SYLVANIA 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.