A Dialogue (number one) is the first movement of a new performance suite, NOVEL FORMATS. Each movement invites a different group of artists to experiment with a fluid vision of performance. For A Dialogue, I brought together an ensemble of dancers, musicians and a visual artist to bring to life a series of loosely connected scenes through charged, improvised scores. Throughout, embracing improvisation's inherent relationship to risk, spontaneity, and failure.

An audience member shared their experience:
It has been a very long time since I saw such excellence in collaborative, attentive improvisation. Not a moment dropped out. And a good intimate space for the audience who became part of the moment. ...my gratitude [to] all of your partners for this marvelous, luscious, creative experience. Being present with people who are paying such close attention, listening to each other, shifting the molecules in the space, slowing down the pace is revolutionary, needed.
-Hannah Dennison, choreographer and founding director of Cradle to Grave Arts, Inc.

With
Rachel Bernsen, instigator/director/dancer
Ellen Ahern Smith, dancer
Tomeka Reid, cellist
Kyoko Kitamura, vocalist
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornetist, multi-instrumentalist
Lindsay Packer, visual artist

Film of the live performance produced by JAM Technical Director & Senior Producer, Chico Eastridge
Videographers: Chico Eastridge and Kate Barber
Editor: Chico Eastridge
Audio engineer: Cedar O'Dowd

At
JAM - Junction Arts & Media
February 3, 2024

photo by Kate Barber at JAM