Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Gracie Evans

 

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Gracie Evans' work and process below!

My piece chronicles an unnamed invisible illness and its physical and emotional impacts on the body. The work is split into three stages, with each stage corresponding to the “before”, “during”, and “after” phases of illness. My dancers have been exploring how pain, suffering, and grief can manifest into movement in a non-literal and abstract way. The narrative of the piece draws from my own experience as well as the novel “The Invisible Kingdom” by Meghan O’Rourke.

Illness is so uniquely personal and it can be a very isolating experience. While the work touches on this, the dancers have also revealed how there is always a space for community and connection. When I watch the work, I can’t help but notice the extraordinary care the dancers have for one another. I am most excited to see how this unity and collective energy transfers to the stage.

Most of the material that I choreograph feels good in the body, familiar, or as my dancers describe it, “fun.” During my choreographic process, I have challenged my dancers to experiment with movement that feels physically uncomfortable but emotionally resonant. The juxtaposition of these two vastly different movement qualities has been so exciting to watch and I can’t thank my cast enough for their willingness to really “go there.”

I hope audiences feel like they went on a journey while watching my work. I hope that they feel a pit in their stomach that is overpowered by the beautiful and groovy movement, but never quite leaves.

Thank you Gracie! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Kayla Lim

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Kayla Lim's work and process below!

I am exploring the concept of emotions, and the sense of embodiment with these emotions integrated into my movement. I have an idea of each emotion that I want for each part of my piece - excitement, restlessness, loneliness, and acceptance. I want to give my dancers this outline to think about when creating and executing the movement, but I also want to give them the freedom to interpret these emotions themselves.

I am most excited to see where this piece is going because I don't have set transitions or endings yet. I enjoy the process of figuring out what works and what doesn't, so having the time and ability to play around with that is what I find most exciting. I am also very inspired by my dancers which helps greatly with the process itself.

My choreographic process began with creating three core phrases. I wanted to give out a good amount of choreography before I had my dancers generate movement so that I could set a guideline. I am now exploring more of individuality as opposed to unity since most of my phrases that I have created are group sections. I have added a duet section with movement generated by my dancers, and I plan to incorporate more of those elements in the future.

I hope that audiences enjoy the work and take away something they remember in the future.

Thank you Kayla! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Sophia Shahin

 

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Sophia Shahin's work and process below!

I am drawing inspiration from the manifestation of the unconscious mind within the realm of dreams. I want to dive into the surreal and abstract nature of dreams, exploring how they serve as a veil, masking the authentic emotions of the dreamer. In addition, I aim to illuminate the concept of dreams as a window to the unconscious, where emotions are often suppressed and disguised.

This piece truly invites the audience into an unfamiliar world, one where the interplay of a disturbing soundscape, distorted costumes, and emotionally charged yet athletic movements immerse the audience into a narrative. As I continue to explore this world, I am thrilled by watching my dancers engage with the material, surrendering to the absurdity and complexity of it.

As a first-time choreographer, I am still honing my creative process. I’ve played with offering phrase work, which I then manipulate and distort. Additionally, I’ve explored providing prompts to the dancer, which take the form of artistic images, Wikipedia pages, and other sources detailing dream phenomena and letting that spark inspiration for movement generation.

When audiences witness my work, I hope they feel disoriented amidst the absurdity and ambiguity of the piece, prompting introspection and personal interpretation. The abstract nature of the piece invites the audience to embark on a unique journey, finding clarity within the mysterious nature of dreams and emotions.

Thank you Sophia! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Deena Goodgold

 

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Deena Goodgold's work and process below!

In my work, I am exploring themes of multi-tasking, distractions, hyper-fixations, and other concepts related to having ADHD, and their benefits. I am also interested in exploring these concepts in a scientific manner, taking into account the randomness in nature that allows us to adapt to our environment. Given that I can relate to these concepts, I am curious to see how they subconsciously govern the direction of the piece.

In rehearsals, I have been teaching phrases that I made as well as having my dancers generate their own material based off of questions I ask and prompts/words I give the dancers to think about. I have been playing with this material and finding new ways of portraying concepts that relate to the overall theme.

I want audience members to find themselves at times getting distracted, but noting that whatever they are drawn to holds something of value. I hope that the audience can get a glimpse into the mind of someone with ADHD and perceive the organized chaos within the work. 

Thank you Deena! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Chi Rung Chan

 

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Chi Rung Chan's work and process below!

I’m exploring play through the rules, shapes, spatial patterns, and imagery of Taiwanese Mahjong.  I’m exploring rave through their specific culture, concepts, and music.  I’m most excited to world-build, through factual knowledge on our shared Taiwanese culture, as well as pure imagination and play on the concepts I’m exploring.  

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While I am very hands-on and experimental, I am extremely intentional and specific in my movement generation. I enjoy sharing with my dancers the inspirations behind what we are building, and I especially enjoy watching them welcome and interpret my ideas with open arms and a twist of their own creativity. I practice collaboration in workshopping and problem-solving as a team with my cast, having fun and connecting with one another in the creative process. To me, that reflects not only my values as a choreographer but also a key component in both Mahjong and raving: to build relationships while having fun together.  

Thank you Chi Rung! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Emory Dance Company Choreographer: Ilo E.

 

Photo by Lori Teague

The Spring 2024 Emory Dance Company Concert on April 18-20 features new work by students in our Choreography II course. Read about choreographer Ilo E.'s work and process below!

Excitingly, I am exploring several concepts in my piece. Primarily, I am working with themes of oppression, resistance, and liberation. In terms of oppression, I’ve been exploring the concept of linear time (past, present, future) and its relation to progress in western ideology. In regard to resistance, I’ve been exploring binaries such as abnormal/normal, performer/audience, and mind/body in order to understand both how White supremacy uses these to “other” and oppress marginalized identities and how these same identities use their cultural sensibilities to resist such oppression. My work uses the Afro-centric forms West African dance, Afro-Caribbean dance, Hip-Hop, and House to ground these narratives and foster a liberated community.

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Creating a space for my fellow BIPOC dancers to explore and practice cultural forms that they would otherwise not have consistent access to, has been a fulfilling experience. My choreographic process has been a mixture of discussion, movement generation, and learning foundational techniques that later show up in choreographed material.

I hope the several textures, images, and ideas of the work encourage the audience to witness the piece. To witness means to take in a subject(s) through all of the senses and respond in the moment through them as well. This may take the form of clapping, stomping, oral sound, or even moving! Moreover, those witnessing are encouraged to let go of categorizing said subjects and instead, let their offering write/rewrite their identity in that moment.  

Thank you Ilo! Tickets for the Emory Dance Company Spring 2024 Concert are on sale now. Click here to purchase them now!

Dance Major Ilo E. shares Dance Photography Project: 9raxis

Dance Major Ilo E. is currently enrolled in the course, Intro to Black Feminism taught by Dr. Marcellite Failla, and for his final project pursued a dance photography exhibition featuring nine images that symbolize his Black feminist identity entitled "9raxis". Learn more about the project in Ilo's words below, and view some of the images captured by faculty member Lori Teague!

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9raxis is a combination of the term ‘praxis’ and the number ‘9’. I chose the word praxis because of its intrinsic relationship to Black feminist thought. According to Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins, Black feminist thought does several things. First and foremost, Black feminism is an oppositional framework. In challenging oppression it creates an informational cycle between activism, Black feminist theory, and praxis. In understanding the intersection of oppression for marginalized identities (i.e. race and gender), Black feminists use shared experiences to empower collective standpoints, as well as exercise coalition building. In Black feminism ‘the personal is political’, and thus ALL oppressed people must be free. 

In P2axis, my spine curved in a perfect arc as I swung my flesh around me, amused and in awe by the shapes it made.  Feeling liberated, my flesh filled my kinesphere. I chose the colors gold, black, and green to represent the Jamaican flag. On the flag, green represents the vegetation of the island. Gold represents the wealth and warmth of the land. And black represents the people. I swing the black cloth around me letting it curl, wave, and fill with air to represent my liberated body, as well as the flesh of my ancestors. I like to think it also represents the fluidity of my gender, sexuality, and being. 

In Pr5xis, my hair whirled, poked, and reached around my head as I walked across the space, bouncing and swinging my arms. “Stand up” by reggae artists Kabaka Pyramid and Nathalia blasted throughout the Schwartz studio. Like hip-hop, reggae represents conscious movers of a conscious movement. Over the years, reggae music has become intrinsically tied to Rastafarians: members of an apolitical, social, and spiritual movement that originated in Jamaica. Rastafarianism, like Black feminism, vouches for the self-governing, actualization, and freedom of all oppressed people; including displaced Africans.

One may notice that 9raxis features themes of culture, gender, sexuality, and race amongst other things. I ask that you both acknowledge these themes and appreciate the dynamics, depth, and feeling of each photo to reach beyond them. Find new meanings and your own praxis.

Click here to learn more about 9raxis!