artist statment

My artistic output comes from a quest for human truth, and emotional authenticity. I try to employ my own imaginative story when I dance and create. Drawing on my strong acting background, I aim to call forth emotional presence and dramatic tension in order to create a personal reality for the material. My imagination supports my artistry, but I feel it’s my care for others that forms the basis of my creative work. I ask my collaborators to draw from their own lives and reality, or imagined reality and inspiration, in order to live in honest performance. The construction process of a piece varies each time, but always allows for happy accidents, mistakes, jokes, falling and failing, which colors the work and makes it very human. Inspirations, motivations, intentions that are critical parts of my artistic process include examining real-life experiences, dialogue, hopes and sorrows and triumphs. It’s essential to me to collaborate and use other mediums (including music, video, journalistic sources, and audience participation). I feel everyone has something to add, and it becomes our collective vision. My work explores how dance and theater can create humanistic awareness, catharsis, discussion and hopefully societal progress.