ideas

I aspire to make movement driven theatre, in collaboration with artists of other disciplines. My aim is to push the boundaries of the art form of dance, defying traditional definitions. In my artistic work I explore the communicative potential of dance to ignite an emotional, aural, visual, and visceral experience for the audience. By integrating disciplines and genres in original forms and structures, I am creating new dance theatre hybrids for performance.

As a daughter of two deaf parents, I deeply believe in the power of movement to communicate thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Therefore my definition of dance is very broad. For me dance can be the subtlest action, the most delicate gesture, as well as elaborate highly developed athletic movement sequences. My dance however is always created in a particular theatrical context with a particular phrasing aimed at expressing the emotional subtext of any given situation. I am not afraid of using any form, style or genre to achieve my aim. I want to connect with my audiences on a deep emotional level. The ultimate goal of my work is to move them. I want the audience to go away satisfied. Have they experienced something new? Have they been emotionally awakened, or even tickled? Have they been prompted to ask questions? Have they seen themselves, and the human condition, onstage?

For me, being an artist is about creating community. I love to fill a room with artists passionately focused on making something together. It’s all about those relationships. By investing myself in a community of fellow artists, I am free to make up the world I live in. For each new work, I build a new community of collaborating artists. Together we pursue a higher aim, with profound respect for each other, our process, and the work. I tell artists, go to where the love is. The purest love is in that place where we make spontaneous movement together. And when the work is complete, we ask ourselves: have we achieved something that none of us has discovered before, or expressed something in a new way?

Having worked as an artist in Philadelphia for the past 25 years, I am now free to invent, codify, explore, learn, lead, follow, and collaborate. I have become a leader in the community—as artistic director of Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre, as Coordinator of Dance at Rowan University, and as Producing Artistic Director of the nEW festival.

Because of these experiences, I have come to a pivotal point in my career. I have made a decision that in order for me to deepen my relationship to art-making, it is now time for me to devote myself entirely to that practice.

In the next 20 years, I want to work independently as an artist using my roles as MSDT’s Artistic Director and as a Professor of Theatre and Dance to facilitate my choreographic research. Working on a project –to- project basis I want to continue my commitment to creating original work, in a way that respects the necessary balance of my physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. I envision for myself an artistic life that permits me to lead when necessary, follow when necessary, and learn when necessary.

I want to be recognized as a pioneer of new forms of dance/theatre in Philadelphia. I want to be remembered for the kind of artist I am—one who takes risks, believes in community, challenges the existing order, and undertakes a search by any means necessary.