Late Winter / Early Spring Events & Reflection
June 23, 2022SYLVANIA REFLECTION
BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance had the exciting opportunity to work with Sylviana General Lighting on a TikTok project this January! We would like to express our gratitude to the Sylviana team and all of the amazing dancers and collaborators that worked to make this such a fantastic experience. Please follow us on TikTok to catch a sneak peak of some of the behind the scenes action before the official video is published! TikTok: @bodystoriesteresafellion.
TAKE ROOT
On April 8th and 9th, BodyStories performed our full length work, Continually Healing, at Green Space. Thank you to everyone at Green Space for helping us with all of the production aspects leading up to these performances, and thank you to everyone who attended our performances. It was wonderful to reconnect with our community, and none of this would have been possible without all of the collaborators and artists who worked with us during the process. First, a big thank you to our team of dance artists: Kate Bishop, Emma Iredale, Nicole Kadar-Greene, and Sabrina Petrelli; it was a dream working with all of you and I’m so thankful to have had such a talented and inspiring group of artists to perform this work. To our costume designer, Nina Katan, thank you for making our dancers feel comfortable and look incredible on stage, and thank you for being so extremely imaginative and receptive during our planning sessions together. Lastly, to our team of musical collaborators, you really helped to bring this piece to life with your musical visions; thank you John Yannelli, Muriel Louveau, Kiernan Robinson, and Kevin Keller.
Also, a special thanks to Tim Cryan for handling lighting design while I was out healing from a concussion, and a thank you to our Company Manager, Malaika Holder, for Zooming me into tech and always ensuring the most fluid process.
DOT CAR FREE EARTH DAY
BodyStories was honored to participate in this year’s Car Free Earth Day. Car Free Earth Day is an annual car-free event, held the weekend before or after Earth Day, that connects over 100 open Streets, 22 plazas, and 1,000+ miles of the NYC Bike Network across the five Boroughs! NYC DOT is proud to partner with local artists to bring exciting performances to this event every year; we were so excited to present an excerpt from our new work, Continually Healing, at this performance! Additionally, BodyStories was also able to host an hour-long pop-up dance class, open to all families for participation. Malaika Holder, Sabrina Pitrelli, and Emma Iredale lead this class.
CLASS SERIES
We are so thankful for all of your interest in and support for our May Class Series this Spring; we had an amazing time hosting all of our classes!
During our May Class Series, we explored many styles of dance, from Zumba to Swing to Modern, and we hosted Melissa Riker, who taught a Contemporary class for our series and presented a showing of her work with the Kinesis Project! (More information on this residency to follow). Melissa’s Contemporary class was wildly successful, as was her showing of “Capacity, or:/ the Work of Crackling”. Melissa and her team of dancers were a pleasure to host at our Middlebrook Arts Center, and we look forward to having them back again in the future; they were an inspiring group that made very creative use of the space. We had so much fun dancing with our Upstate community, and we were excited at the prospect of interacting with new people. We hope to see recurring faces throughout class series in the future!
BARN UPDATES
Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center (MAR+RC) is underway! Recently, BodyStories hosted a “Barn Fantasy Tournament” on our Instagram page that allowed the public to have a say in what color we chose to paint the barn. We are excited to announce that the color chosen was, “Breakwaters Blue”! We can’t wait to show you the final product! In addition to the new paint job, BodyStories is thrilled to be replacing the 100 year old windows in the studio; updates and renovations to the Jefferson property are ongoing.
Alongside renovations, Education and Dance Residency Programs are up and running at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center! Offered programs are growing to include a robust Artist-in-Residence Program in all disciplines, ongoing performance and public engagement programming steered by Resident Artists, an annual performance series by BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, dance classes for adult and youth students, and health/wellness retreats. Check back with us periodically via social media or our website for programming updates!
NYC DANCE PARADE
BodyStories was invited to present our work in DanceFest and participate in this year’s NYC Dance Parade! We would like to thank Dance Parade for providing us with this amazing opportunity; there was so much art, creativity, expression, and acceptance present throughout the day, and we were so happy to be a part of it all. Please watch this trailer that we created for the NYC Dance Parade/DanceFest to see some of the highlights from the day!
We would like to thank our dance artists Emma Iredale and Sabrina Petrelli, who represented BodyStories in both the Dance Parade and DanceFest; we thank you for all of your hard work and dedication throughout this process. Thank you also to our Fellow, Lana Fuqua, who joined us for DanceFest and offered continuous support throughout the day. None of this would be possible without all of you, and we thank each of you for your contributions!
It was great to get outside and celebrate what we do best with all of the artists that participated. This event served as a reminder to continue expressing oneself and to continue doing what makes you the happiest!
RESIDENCIES + RETREATS
BodyStories hosted several successful residencies/retreats in May! We hosted our dear friends, Katrina Kiklowicz and Kayleigh Shuler, along with their Zen Yoga company from May 13-May 15. This retreat struck a balance between exploring everyday, tangible self-care practices with quiet time for reflection and rest; Katrina and Kayleigh did a great job flowing between meditation, yoga, walking meditation in nature, movement discourse, and individual reflection time(s). They were wonderful guests at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center, and we look forward to hosting them again!
In addition to our Zen Yoga Residency, we hosted Melissa Riker from May 25-May 29 as a part of our May Class Series. While residing at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center, Melissa taught a Contemporary class with us and presented a showing of her work with Kinesis Project! (Kinesis Project is a non-profit organization that creates site-specific dance performances and facilitates educational programs). Melissa’s Contemporary class was wildly successful, as was her showing of “Capacity, or:/ the Work of Crackling”. Melissa and her team of dancers were a pleasure to host at Middlebrook Arts Center, and we look forward to having them back again in the future; they were an inspiring group that made very creative use of the space.
Late Fall & Early Winter Events and Reflection
January 28, 2022WINTER INTENSIVE:
We had an incredible January Winter Intensive and we loved teaching and moving!! Dancers and movers of all skill levels, explored their abilities and were challenged through technical, composition, and improvisational classes each day. During this intensive program, we created a deeper connection and relationship between art and activism. We would like to thank our amazing guest faculty Teresa Fellion, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Eddie Stockton, Muriel Louveau, and Mei Yamanaka who rotated between contemporary, improvisation, composition, and jazz to provide a well-rounded dance education throughout the program. To our participants, thank you for coming with open minds and amazing dancing and creativity! We hope you continue to dance and learn this year!
We anticipated hosting the Intensive through a hybrid module with an in person or virtual option. Unfortunately, due to the recent COVID omicron circumstances, we moved our entire programming online via ZOOM to offer the safest module to all participants. We persevered with a strong team of guest artists who adapted and overcame and receptive students who were thoroughly engaged! needed
If you would like more information about future intensives hosted by BodyStories, please contact: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
IHRAF PERFORMANCE:
In December 2021, BodyStories performed at the International Human Rights Art Festival, a week-long festival that partners with Human Rights organizations and celebrates dancers and artists everywhere! We performed our in-progress work: Continually Healing on December 10 at the Wild Project Theater in New York! We were so thrilled to be among other amazing artists in the area such as Ellen Mandel and Michael Lydon, LatticeWorks, Catey Clark, Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, Dancers Unlimited, and Amy Liou and Sayoko Kojima. One of the great things about transitioning back to live performance is seeing fellow artists’ work! After the performance, there was a late-night event where guest speakers took to the stage and provided an enriching end to a dance filled evening.
APAP PARTICIPATION:
In mid-January 2022, we virtually participated, in collaboration with the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), in the Imagine Dance Festival via their online sector. Due to the recent surge in COVID cases, the entire conference had been moved entirely online and is viewable to all until February 28th! The showcase with Pentacle Arts allowed BodyStories to present our work on a fantastic platform where we connected with other artists in the industry including: Neville Dance Theater, Jodie Randolph Dance, Eric Taylor Dance, Kit Modus, Pony Box Dance Theater, Claire Porter/Portables, Cynthia Berkshire, Prehistoric Body Theater, and slowdanger. Our performance included a variety of BodyStories works; Healing Currently Downloading, reeling → healing, HOME, and Mantises are Flipping W.3. Each piece encouraged activism, inspiring production approaches, and an introspective element from viewers watching at home. To tune in to this amazing event please use this link: https://vimeo.com/655108909
If you would like to follow up or have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us @ info@bodystoriesfellion.org.
SYLVANNIA TIK TOK:
BodyStories has been commissioned for an amazing opportunity with Sylvania Light Bulbs. We have been hired to advertise their product through a series of Tik Toks using dance silhouettes. This project has allowed us to reconnect with our longtime friend and collaborator, Eddie Stockton who Teresa worked with in Dubai for 1.5 years, and has known since Ailey days and beyond! We were thrilled to work with extremely talented and creative dancers in this project Kate Bishop, Nicole Kadar, Maria Gardner, Sabrina Petrelli, and Eddie Stockton. Jacob Hiss is our video collaborator and that has been an integral part of the process. Our company is new to the Tik Tok world and we are so excited to get started on this project. If this “sparks” your interest, be sure to follow all our social media platforms to watch our videos.
THE VILLAGE DANCE CLASSES:
As we start the new year with a plethora of opportunities, we also close the chapter on 2021. We had an amazing Fall 2021 semester teaching weekly classes at The Village via Zoom virtual classes. Our programming allowed us to connect with elementary age students and get their bodies moving through improv and dance-centered activities. This partnership wouldn’t have been successful without the help of amazing guest teachers who offered their time and skills to ensure thoughtful instructions were given to the wonderful students at The Village. Thank you Audrey Rachelle, Kathryn Boland, and our own company manager; Malaika Holder! We have such a great team of well-rounded individuals who made our fall teaching experience amazing, and we miss the wonderful students at The Village already. See you again soon!
Early Fall Events & Reflection
November 30, 2021DANCING WITH HORSES WORKSHOP:
The Equus Projects and BodyStories were honored to host an extraordinary workshop at BodyStories’ Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center in Jefferson, NY this November. The weekend workshop offered a unique experience of interspecies dialogue between humans and equines with Equus Projects Artistic Director, JoAnna Mendl Shaw in collaboration with the popular Catskill equestrian, equine trainer, and musician, Dan McCarthy. On the Friday night starting the weekend, guests were invited for a communal dinner and improvisation jam. Over the next two days, sessions were offered with two of McCarthy’s horses that introduced movement explorations and improvisation techniques that Shaw used to create performance works with horses in the past. Dance was incorporated through a studio session that aimed to deepen and translate paddock experiences into choreographic explorations. We are so grateful that we spent an unforgettable weekend with the Dancing With Horses Workshop at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center! Thank you to all participants, your participation and everything you brought to it made this event shine as such a transformative and full experience. Thank you to our friends at Fairsing Farm, The Equus Projects, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, and Dan McCarthy for being such wonderful facilitators and collaborators. It was a joy to collaborate with you. We have so many wonderful memories because of you all. We hope to incorporate more weekends like it within our company in the future!
PENTACLE X FALL FURTHER PERFORMANCE:
We were so thrilled to have had the opportunity to perform at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie St, New York, NY, 10002) for the ASP Fall performance hosted by the Pentacle! Our dancers rehearsed very diligently to bring the choreography to life through duet and solo work. The weekend was a huge success! We are so honored to have been able to perform our in progress work, Continually Healing! Returning to sharing an in-person performance in a large theater was so exciting. Sitting in the tech booth and feeling the powerful energy radiating from the dancers was a palpable, transformative sensing that is hard to put into words, but is so extremely felt. And also feeling the audience’s instant feedback, passionate cheers and applause from a full house. Wow, it had been a minute! All this feels strange but familiar, and renewed. It has been mostly virtual or outside for more than a year, and re-entering with a beginner’s mind felt oh so good. We would love to thank Pentacle and Dixon Place for producing this event as well as the marvelous dancers we work with for making this performance so great! All of the astonishing showings by fellow companies: Ariel Rivka Dance, Claire Porter / PORTABLES, CoreDance Contemporary, Jodie Randolph Dance, and REDi Dance Company blew us away and we are thrilled to continue getting back to safely performing in person! Please follow us on social media for more reflections and posts about the performance: @BodyStories:Teresa Fellion Dance.
LIBERTY HALL APPRECIATION AND REFLECTION:
THANK YOU! Thank you so much to everyone at the Liberty Hall performances at Kean University last Saturday! We are so honored to have presented our work reeling–>heeling. It was such a fantastic live performance experience with you all, on absolutely beautiful grounds! This opportunity allows us once again to perform live with passion and enthusiasm in front of such supportive, live audiences.
A huge thank you to everyone who came by and watched. Your support means the world to us. To the dancers Kate Bishop, Emma Iredale and Kimberly Murry – thank you for your creative energy and for using your time to move and create art. I am so proud of what we accomplished together. Thank you @libertyhall #LHDanceFest @LibertyHallMuseum @BuggeBallet for setting up and sharing our work. This event was so well-produced and smoothly run. Thank you to @KevinKeller for your inspiring original music, and @Nina Katan for your individualized costume design. Of course, we have to thank our patrons who came and watched, live performance would not be possible without a supportive audience! Your participation means the world to us! Feeling over the moon right now!
OUTSIGHT APPRECIATION AND REFLECTION:
OUTSIGHT was so incredible. Thank you so much everyone at the LEIMAY Foundation! This opportunity brought our creative teams fully together for the first time in over a year. We have been creating throughout the pandemic, but having so many of us involved, rehearsing and performing in person all together, safely. It really was irreplaceable. And it was so great to dance in front of such a supportive live audience. Performers and audience were masked, distanced, and outside, and it felt safe and inspiring. Personally, I haven’t performed with the company in a very long time and boy did I miss it
A huge thank you to everyone who came by and watched. Your support means the world to us. To the dancers @charlyw97 @nicolekad and Kathryn McKenzie – thank you for your creative energy and using your time to move and create art. I am so proud of what we accomplished together @leimayfoundation Thank you to John Yannelli, Muriel Louveau, and Kiernan Robinson for your amazing creativity in the original music.
Also, a huge congratulations to Tatsuya Nakatani, the amazing solo percussionist we had the honor of sharing the space with. Congratulations to @coralaszlo @rkpdance @lareesa_lvj on your OUTSIGHT performances. Head to @leimayfoundation to find out more about their work.
THE VILLAGE ANNOUNCEMENT:
We consider ourselves very fortunate that we not only get to perform but also spend time with students and further dance education. Not only is dance entertaining, but it can be very therapeutic and engaging, especially for youth. As part of our rewarding teaching experiences this season, BodyStories has been teaching at The Village in Hartford, CT! The Village is one of the first establishments in the country to provide a home for neglected children. Their mission stands on the foundation of building a community of strong, healthy families who protect and nurture children. The Village provides multiple services to youth and their families such as a range of behavioral health practices for early childhood and youth development. Their mission is something that aligns so strongly with ours at BodyStories and we are so glad to have this opportunity to collaborate with The Village and spend time with the participants at the center!
MIDDLEBROOK ARTS RESEARCH + RESIDENCY CENTER UPDATES:
Wow! We have come a long way with our arts center in Jefferson, NY. We have recently had an amazing local excavation team work on drainage on the roof of the barn and help us grate the land. With artists’ visits, a couple of residencies, our summer intensive, and the Equus Workshop, the property is blooming, and has only scratched the surface of its potential. With such unique events to introduce visitors to our center, we also aim to provide additional options that will increase the inclusivity at our BodyStories property. With that being said, we will be introducing yoga offerings and community events that will take place at Middlebrook. Yoga means different things to different people. Whether it is your goal to increase awareness, concentration, and focus, travel on a spiritual journey, or remain physically fit, all these goals can be achieved through our retreats. Our barn-turned- studio center in Upstate, NY allows yoga to be experienced in the forefront of nature that will provide a rejuvenating and peaceful experience for any participant. Please email info@bodystoriesfellion.org for more information on how you can take part in this journey, namaste.
July Events & Reflection
August 13, 20212021 HYBRID SUMMER INTENSIVE REFLECTION
Our second annual Summer Intensive has come to a close, and we are so thankful for each and every dancer that was able to join us in-person at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center and virtually on Zoom. In addition to developing technical skills in contemporary and modern technique, our students had the unique opportunity to work with BodyStories collaborators in our improvisation and composition workshops. Through the exploration of improvisation with live music, objects, text, and live vocalization, our students experimented with movement in a unique setting and created their own choreographic material with individualized guidance from our guest artists. In addition to our regularly scheduled workshops, we hosted a variety of fun activities in the evenings. Our students gained the opportunity to hear more from our guest artists in an artist talkback and explored BodyStories’ repertoire with a BodyStories Movie Night. A huge thank you to John Yannelli, Muriel Louveau, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, and Mei Yamanaka for your contributions to our programming. We bonded with a healthy communal meal, hosted a game night, and went full out in our improv jam! During this intensive, dancers were able to connect to a deeper understanding of the relationship between arts and activism and rediscover joy through movement. Our in-person participants grew so inspired that we made a dance film before their departure and hosted an impromptu final showing! We are thrilled at the success of our hybrid intensive and look forward to sharing more moments like these with you in the future!
PROPERTY UPDATE:
We were so excited to welcome our Summer Intensive participants as the first students to dance in the new Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center. We are still feeling all the joy and experienced a first glimpse at what we envision for our space – a welcoming and bustling community for the arts and social justice.
As we continue to renovate the property to be fully functioning, we had some fun on our newly bought tractor! Who knew owning a tractor would be so fun and useful! We have been hard at work grating the land, cutting all of the grass in our outdoor area, and removing all of the trash from the property. Our large trash pile filled with items from the barn’s past owners has finally been completed and taken away to be recycled and repurposed. With nine acres of land, it has surely been a process, but we continually look forward to the beauty that this property will be once it is all finished and we can’t wait to share it with you!
Hope to see you all soon in NYC or here upstate. Thank you all for your continued support as we continue this renovation project, setting up a space for the entire BodyStories community to enjoy!
LEIMAY OUTSIGHT PERFORMANCE:
Making our way to the end of summer and the beginning of the fall season, we are starting to line up some exciting performances, and we want YOU to join us!
As we come to the end of our LEIMAY Garden Fellowship, we are happy to present work at the OUTSIGHT on September 2 at 2:00 pm. Join us at the Toyota Garden in East Village, NY as we share a work in progress, Continually Healing, featuring live music and four of our company dancers. This will be a FREE live event you don’t want to miss!
LIBERTY HALL DANCE FESTIVAL:
BodyStories will be presenting reeling → healing at the 2021 Liberty Hall Dance Festival, presented by Bugge Ballet, on September 25. We are excited to perform in this beautiful outdoor location at the Liberty Hall Museum in Union, NJ at the Ice House Back Lawn at Kean University. Catch our performance from 1:00-4:00 pm, where we will be performing our piece not once, but twice!
ASP FALL FURTHER:
On November 14 at 7 pm, BodyStories will be performing at Dixon Place for the Pentacle ASP Fall Further X. We are always happy to partner with Pentacle Arts and take part in their performance opportunities. We will be showcasing a new work, so be sure to save the date and be on the lookout for more details to come soon!
TAKE ROOT:
We are pleased to announce our participation in the Take Root 2021-2022 season at Green Space in Long Island City, NY on April 8-9. Take Root is a series that supports choreographers and dance artists by providing monthly opportunities to present an evening of work in a split-bill performance. We look forward to connecting with new colleagues, dancers, choreographers, collaborators, and audiences as we take this opportunity to be back on stage and develop new work.
June Events & Reflection
August 4, 20212021 VIRTUAL SUMMER INTENSIVE
SAVE THE DATE! We are bringing back our one week Summer Intensive this year, and this year has a twist: in-person option! Last summer, we had a great turnout for our summer intensive technique, composition and improvisation classes -all virtually. Technique classes got us moving and feeling great as a big group! Virtual improvisation and composition allowed our dancers and creators to form special collaborative bonds. Two of our wonderful intensive participants continued their duet project with musical composer Muriel Louveau and developed their work into a film! John Yannelli participated in our Summer and Winter Intensives and live composed during our solo compositions! This year our summer intensive is virtual again, and we may have some in-person spots available as well. We look forward to another fun week of technical and creative explorations.
2021 Virtual Intensive
Dates: July 12 – 16
Location: Zoom (In-person options as available)*
Classes Monday through Friday
Technique Class: 11:30 AM to 1:00PM
Improvisation/Composition: 2:00PM to 4:00PM
Rates: $150 In-Person
$120 Virtual
$17 Drop-In Class
$150 Housing Fee, if needed
*In-person participants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof of vaccination.
For more information contact: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
PROPERTY UPDATE:
Our upstate property has increasingly become more homey, as we finalize overall physical changes. The kitchen is now furnished and cupboards are stocked with all the cooking essentials and healthy snacks for our guests. Our upper level dance studio floor is ordered, ready to be put down later this summer, and so much more. Not only has the physical space progressed towards receiving our esteemed guests, but we also have named our space! *Drumroll please for our working title* Meet the one and only Middlebrook Arts Research and Residency Center. Now the final touch is YOU!
As we reveal our updates on social media and in our newsletter, the communal support and excitement is truly motivating. Thank you for every form of support and stay tuned for more! We can’t wait to have you for our Summer intensive, a residency, a fun and creative getaway or simply for a visit!
Hope to see you all soon in NYC or here upstate. Thank you all for your continued support as we continue this project, setting up this additional space for the whole BodyStories community to enjoy.
LEIMAY FELLOWSHIP:
We are excited to announce that we will be performing a live outdoor performance for the LEIMAY Fellowship in late August/early September 2021. It will be a version of together/apart, which is part of the Continually Healing series.
7MPR FESTIVAL:
In celebration of Pride Month, BodyStories was able to share together/apart with a virtual audience once again through the 7MPR Festival. Considering the significance racial, gender and sexuality topics for this piece, it is a great form of reflecting on how they come together as we are each truly an identity with these and many other facets.
We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate in 7MPR Festival again and connect with so many other great artists. It is always refreshing and enriching to see new performances as well as share our work with new or familiar faces.
May Events & Reflection
2021 VIRTUAL SUMMER INTENSIVE
SAVE THE DATE! We are bringing back our one week Summer Intensive this year. Last summer, we had a great turnout for our summer intensive technique, composition and improvisation classes. Technique classes got us moving and feeling great as a big group! Virtual improvisation and composition allowed our dancers and creators to form special collaborative bonds. Two of our wonderful intensive participants continued their duet project with musical composer Muriel Louveau and developed their work into a film! John Yannelli participated in our Summer and Winter Intensives and live composed during our solo compositions! This year our summer intensive is virtual again, and we may have some in-person spots available as well. We look forward to another fun week of technical and creative explorations.
2021 Virtual Intensive
Dates: July 12 – 16
Location: Zoom (In-person options as available)
Classes Monday through Friday
Pricing:
$150 – In-Person
$120 – Virtual
$17 – Drop-In Class*
$150 – Housing Fee, if needed
*Virtual is preferred, in-person drop-ins must follow COVID Safety Guidelines and notify us 24 hours in advance
COVID Safety Guidelines: In-person dancers MUST be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination
For more information contact: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
2021 SPRING CLASS THANK YOU:
Our Spring Class Series has come to an end. A HUGE thank you to all of the amazing dancers who attended weekly class and danced with us. It has been a wonderful journey and we are so thankful for your dedication and hard work.
Don’t worry! We are planning our summer class schedule and offerings. We would love to hear your feedback about our virtual classes and curriculum. We welcome your honest experiences, your suggestions for scheduling and offerings, and your ideas on ways we can further improve our virtual offerings. This greatly helps us grow as a company and to be able to offer further impactful experiences.
If you did not receive a survey but would still like to provide your input please email education@bodystoriesfellion.org.
Keep an eye out for our 2021 Summer Class Series schedule! COMING SOON
SPRING INTO SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM:
We are beginning our summer internship program and have had a wonderful spring internship program experience! Our Company Manager Leigh Ann Gann has recently returned from maternity leave, and our Interim Company Manager Alaina Wilson is now helping us as a Development Associate. We also welcome KeAysia Middlebrooks, who graduated our internship program, and has now returned as a Company Fellow. As we get ready to welcome this summer’s group of impressive interns, we wish our spring interns all the best in their next endeavors, and hope to work with them again soon!
Thank you to all our Summer 2021 applicants! We enjoyed reading your materials and look forward to finding ways to include you in our BodyStories family in the future.
PROPERTY UPDATE:
Now that the transformation of our property upstate in Jefferson, NY is underway, BodyStories is busy planning company events and community and arts gatherings. We are also working on projects inside and outside ourselves, and planning renovations and construction with contractors. As our renovations progress, it is fun to reflect on some of the sweet and silly moments that brought us here. It feels as if we had a sea of boxes we had to wade through in our visits last fall, all the while sleeping on an air mattress! So many boxes to unpack & so much planning! We’ve been hard at work organizing all the set pieces, boxes of costumes, and office materials for BodyStories, and they now (almost) all have a proper home. Wow, getting organized! We look forward to revealing the phases of our current progress soon. This place is magical for creating, gathering, cooking, and being!
Hope to see you all soon in NYC or here upstate. Thank you all for your continued support as we continue this project, setting up this additional space for the whole BodyStories community to enjoy.
APRICITY PRESS:
Apricity Press Issue 6 features BodyStories’ work reeling → healing. reeling → healing, created in 2018, investigates the frustration and helplessness that can occur as a result of the constant barrage of misled policies and hatred infecting our country. Original music by Kevin Keller and costumes by Nina Katan add to the sense of urgency and need for community, working in tandem with the choreography to immerse the audience in a fully-formed world. As an intimate community, the performers and audience find a way to connect via “The Emotional Architecture of a Bridge,” an original concept drawn and created by Teresa Fellion that involves audience interaction.
Apricity Press is an incredible online publication featuring multi-genre works from dance works to poetry to visual art. The purpose of the publication is to construct a “space where incredible literary, art, and dance works could be published side by side, showcasing the tremendous inherent connections between the forms”. We are honored to be featured in the current issue alongside many brilliant creators, writers, and artists.
2021 ARTS HIGH FESTIVAL:
In collaboration with the Arts & Education Center in New Jersey, BodyStories adjudicated, led workshops, and organized a final dance performance presentation with the high school and college students from Middlesex, Monmouth, and Union Community Colleges. Teresa has taught as an Adjunct Professor with these schools, offering an online semester long course in technique composition, and improvisation.
We also led a virtual yoga/meditation/breathing workshop for high school students at Life Sciences Secondary School on the Upper East Side. What a wonderful way to help high school students stay in tune with their bodies and minds during this moment of transition!
VIRTUAL DANCE PARADE:
On May 22nd, BodyStories participated in the Annual Dance Parade and Festival! We offered an online 30 minute teaching workshop and performance presentation to dancers and dance lovers. It was a successful global interactive event, with thousands of Zoom cameras on performance, teaching and party stages. It was an exciting and diverse festival with classes offered in dance styles, such as Salsa, Break Dance, African, Hip-Hop, Indonesian, Soca-based Carnaval, Isadora Duncan Technique and many others.
Thank you to the festival organizers and everyone who attended and danced with us!
For more information visit their website
April Events & Reflection
April 22, 2021WINTER INTENSIVE VIDEO RELEASE:
COMING SOON! We are excited to announce that we will be releasing our Winter Intensive Composition Class Video on Thurs, April 29th at 7:30 PM EST on Facebook LIVE! We are so proud of our intensive students and we can’t wait to show you what they’ve accomplished. This is a release party you will not want to miss. Make sure you’re following us on social media to follow our daily stories for more info and sneak peeks!
Click this LINK to visit our Facebook
The video will be available for viewing on our Facebook @Bodystories: Teresa Fellion Dance and Instagram @bodystories_tfd as well as on our YouTube page after the release.
WEEKLY CLASSES:
We are continuing our weekly BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance Company Class for pre-professional and professional dancers. Want to train in the BodyStories curriculum and learn our company repertory in a fun, professional environment? Join us for our weekly pre-professional and professional virtual classes, ongoing until May 28, 2021. This Spring series provides us the opportunity to brush up on our foundations, while challenging our minds and bodies to approach movement from a unique and sometimes unfamiliar lens. Dancers will explore and rediscover joy in their movement in a comprehensive class transitioning from a yoga-flow like warm up, into modern and contemporary technique, and ending in extensive phrase work. Classes will also help build composition and improvisation skills by partnering movement, music, and text, while investigating the relationship between dance and social justice. These classes are open to all ages and levels! The class schedule is as follows:
Technique:
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm EST * sign up via email 24hrs in advance for Wed.
Thursdays 12:30-2pm EST
Composition & Improvisation:
Fridays 1:30-3:30pm EST
(Bi-weekly)
Additional times available for both classes! Please inquire.
Weekly youth virtual dance classes are also ongoing until May 28, 2021. Our youth classes include movement from BodyStories’ dance curriculum, incorporating different styles and techniques such as contemporary, modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, choreography, improvisation, tap, Central and West African, salsa, swing, and more. We have classes designed for all junior dance levels from beginner through pre-professional. Age ranges include 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years old. The class schedule is as follows
6-9 Year Olds:
Thursdays 5:30-6:30 pm EST
10-13 Year Olds:
Fridays 3:30-5:00pm EST
with additional times, ages, and levels available!
We have classes for all levels of youth dancers ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17. We have classes for all genders, and also offer boys only classes!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP! Students may sign up for the entire weekly series, one month, or a single drop-in class! If signing up for the whole series, participants may be eligible to receive 20% off the total cost. Please do not hesitate to reach out for any financial assistance or scholarship needed. We are completely open to all participants where they are financially during this time.
Thank you to everyone who has come to class this month! We have enjoyed distance dancing with you and we are always excited to see your faces each week. It is so exciting to be in class with and moving with people from all over the country. What a fun bonus of hosting classes on Zoom!
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
UPSTATE PROPERTY:
In addition to our ongoing home base in NYC, in Fall 2020 BodyStories was fortunate to acquire a large 4800 sq. ft. converted barn space on 9 acres in upstate in Jefferson, NY! We are excited to announce that we will be transforming the property into a fully functioning facility for arts residencies, yoga retreats, special events, and community gatherings. There is so much that has happened and there is so much more to do! Big next steps are coming soon, and we are feeling ready to take them on. BodyStories is blessed to have a team that is working on it together, and we will be expanding our team soon.
Hope to see you all soon in NYC or upstate! Thank you all for your continued support as we navigate both surroundings and set up this additional space for the whole BodyStories community and new friends. Keep an eye out on our social media and newsletter for updates and sneak peeks. We can’t wait to show you everything!
Facebook @Bodystories: Teresa Fellion Dance
Instagram @bodystories_tfd
Twitter @Bodystories:TFDance
2021 VIRTUAL SUMMER INTENSIVE
SAVE THE DATE! We have announced that we are bringing back our one week Virtual Summer Intensive for another year. Last summer, we had a great turnout for our summer intensive technique, composition and improvisation classes. Technique classes got us moving and feeling great as a big group! Virtual composition allowed our dancers & creators to form special bonds. Two of our wonderful intensive participants continued their duet project with musical composer Muriel Louveau and developed into a film!
We are looking forward to having Muriel join us again for our upcoming summer intensive! During this intensive, dancers will rediscover joy in movement and develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between art and activism. Come dance with us this summer from your home and dive into the world of BodyStories!
2021 Virtual Intensive
Dates: TBA (Stay tuned!)
Location: Zoom
Classes Monday through Friday
For more information contact: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
STAY HOME FILM FESTIVAL:
On Sunday, April 10th, BodyStories presented our piece march at the Stay Home Film Festival (Remix!). It was a wonderful event and the films were shown via YouTube Premiere stream – on the Stay Home Film Festival channel. Sending a huge THANK YOU to Stay Home Film Festival for hosting an amazing virtual performance last Saturday night. The program was filled with inspiring, enthusiastic, and thoughtful works.
If you missed the performance don’t worry! The films are still available for viewing HERE. Check them out!
LEHIGH VALLEY DANCE EXCHANGE VIRTUAL DANCE EXPOSURE:
BodyStories will be presenting our piece together/apart at the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Virtual Dance EXposure! Films are available for the general public to stream on the ArtsQuest event page for the entire duration of the April 23-25 weekend. LVDE and ArtsQuest are also co-hosting a live virtual premiere event on Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24 at 7:00 pm. During this 2-part event, the films are streamed live for the community to watch the films and engage in virtual conversation with the artists and other viewers.
SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM:
We are in the midst of our application process for our Summer 2021 Internship Program. This year’s group of applicants is very impressive and we have enjoyed reading though your materials thus far. Interviews are happening in the next few weeks and we are looking forward to speaking with everyone and getting to know you better. Please continue to submit your materials, and if they come in after the deadline, we are happy to keep them on file for a future cycle.
Our internships have traditionally involved a combination of remote and in-person work. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we have temporarily shifted to an entirely remote work environment, with some options for in-person work as is possible. As the COVID-19 situation evolves, we will maintain our remote format until it is safe to work in-person again. Regardless of format, our internships are highly interactive and thorough; interns will receive plenty of hands-on experience in arts management, marketing, and development during working sessions, special events, mentoring, and meetings.
Thank you to everyone who is applying! We are excited to delve into this process with you!
March Events & Reflection
April 6, 2021ESSENCE OF EMBODIMENT FESTIVAL: FILM & WORKSHOP
On March 18th BodyStories presented our work Healing Currently Downloading at the Essence of Embodiment Festival. The film was available for on-demand streaming on the Essence of Embodiment website and single days and all days festival passes were available for purchase. We also participated in a Talkback Session on March 19th where we discussed the role dance, film, and art play in the process of healing, and our relationships with nature. On March 21st, Artistic Director Teresa Fellion led her workshop Moving Your Story as a part of the Essence of Embodiment Teaching Festival. In this workshop we incorporated guided movement, and improvisation to reflect on our individual lived-experiences of fear or trauma in order to re-shape and move through. I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to hear some of your stories and proceed down the path of healing together.
Throughout the festival we examined techniques to release fear & trauma, and re-align the body with the mind while bringing together a group of multi-racial, multi-generational dancers, artists & writers. It was truly an eye opening, motivational, and validating experience and I applaud Iman Louis-Jeune for this astounding feat. Thank you to everyone who streamed the videos, attended the workshop, and the Talkback session. Your attendance is so appreciated. We hope you enjoyed!
MARK DEGARMO DANCE VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
March 18th was a big day for us! BodyStories also presented our work together/apart at the Mark DeGarmo Dance Virtual International Arts Festival over zoom. It was an exciting night of dance and it was inspiring to hear and receive so much thoughtful, intuitive, and creative feedback. We had a strong group of presenting artists and the variety of the works showcased was so refreshing. It is truly amazing how creative one can get presenting virtually over Zoom. Thank you to everyone who attended. Your presence, support, and feedback is so appreciated!
MOVEMENT RESEARCH OPEN-PERFORMANCE
Our final virtual performance of March took place on the 23rd where we showed our work together/apart at the Movement Research Open-Performance. This was a private, invite-only event and the intimate environment fostered a supportive and creative atmosphere. Thank you to the Movement Research moderator and all of our mentors, collaborators, and friends who participated in the discussion. You have given us some incredibly helpful artistic feedback which will help us continue to develop our work.
DANCE/NYC SYMPOSIUM:
Our Artistic Director, Teresa Fellion, attended the Digital Dance/NYC Symposium which took place March 17th -20th. The event was wonderfully attended and it was so refreshing to be with the dance community again even through the screen. The speakers and discussions were helpful and uplifting and provided attendees with some valuable tools to help navigate a changing dance world. We are proud to be a part of this thoughtful and actionable community! Plus, you can’t beat the dance parties! Thank you kindly to everyone at Dance/NYC for the enormous amount of work in putting the symposium together for us all.
WEEKLY CLASSES:
We are continuing our weekly BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance Company Class for pre-professional and professional dancers. Want to train in the BodyStories curriculum and learn our company repertory in a fun, professional environment? Join us for our weekly pre-professional and professional virtual classes, ongoing until May 28, 2021. This Spring series provides us the opportunity to brush up on our foundations, while challenging our minds and bodies to approach movement from a unique and sometimes unfamiliar lens. Dancers will explore and rediscover joy in their movement in a comprehensive class transitioning from a yoga-flow like warm up, into modern and contemporary technique, and ending in extensive phrase work. Classes will also help build composition and improvisation skills by partnering movement, music, and text, while investigating the relationship between dance and social justice. These classes are open to all ages and levels! The class schedule is as follows.
Technique:
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm EST * sign up via email 24rhs in advance for Wed.
Thursdays 12:30-2pm EST
Composition & Improvisation:
Fridays 1:30-3:30pm EST
(Bi-weekly)
Additional times available for both classes! Please inquire.
Weekly youth virtual dance classes are also ongoing until May 28, 2021. Our youth classes include movement from BodyStories’ dance curriculum, incorporating different styles and techniques such as contemporary, modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, choreography, improvisation, tap, Central and West African, salsa, swing, and more. We have classes designed for all junior dance levels from beginner through pre-professional. Age ranges include 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years old. The class schedule is as follows
6-9 Year Olds:
Thursdays 5:30-6:30 pm EST
10-13 Year Olds:
Fridays 3:30-5:00pm EST
with additional times and levels available!
We have classes for all levels of youth dancers ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17. We have classes for all genders, and also offer boys only classes!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP! Students may sign up for the entire weekly series, one month, or a single drop-in class! If signing up for the whole series, participants may be eligible to receive 20% off the total cost. Please do not hesitate to reach out for any financial assistance or scholarship needed. We are completely open to all participants where they are financially during this time.
Thank you to everyone who has come to class this month! We have enjoyed distance dancing with you and we are always excited to see your faces each week. It is so cool to be in class with and moving with people from all over the country. What a fun plus of Zoom!
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stay Home Film Festival
BodyStories is excited to announce that we have been selected to present our piece march at the Stay Home Film Festival (Remix!) taking place on Saturday, April 10th, 2021 at 8PM ET! Films will be shown via one YouTube Premiere stream – on the Stay Home Film Festival channel. YouTube Premieres have a live comment section, where viewers can respond in real time without interrupting the flow of the program. Each choreographer will have 2 or 3 minutes to answer questions from the audience, and pose questions for audience members to respond to regarding the films.
Link for the festival coming soon! This link will be open to the public, so therefore there is no official “ticketing.” The festival will be pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $15 collected via Venmo.
SHFF on IG: @stayhomefilmfest
Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Virtual Dance EXposure
BodyStories is also excited to announce that we will be presenting our piece together/apart at the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Virtual Dance EXposure! The work will be available for streaming on the ArtsQuest event page for the entire duration of the April 23rd-25th weekend, and LVDE and ArtsQuest will be co-hosting a live virtual premiere event on Friday, April 23rd and Saturday, April 24th at 7:00pm for the first and second halves of the program, respectively.
We are looking forward to these upcoming performances and we hope to see you there!
People will be able to register for this FREE virtual event by visiting the ArtsQuest website at artsquest.org. More info to come!
Lets keep our BodyStories community connected and ALIVE!
February Events & Reflections
March 10, 2021WEEKLY CLASSES:
We are thrilled to announce our weekly BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance Company Class for pre-professional and professional dancers. Want to train in the BodyStories curriculum and learn our company repertory in a professional environment? Join us for our weekly pre-professional and professional virtual classes, ongoing until May 28, 2021. This Spring series will provide us the opportunity to brush up on our foundations, while challenging our minds and bodies to approach movement from a unique and sometimes unfamiliar lens. Dancers will explore and rediscover joy in their movement in a comprehensive class transitioning from a yoga-flow like warm up, into modern and contemporary technique, and ending in extensive phrase work. Classes will also help build composition and improvisation skills by partnering movement, music, and text, while investigating the relationship between dance and social justice. The class schedule is as follows.
Technique:
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm EST * sign up via email 24rhs in advance for Wed.
Thursdays 12:30-2pm EST
Composition & Improvisation:
Fridays 1:30-3:30pm EST
(Bi-weekly)
Additional times available for both classes! Please inquire.
Weekly youth virtual dance classes are also ongoing until May 28, 2021. Our youth classes include movement from BodyStories’ dance curriculum, incorporating different styles and techniques such as contemporary, modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, choreography, improvisation, tap, Central and West African, salsa, swing, and more. We have classes designed for all junior dance levels from beginner through pre-professional. Age ranges include 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years old. The class schedule is as follows
6-9 Year Olds:
Thursdays 5:30-6:30 pm EST
10-13 Year Olds:
Fridays 3:30-5:00pm EST
with additional times and levels available!
We have classes for all levels of youth dancers ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17. We have classes for all genders, and also offer boys only classes!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP! Students may sign up for the entire weekly series, one month, or a single drop-in class! If signing up for the whole series, participants may be eligible to receive 20% off the total cost. Please do not hesitate to reach out for any financial assistance or scholarship needed. We are completely open to all participants where they are financially during this time.
Thank you to everyone who has come to class this month! We have enjoyed distance dancing with you and we are always excited to see your faces each week. It is so cool to be in class with and moving with people from all over the country. What a fun plus of Zoom!
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
WINTER INTENSIVE VIDEO RELEASE:
A huge thank you to everyone who followed our Virtual Winter Intensive video release countdown! We are so proud of everyone who attended our intensive week in January and we were very excited to share the video documentation of all of your hard work. We released the 2021 Winter Intensive Technique Class Performance Video at noon on Friday February 12th and celebrated with a Facebook live viewing party. Thank you to all who tuned in to watch!
Click this LINK to watch the video now!
The video is available for viewing on our Facebook and Instagram pages as well as on our YouTube page.
ARTS ALIVE PERFORMANCE:
BodyStories participated in an in-person performance opportunity in NYC with Arts On Site as part of their ARTS ALIVE series on Feb 26 & 27 at St. Mark’s Place. We premiered together/apart a duet with dancers Serena Chang & Ashley Zimmerman as part of our Healing Currently Downloading process.
together/apart uses framing and imposed restrictions on performers’ movements to shape how audience members can view these movements to completion. By using specific focus, gestures, and creative angles in the staging and filming of the piece, together/apart challenges audience members to construct their own experience of the work by making decisions about which focal points to prioritize–allowing them to develop their own understanding of the relationship between the performers and their movements in the different frames. This work also challenges audience members to reframe their own perspectives on dance and the human form by highlighting the movements of isolated body parts such as the eyes and hands. Instead of presenting an entire work of full-body movement, together/apart explores the distant meeting of bodies, focus, and felt understanding. The thoughts expressed in this piece come from challenges faced in the pandemic of how to cope and belong to a world.
together/apart has been developed safely during the Covid-19 pandemic. Virtual rehearsals were held to ensure safety during the creative process. The dancers, choreographer, and audience members wore masks and maintained social distance as in accordance with State and National COVID-19 guidelines. Each performance was located in a large open studio with proper ventilation with a maximum of 16 guests per performance to allow for social distancing.
Although dance films and virtual performances have allowed for new creativity and access to larger audiences, these two nights of performances reminded every audience member of how special live performances are. Simple things such as the dimming of the lights, the breathing of the dancers, and being able to hear the applause of others brought a certain magic to the room. Although no longer shoulder to shoulder with other audience members, the space was still intimate and enabled the audience to be immersed in the world of the dances. Despite the masks, the dancers were able to be expressive and radiate an energy everyone in the room could feel.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES + WORKSHOPS:
BodyStories is excited to announce that we have been chosen to participate in the Essence of Embodiment Teaching Workshop and Film Festival. The events will take place in Jersey City and online, and will highlight emerging and established movement practitioners, directors, and dance artists. Through dance and film, the festival will be examining techniques to release fear & trauma, re-align the body with the mind while bringing together a group of multi-generational, multi-racial, dancers, artists, & writers through conversations about lessons they’ve learned throughout their careers – ultimately exploring the theme of Somatic Awareness, Authority, and Ownership of the Body.
Essence of Embodiment Teaching Workshop: Teresa Fellion, Moving Your Story
This workshop incorporates guided movement, improvisation, composition to process the current social climate, and to reflect on lived-experience of fear or trauma, in order to re-shape and move through. With each new exercise participants will build communities, reflect via movement over past lived experiences, and stimulate a process of healing
Date: March 21
Time: 4:30pm – 5:30pm EST
Essence of Embodiment Film Festival:
Healing Currently Downloading acts as a sequel to a previous work reeling → healing created in 2019. While reeling sought to capture the frustration of today’s world and the present societal tumult, Healing Currently Downloading explores outlets for processing these emotions through purposeful motion and action. The emotional qualities of the work are enhanced by dramatic shifts in attitude and form as well as artful video editing. Though viewers may question whether the film’s open-ended conclusion permits a complete resolution to the frustration, this work embodies an ongoing process of healing. Original music by John Yannelli contributes to the film’s sense of urgency and call for community–working in tandem with the choreography to immerse viewers in a fully formed, tumultuous, but, in the end, hopeful world. Created by a queer artist, Healing Currently Downloading reflects both internal and external struggle and the need to frequently reassess emotion and response throughout conflict.
Date: March 18
Talkback Session: March 19 @ 7pm EST
Click HERE for more information
Mark DeGarmo Dance Virtual International Arts Festival
BodyStories is excited to share that we will be performing in Mark DeGarmo Dance’s Virtual International (VIA) Festival. The VIA for Social Change highlights the works and inspirations of Mark DeGarmo Dance’s global artists and scholar colleagues. The international festival creates a space for artists, scholars, and audiences to share, respond, and reflect beyond traditional performance spaces. In three evenings from March 16- March 18, 2021, the festival presents 138 artists and scholars from 18 countries and 12 time zones.
In mid March we are excited to announce that we will be performing a new duet with company dancers Serena Chang & Ashley Zimmeran at the VIA Festival. This duet, entitled together/apart, challenges audience members to reframe their own perspectives on dance and the human form by highlighting the movements of isolated body parts such as the eyes and hands. Instead of presenting an entire work of full-body movement, together/apart explores the distant meeting of bodies, focus, and felt understanding. The thoughts expressed in this piece come from challenges faced in the pandemic of how to cope and belong to a world.
Date: March 18
Time: 7pm EST on Zoom
Tickets are on sale by donation here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/141165410543
Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/886155658876895
Movement Research Open-Performance
At the end of March, BodyStories is participating in the Movement Research Open Performance. The Open Performance is a program for showing work-in-process and is designed to support experimentation for artists in all stages of their development. After recent performances at Arts on Site and the Mark DeGarmo VIA Festival, and being in the midst of developing this work, we are so excited to share this work in progress entitled together/apart to other artists, art enthusiasts, musicians, mentors and colleagues. We look forward to hearing feedback during, and connecting with fellow artists over zoom.
Date March 23rd
Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm EST
Click HERE for more information.
The virtual performance is a non-public format to explore this new work, and further develop upon its themes of personal experience and the experience of varied communities surrounding COVID-19. If you are interested in attending, we welcome you to join us! Please email info@bodystoriesfellion.org to reserve your “virtual seat”.
January Events & Reflections
January 29, 2021We are only one month into 2021 and BodyStories has already been busy presenting virtual works, teaching Zoom classes, and preparing for another year of exciting events!
Performances:
Early in the month we shared excerpts from our works Healing Currently Downloading (a dance film in progress), Inwood Erases Hate with Love (an outdoor community engagement performance event developed from reeling → healing), and rose walk green ice (a proscenium production with audience engagement) at this year’s APAP Conference with Pentacle. This event was entirely virtual and it was very interesting to see how each artist adapted their work to fit this new type of performance platform. Dance on film and video creates an entirely new perspective for audiences, and the emphasis on small details and framing made this an intimate event despite the distance in addition to a lively chat in the comments section!
BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance also participated in this January’s 7MPR Fourth Midnight Virtual Performance! On Jan 23rd we premiered march, a special project with composer Muriel Louveau that combines music, poetry, and movement, featuring dancers Mickayla Clune and Alexa Mamoulides. The thoughts expressed in this piece come from challenges faced in the pandemic of how to cope and belong to a world. Layered video editing was used to create an ethereal world that is comforting and a bit haunting while isolating, and expresses the possibility to find connection across distance especially during this current time of quarantine. This work was specially developed from composition work that was begun with Mickayla and Alexa as students during our 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive. We were pleased with the audience response and we were inspired by the works shown by the other presenting artists. The dance community is so strong!
Classes:
January was also an exciting month for BodyStories because we successfully held our first Virtual Winter Intensive! We are so thankful for everyone who participated in the BodyStories’ first ever Virtual Dance Experience Winter Intensive. We are grateful for the commitment and enthusiasm of growing through movement each dancer brought to classes throughout the week. The week culminated with the creation of a dance film put together using phrase work from technique class as well as choreography from the composition class. We are very excited to be releasing this dance film in the coming weeks! It is so important to us that we continue to connect and grow our BodyStories community through dance and education during the pandemic.
Our weekly pre-professional and professional virtual classes begin February 1 and conclude May 28, 2021. This Spring series will provide us the opportunity to brush up on our foundations, while challenging our minds and bodies to approach movement from a unique and sometimes unfamiliar lens. Dancers will explore and rediscover joy in their movement in a comprehensive class transitioning from a yoga-flow like warm up, into modern and contemporary technique, and ending in extensive phrase work. Classes will also help build composition and improvisation skills by partnering movement, music, and text, as well as investigate the relationship between dance and social justice. The class schedule is as follows
Technique:
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm EST
Thursdays 12:30-2pm EST
Composition & Improvisation:
Fridays 1:30-3:30pm EST
(Bi-weekly)
Additional times available for both classes! Please inquire.
Weekly youth virtual dance classes will also begin February 1st and end May 28th. Our youth classes include movement from BodyStories’ dance curriculum, incorporating different styles and techniques such as contemporary, modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, choreography, improvisation, tap, Central and West African, salsa, swing, and more. We have classes designed for all junior dance levels from beginner through pre-professional. Age ranges include 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years old.
6-9 Year Olds:
Thursdays 5:30-6:30 pm EST
with additional times available!
10-13 Year Olds:
Fridays 3:30-5:00pm EST
with additional times available!
We have classes for all levels of youth dancers ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17. We have classes for all genders, and also offer boys only classes!
Students may sign up for the entire weekly series, one month, or a single drop-in class! If you sign up for a month or the whole series, then participants are eligible to receive 20% off the total cost. Please do not hesitate to reach out for any financial assistance or scholarship needed. We are completely open to all participants where they are financially during this time.
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
February Events:
BodyStories is excited to announce an in-person performance opportunity in NYC with Arts On Site as part of their upcoming ARTS ALIVE series. We will be premiering a duet with dancers Serena Chang & Ashley Zimmerman as part of our Healing Currently Downloading process. Tickets are sold online only prior to the event, no tickets are sold at the door, so stay tuned for ticketing information.
Dates: Feb 26th & 27th
Times: 6:30pm & 8:30pm
Location: 12 St Marks Place in the East Village of Manhattan
This performance series has been created to adhere to current COVID-19 restrictions. Each performance is located in a large open studio with proper ventilation with a maximum of 16 guests per performance to allow for social distancing.
January Reflection:
Amidst the normal busyness of the New Year, January was also a monumental month for women. On January 26th our country swore in Kamala Harris, our 1st female and BIPOC Vice President! Kamala is an inspiration and role model for young girls everywhere and is a living symbol of the power of perseverance in the face of adversity. It was very exciting to witness this important part of history! Inauguration Day was a long time coming, but we can all start to breath again now that our leadership will take care of us all and work to serve our country for the better. Happy tears!
It is also important to note Martin Luther King Day, which was observed on January 18th. This holiday held a particular weight this year as it is in the midst of the recent call for social justice reform, the further rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, and police brutality protests. MLK Day is a reminder that it is our responsibility to better ourselves by taking social action, recognizing bias, and holding each other accountable especially when it is uncomfortable. Let’s raise up the voices of BIPOC and strive to make our society a safe and prosperous palace for all.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported us this month! We are so grateful. I hope everyone continues to stay healthy and safe both mentally and physically. These last few months have been hard but we are all in this together. We are excited to share what we have in store for you in 2021!