of body of body of

November 4th and 5th, 2022

MOtiVE Brooklyn

Direction & Creation: Erin Landers

Choreography: Erin Landers in collaboration with the ensemble

Original Score: Zosha Warpeha

Movement: Sienna Blaw, Mãr Galeano, Kanami Kusajima, Mary McGrath

Music Performance: Zosha Warpeha

Set: Jennifer Buchner

Lights, Sound, Video: Brian Ellis

Costumes and Props: Erin Landers

Additional Music and Sounds: “Hello Earth” by Kate Bush, “Floods are getting more common. Do you know your risk?” NPR radio broadcast by Rebecca Hersher Aug.3rd 2022, “Old Rotary Phone Free Sound Effect” by mycompasstv, “Waves of Hawaii” by Florian Reichelt

of body of body of was supported by the For the Artists! Residency Program at MOtiVE Brooklyn.

A note from the director:

Thank you for being here to witness this new iteration of of body of body of. Yes, in some ways this is the “premiere,” but this body of work has had a life before this weekend, and will continue to have a life after this. I first attempted to capture my feelings about being a body full of water on this changing planet full of shifting water years ago during my senior project in college, but I knew there was something I wasn’t quite capturing. Years later, at the start of the pandemic, dancing in my apartment, I stumbled upon a new idea. Flip gravity, and the ability to create illusions of watery weightlessness opens up. In 2021 I started working with two dancers, on exploring the movement possibilities in this new relationship with gravity. The culmination of our work was a film which contains the beginnings of many of the ideas that became this show. In 2022, with the space provided by the MOtiVE Brooklyn For the Artists! Residency program, I was able to develop these ideas with a larger group of dancers into the piece you are seeing tonight. In the process we’ve shared this work at Dragon’s Egg, where the audience watched from above, and an excerpt at MOtiVE’s Gala with a remote video projection of an aerial view. And tonight we bring you the next iteration— with watery mirrors that distort the forms of the watery bodies that dance beneath. We hope you enjoy, and look forward to whatever other forms this work continues to take.

There are so many amazing people who have helped this work come together. Firstly, I would like to give a huge thank you to Meredith and Lilach at MOtiVE Brooklyn for their tremendous support of me over the last year in their Artist in Residency Program, and for creating the possibility of producing this piece. Thank you also to Marya at Dragon’s Egg for creating a beautiful space for us to deepen the work this summer. Thank you to all the dancers whose willingness to dive into this work with curiosity, playfulness, and rigor is forever inspiring to me. Thank you to Zosha for the perfect sonic landscape to tell this tale. Thank you Jenny for actualizing my wild ideas. Thank you to Brian for your sharp eye, good choices, and technical know-how. Thank you Angel for all the work you did on this project in the early stages. Your contributions are felt in the piece today. Thank you Mel for the most beautiful poster I could have imagined. Thank you Alice for gorgeous photos. Thank you Evan and Emma for saving the day. Thank you to the volunteers at MOtiVE for assisting with the shows. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to my husband Jonah for being on my team always. I can’t imagine having done this project without your unending support.

PERFORMER BIOS:

ERIN LANDERS (she/her) is a Brooklyn based choreographer, teacher, and performer. She is a founding member of ECHOensemble, an improvising group of musicians and dancers, a member of dNaga Dance Company, an internationally-touring, intergenerational dance company directed by Claudine Naganuma, and was a co-founder of A-Y/dancers, a Hudson-Valley based repertory company. Erin is influenced by her upbringing in a musical household and study of many dance forms including modern, contemporary, ballet, Zimbabwean, Irish, and Balkan Dance as well as mime. In 2019, she premiered her first full length show entitled MAYFEVER. She has presented work at Palace of Fine Arts (San Francisco), the Trust Performing Arts Center (Lancaster, PA), Alchemical Studios (New York City), ChaShaMa (New York City), and the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY).

SIENNA BLAW (they/them) is a queer dance artist from Austin, TX who finds a deep interest in improvisotory and collaborative dance practices and processes. Since graduating from SUNY Purchase in 2017 Sienna has performed with Pam Tanowitz Dance in their “New Work For Goldberg Variations”, and in repertory of Merce Cunningham, Doug Varone, and Hannah Garner’s 2nd Best Dance Company. They have performed Contact Improvisation scores at MoMa, and Park Avenue Armory. Sienna is a co-founder of A-Y/dancers, a collaborator with BIRDHOUSE, directed by Raven White, and a collaborator with POGO Dance Projects, directed by Emily Kessler. 

MÃR GALEANO (they/them) is a visual and performance artist from Paraguay. They braid elements of photography, drag, dance, and theater to create visual koans. Mãr is part of the LEIMAY Ensemble since 2017 with whom they've trained, performed and toured internationally. She is also the shapeshifter drag artist known as FreeDa Banana; a spicy and colorful ocean-less glamazon. They’ve had the honor to work with the Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute, a program for young adults leading towards self-empowerment and activism. Art is Mãr's vessel to explore the human condition, to be present, to give unconditionally, and to enjoy life.

KANAMI KUSAJIMA (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer and street performer born and raised in Japan. She started her dance training at the age of 6 in Japan, and graduated with BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase College. She has performed in dance works by various choreographers, including Martha Graham, Francesca Harper, Yoshiko Chuma and Ana Maria Lucaciu. She has been performing mainly at Washington Square Park recently and known as “Let Hair Down.” Her articles were published in New York Magazine, AM New York, The Villager, The Village Sun, Arc’teryx official website, among others.

MARY MCGRATH (she/her) was born and raised in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts where she ran free in the woods often. From a young age, Mary held a deep curiosity and awe for dance and movement expression which eventually led her to receive her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance from SUNY Purchase. Mary spends her days teaching a rambunctious and joyful class of two year olds at wBees Forest school, a nature based Montessori program in Ridgewood, Queens.

ZOSHA WARPEHA (she/they) is a violinist, vocalist, composer based in Brooklyn, NY. Steeped in improvisation, her music draws inspiration from a diverse range of folk traditions and contemporary music and often inhabits a meditative space between genres, exploring transformations of time, melody, and tonality through long-form acoustic and electroacoustic performances.