DANCING 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.