BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance

We are very excited to announce that as part of the LEIMAY Arts in the Community Garden Commissioning Fellowship Program, we will be premiering a new dance film on October 22nd, 2020 of our work in progress! This work in progress has its roots in the foundational work reeling→healing, which investigates the frustration and helplessness occurring as a result of misled policies and hatred infecting our country today. This work in progress, Healing Currently Downloading, will act as a brand new sequel or second chapter to reeling. While reeling sought to capture the frustration and raw emotion of today’s world, this piece yearns for a resolution to these emotions through purposeful motion, emotion, and action. With dramatic shifts in attitude and form, this work offers audience members a chance to question whether its open-ended conclusion will permit a resolution to the frustration.

Teresa’s work breeds tension below the surface, then propels forward. Instead of focusing on raw emotion, however, we want to search for a solution, or at the very least, a resolution, to our frustration remembering that action and mobilization are instrumental. She began the creative process by designing a work to be performed in the Dorothy Strelsin Memorial Community Garden (LES). We are inspired by the profound impact that this garden has on community-building and encouraging shared space, and plan to continue drawing on these principles as she creates movement patterns and interactions for the dancers. We believe there is no better time than now to create this work. This subject matter, although emotionally heavy, must be experienced and contemplated by anyone affected by today’s political climate. reeling→healing’s ability to connect with audience members has been proven, with audience members commenting on how well the piece provokes thought, inspires, and brings communities together with diverse audiences, and our new work will be following a new parallel path with audiences. Since we are currently creating virtually, this in process showing will be sharing movements that we are developing to later perform in the park in this project. There will be a live Q&A with the artists afterwards.