movement section is treated as a puzzle piece so it has the ability to change in order and affect the overall picture or feeling tone of the work. This also allows my work to take new form when presented in different venues. My process can resemble a chemical bond, requiring all parts to equate and balance out in order for the work to be made whole. 

Collaboration.

My work is only as powerful as its dancers and collaborators. It is important for me to collaborate with the artists who choose to be in the room with me. Working in collaboration with dancers allows for a creation of personal autonomy within the work, finding a way to live in their own unique bodies while also experiencing some aspects of my embodiment. I find it vital that individuals bring their personal movement histories and experiences into the studio to discover how each person reacts and relates to inhabiting the space of their own bodies and the community. The process of collaboration brings to light new ideas, new pathways, and new solutions that add more color to any work. I listen critically to my dancers and their bodies to determine how the work unfolds as we mutually find the common ground for the new work. The embodiment of how an individual experiences, reacts, and relates emotions requires trust, risk, and a developing sense of self.

Audience Engagement.

I strive not to dictate what my audience chooses to see, feel about, or make meaning from my work. Yet, the intention always remains clear to all those involved within the process. It is through every unique pair of eyes that my work takes hold of meaning, inspired by shared humanity. I do not seek heavy social metaphors to carry the value of my work, but rather the simple intricacy of space and it's infinite design to guide my mapping, making room for the audience and performers to find their own connections as they wish. Every choice is calculated in some form of a pattern that the dancers and audience can either mentally or physically engage with immediately while still requiring further questioning and investigation.