BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance

Blog: July Events & Reflection

August 13, 2021

2021 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.