December WAXworks- Meet Kiera Bono!

This month, we got a chance to hear from Kiera Bono! See her work THIS SUNDAY at WAXworks!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Kiera Bono (KB): Digestive, dialectic, diasporic

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
KB: It is challenging for me to be able to afford accessible rehearsal and performance space, to build and maintain community, and to find institutional support for practice-based research. The guiding research questions themselves come easily.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
KB: The intersections between food practices, queerness, chronic illness, and diaspora deeply inform my performance research. My collaborators and I approach our practice as a collision of bodily archives spilling out on each other and rearranging, and we are stewing in the blurriness between subject and object, internal and external, resistance and assimilation, consumer and consumed, etc.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
KB: My work exists in the liminal spaces between “performers” and “audience members,” so feedback on anything and everything is not only welcome but is also a crucial component of the performance research I’m trying to do. Everyone’s experience of the work is a valid, necessary part of the work itself.

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work?
KB: My goals include carving out space for collective survival through movement, sound, and performance-making; companion planting: navigating ways to let each other exist fully without losing ourselves and vice versa, trying to cultivate safer spaces for all intersections of folks' identities, and finding modes of symbiosis; collaboratively developing improvisational scores and performance practices that function like growing vegetables and herbs, cooking, eating, digesting, and composting; confronting what capitalism does to our bodies, moving with and through this, and cataloguing our shared resistance; committing ourselves to dismantling oppressive power structures; and creating performance that allows us to see and hear each other, finding choreographic and sonic methods of supporting each other’s visibility and audibility, and at the same time questioning how social conditioning influences our perceptive capacities.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
KB: This one time I performed in a full-length piece with a broken rib that I didn’t know was broken until like six days later.

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
KB: Accidentally killing air plants and other small plants that supposedly do not need a lot of care.

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
KB: Oof, I just started a Ph.D. program this fall, so I have been “gutting” (reading bits of/extracting the most important points from) a whole bunch of books and articles every day, but the most recent one I cited in an assignment was Racial Indigestion: Eating Bodies in the 19th Century by Kyla Wazana Tompkins, a book that has heavily influenced my academic and practice-based research for the past four years. I’ve also been watching The Holiday Baking Championship.

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
KB: My website is currently https://www.assimilationistagita.com/ but I’m hoping to change the domain to something less obnoxious and more accessible (like kierabono.com) sometime soon, so if the first link doesn’t work, try kierabono.com or something with my name. I also archive everyday movement material (often created in office spaces, hotel rooms, or outdoor spaces) here: https://www.instagram.com/fwjschelling/.

WS: Anything else you'd like to share?
KB: I just want to send gratitude to the WAXworks and Triskelion teams for opening this space for folks to present work and exist in relation to each other as people who make and consume performance. Thank you for this opportunity!

October WAXworks- Meet Sonia Plumb and Talissa Bavaresco

This month, we got a chance to hear from Talissa Bavaresco and Sonia Plumb. See their pieces THIS SUNDAY at WAXworks!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Talissa Bavaresco (TB): Memories, self, 50's
Sonia Plumb (SP): Transformative, aesthetic, sensual.

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
TB: This was my first self-choreographing experience. The hardest part in this process was guiding myself through it. When you don't have a director or choreographer guiding you, and you can't step outside of yourself to watch it, things get really tricky. Thank God for video cameras!
SP: I find the editing and letting go the hardest. I try to stick with the “keep only 25%” rule, but that is hard.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
TB: Seeing dance makes me inspired to create dance.
SP: New experiences, new information and other artists, curiosity. Discovery.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
TB: Concept. Length of Introduction.

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work?
TB: To get the story told across and take the audience on a mini movie experience.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
TB: I originally danced and choreographed the piece to a completely different song.

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
TB: I'm a photographer! Also I can move my ears.
SP: I am very good at making a mess.

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
TB: I'm rewatching Stranger Things for the 3628284748 time if that counts.
SP: For the past few months I have been watching international films in Spanish and French. The most recent was “Palm Trees in the Snow.”

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
TB: At www.talissabavaresco.com ! Or at the socials FB: @TalissaBavarescoDance IG: @talissabsco
SP:  www.SoniaPlumbDance.org

WS: Anything else you'd like to share?
TB: I'm excited to be joining WAXworks!

June WAXworks- Meet Stephanie Rae King

This month, we got a chance to hear from Stephanie Rae King. See her piece THIS SUNDAY at WAXworks!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?Stephanie Rae King (SRK): Love yourself wholly

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
SRK: I find solos to be the most challenging because there is no relying on the composition and visual excitement that comes with a group piece. It's just one body, commanding the presence of the stage and attempting to move the audience. I find choreographing group pieces to come more natural to me, as I enjoy the problem solving involved in structuring a piece with multiple dancers.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
SRK: I find inspiration for my work most often in life experiences. My passion for creating is what motivates my work, whether it's the thrill of performing and telling a story to the audience as a dancer, or choreographing and watching my dancers tell the story from the audience perspective. It is all very rewarding and satisfying, which leaves me with the desire to never stop. My hope is to move the audience, allow for them to think in ways they haven't before, or simply spark an emotion in their hearts.  

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
SRK: I hope to receive unbiased feedback on my technique, performance quality as a soloist, choreographic material, and how I was able to capture the audience's attention. There is a spiritual nature to my piece, but I hope to receive that feedback even from non-Christian audience members. I will love and accept feedback from everyone, regardless of differences in beliefs!

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work?
SRK: I have presented this piece many times, so I plan to put it to rest after this show unless there are artists/audience members who suggest/would want to see it again! If anyone wants to see the piece expanded upon, I would love to hear that feedback as well. 

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
SRK: stephanieraeking@gmail.com Instagram: Stephanie Rae King, @stephanie__rae (two underscores)

WS: Anything else you'd like to share?
SRK: A gracious thank you for allowing me to share my work with you. 

February WAXworks- Meet Marissa Niederhauser

This month, we got a chance to hear from Marissa Niederhauser. See her piece this Sunday at our February showcase!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?Marissa Niederhauser (MN): Taught, atmospheric, mysterious

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging?
MN: Managing production details.

WS: What do you feel comes easily? 
MN: Costumes, light, etc all come about early in the creative process for me and do not need to be added later.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work? 
MN: Quite often it arises from moments in my life in which my voice has been silenced or dismissed. Art is a platform in which no one can hush me up.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
MN: Length of sections? Back story for the character?

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work? 
MN: To stir up memories, emotions and thoughts in my audience.  To engage their mirror neurons.

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
MN:  http://www.marissa-rae-n.com/ 
https://www.saatchiart.com/marissarae
https://www.instagram.com/josiesecho/

Thanks, Marissa! We look forward to seeing your work this Sunday, Feb 11th at Triskelion Arts in Greenpoint! 

November WAXworks- Meet Mira Treatman!

This month, we got a chance to hear from dance artist, Mira Treatman. See her piece TONIGHT at our October showcase!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Mira Treatman (MT): Risky, Real, Hopeful 

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
MT: The hardest part for me is starting. As a young artist in 2017 aware of the world falling apart it's easy to find reasons not to create. However, I admonish that negative inner voice because there's always a need for artists to hold up that big bad mirror to the world no matter how small the platform. The most natural part of my process is performing. I'm pretty shy as a person, but I've always been able to get in front of crowds and do something under that pressure. I think ultimately I love to perform because it's harder to do any given task when others watch. I love working when the stakes are high. 

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
MT: I am inspired by what I observe in the world that I want to change. I'd call my dances exercises in backseat driving to societal inequity. My performances are often proposals for how the world could be different if some trend in human behavior changed. For my piece in Waxworks I have reflected a lot on notions of artificial intimacy. I find myself at a moment in time where literally anything can be summoned on demand. I am curious about what is lost when this is applied to face to face connections. Is there such a thing as on-demand intimacy? 

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
MT: I want to know how sincere and real the work seems. I am aiming for believability in this performance. I want to know if the sincerity can pierce through the forth wall. With the prevalence of screens, audiences gaze into neo forth walls for hours per day more so than ever before. I want to know how this behavior primes audiences when they go to gaze into the lit box of a theatre. 

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work?
MT: Despite the philosophizing, I'm an entertainer and a clown. I care deeply about making people happy, laugh, and have a release from their day. The theoretical side matters to me, but I think sometimes it's best left for my writing and not on stage even though it's a huge part of my process. There's a fine line too between inspiring laughter and inspiring tears. When something is so real, maybe even too real, that's where I want my creative work to be.  

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
MT: I once did a performance with an adorable one year old girl in the audience. She seemed super engaged from what I could tell, but I wasn't able to see her too much while I was performing. As soon as I took my bow, she got onto the stage and started copying my entire performance from start to finish in the actual sequence! I was blown away. She has to be one of the smartest little girls I've ever met! I let her try on my costume and play with my props too. This was not only the funniest moment in my career so far, but also one of the most fulfilling. I had no aim at all to create work directly for children, but then to connect with a little one in that way made me so happy. I think the best work is relevant to as many people as possible, regardless of age or background. My goal as a result is to always try to consider that one year old girl whenever I have to make a creative decision. 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
MT: I sing and play keyboard in a band called The Foxy Doxies. 

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
MT: Jon Foley Sherman's "A Strange Proximity: Stage Presence, Failure, and the Ethics of Attention"

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
MT: Check out my portfolio at www.miratreatman.com and follow me on Instagram @miratreatman! 

WS: Anything else you'd like to share?
MT: Here's a fun video of some of my recent site work: https://vimeo.com/album/4758382/video/232723177

October WAXworks- Meet Britta Joy Peterson

This month, we got a chance to hear from dance artist, Britta Joy Peterson. See the first public showing of her piece, Vinegar Spirit, TOMORROW at our October showcase!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Britta Joy Peterson (BJP): Who’s in control?

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
BJP: SCHEDULING. But after all that, everything else is – well – the work. The work is what I enjoy most, and frankly, I see it all as ‘the work’. Pre-production, in-studio research, design conversations, building material/s, experimentation, editing, performance-as-research. Gimme it all, just finding time to be with team is the tricky tetris I’m not the most fond of. 

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
BJP: Spoiler alert – it’s a cliché. But, the dancers I work with and the life I live, and the lives and happenings of the people around me.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
BJP: Structure, layering, emergent images experienced by viewers. 

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work?
BJP: To never be static. Meaning, with each new thing – making dance, teaching dance, dancing, etc. etc. – pushing forward towards something ‘new’. Even though I don’t believe in ‘new’, but I believe in progress. And risk. And learning. 

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
BJP: Well, we’ve decided that if our spirits are made of vinegar, then our hearts are made of cheese. (This has nothing to do with the dance, and everything to do with food preferences). 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
BJP: I was on a jump rope team in elementary school, and I can still do all the tricks. I know what you’re thinking, no, it wasn’t double dutch. But my solo tricks are still pretty cool. 

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
BJP: Right now I’m toggling between Virginie Despentes’ King Kong Theory, and Vivian Howard’s Deep Run Roots. They balance each other out, and complement each other well. Ya know, food and feminism. I haven’t been watching movies lately, but a lot of comic book tv-series. Sometimes I feel like my spirit animal is a hybrid of Jessica Jones, Vanessa Helsing, Michonne, and Jean Grey. 

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects?
BJP: bjpdance.com

WS: Anything else you'd like to share?
BJP: WAXworks is pretty rad. Thanks team for all you do to make this happen.

August WAXworks- Meet Lianna E. King!

This month, we got a chance to hear from dance artist, Lianna E. King. See her THIS SUNDAY at our August showcase!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Lianna E. King (LEK): urgency in identity

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily? 
LEK: From having the initial moment of inspiration, costuming, spacing, teching, and sharing the work, it's all a challenge. But I know if it isn't a challenge, it isn't worth it. The easiest part is the moment after getting into the studio and finally having the freedom to move.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work? 
LEK: I don't have one answer for this, honestly. I have recently found my inspiration in current events and relationships in my life. My work often becomes a way for me to process and cope.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on? 
LEK: I am hoping to hear feedback on the clarity of the movement and the space it takes up, as well as the relationship between the mover and sound.

WS: What goals do you have for your creative work? 
LEK: My overall goal for my process is for my work to be a call to action, and refuge in motion. 

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance. 
LEK: When I was creating this work for 5 people, the relationships between them reminded me of my family dynamic. So, what started as "If we were Lianna's family, we'd be [fill in name here]" turned into things like "If we were fruits we'd be [...]." One time, we even identified ourselves as fast food places! 

WS: Do you have any secret talents? 
LEK: I suppose this isn't as much of a SECRET talent as it is a NEW talent that no one knows about yet: I very recently taught myself to ride a bike!

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
LEK: I just started reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and love it so far! The last movie I watched was My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  

WS: Where can we find more information about your work and upcoming projects? 
LEK: You can find more of my work and upcoming projects at http://liannaeking.weebly.com/, and by following me on Instagram at @LiannnaEKing

WS: Anything else you'd like to share? 
LEK: I am so grateful for this opportunity to share the space with you all on August 20th!

June WAXworks- Meet Emily Climer

This month, we got a chance to hear from dance artist, Emily Climer. See her THIS SUNDAY at our June showcase!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
EC: spacious, rhythmic, patterned

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
EC: I love the earliest phase of research in the studio—setting up movement explorations that ask and answer the questions I'm interested in, and discovering new questions because of who is in the room.
      Sometimes I devise a bunch of movement experiments but struggle to find a structure to show them, especially early on in a process. I try to find a form that invites others to look, and one that fits where we are in our process of making the dance.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
EC: I'm inspired by the way artists in other mediums (visual arts, music, writing) ask questions and solve problems. I often generate movement by attempting to translate an approach from another medium. For example, trying to translate a certain form of poetry into movement, or a certain musical form. 
     I also use the dance studio as a place to ask questions that I have about how people make decisions collectively out in the world. I like to think about these questions through movement—it reveals a lot to me about how we organize, try to solve problems, and relate to each other as people. 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
EC: I play the French horn!

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on? 
EC: I'm particularly interested in the narratives that people see in this work. I often start with questions of form or structure, and then discover that those questions evoke specific narratives. I get excited hearing the stories that others see in the work—it helps me see more, and know where to go next with it. 

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched?
EC: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, Moonlight by Barry Jenkins (finally saw it!)

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
EC: I'm so grateful for the chance to be in the studio with Mei, Kenny, and Katie working on this movement material. For me, dance-making is a deeply collaborative process, and they are such generous, talented collaborators. 

March WAXworks- Meet Alexis Robbins and Victoria Arakcheyeva

This month, we got a chance to hear from from Alexis Robbins of kamrDANCE and Victoria Arakcheyeva of PVRT Project. See them THIS SUNDAY at our March showcase!
 

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?

Alexis Robbins (AR): Spunky, physical, dark

Victoria Arakcheyva (VA):  saucy, sexy, liberating


WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?

AR: Costumes are the most challenging thing for me. I just don't see them. I never feel confident figuring that out. Creating fast paced movement comes very easily for me, however it's definitely a slight challenge to have to slow down.

VA: The themes for my work or the political content usually comes first and is the most easy for me to conceptualize. When I have been reading a text or learn something in class that intrigues me, it bleeds into my process. The most challenging aspect is being able to turn ideas into movement. Being able to show a feeling, idea, or concept in a way that is clear to audience members and still adheres to my personal principles.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?

AR: Real experiences as a female in our society is what motivates and inspires the theme of this work. As far as my movement, I allow opposite genres to inspire each other. For example, tap dancing and rhythmic work inspires my contemporary movement and vice versa.

VA: Oftentimes, the books that I read are the puzzle pieces that form my piece. I am inspired by women, social justice work, pornography, and politics.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.

AR: Funny moments in rehearsal definitely happen when we're tired. Somehow, when we're not dancing/taking a break, someone always walks into the wall (or pole) which is always amusing.

VA: My dance partner and I had a tassel twirling rehearsal. Imagine the possibilities.

 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?

AR: I can wiggle my ears!

VA:  I can potty train pet rats.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?

AR: I hope to receive feedback on how the piece makes people feel. My goal is to make people feel two drastically different emotions - and I'm wondering how the transition from one to the other effects them.

VA:  The order of events, what kind of message the audience is getting from it, what emotions were they experiencing as they watched? What did they want to do? What did they do?

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?

AR: The last book I read is Orange is the New Black (very different from the show!).

VA: Kids (the movie) & the New Jim Crow

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?

AR: I'm excited and very nervous!

May WAXworks - Meet Ania Catherine

The WAXstaff caught up with Ania Catherine this month in advance of our May 8th showcase.  We hope to see you there THIS WEEKEND!

WAXstaff (WS): If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Ania Catherine (AC): TENSE AND NOT  

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
AC: The most challenging part is coordinating schedules, but a close second is the final stretch of creating when you are unable to see what you're looking at anymore, yet need to make sure that every detail from the styling, to the lighting, to the energy through the fingers speaks to your story and doesn't undermine it. Creating shapes comes easily.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
AC: Pedestrian movements of people I see out in the world, conflict, sex, art (photography, film, fashion, sculptures, paintings, music) 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
AC: Washing dishes

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
AC: The degree to which it feels immersive

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
AC: Book: Arts of the Possible by Adrienne Rich; Movie: The Limits of Control; Trip: Morelia, Mexico

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
AC: Creating shouldn't be competitive, it should be conversational

Meet our April Artists!

Our Spring 2016 Season is in full swing!  Join us THIS SUNDAY -- April 17th for another evening at Triskelion Arts, sure to be a great show.  In the mean time, let's get to know a little about our April Artists.  This month, we heard from:

Kimberleigh Costanzo
Annie Heath
Phil Lanzetta
Kyle Rostan

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?

Kimberleigh Costanzo: Exhaustive, constant femaleness

Annie Heath: Vignettes, radiation, pulse

Phil Lanzetta: Meditative, spacial, cyclical

Kyle Rostan: Honest, proud, fierce

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?

KC: Editing is one of the more challenging parts of the process for me-- I often struggle to let go of ideas that I've become attached to in the course of making the work. In making mostly solos, I've also struggled with rehearsal time spent alone... It's very easy to become distracted or allow myself to take one too many "breaks." Reasons to make work, though, are all around so I have no shortage of inspiration.

AH: The beginning is the most difficult. Starting with a blank canvas has too many possibilities and it's hard to decide what direction to start with. I often just go with "first move, best move" just to get something on the floor. Refining for me comes easier as we work more and more with the developing ideas. The more you allow one game to influence the next, the richer the context of the work can become.

PL: Generating movement comes easily.  Organizing that movement in a way that conveys meaning, but allows room for interpretation is the challenge.

KR: An overall narrative comes to me first, and fairly easily. I've always loved telling stories through dance, and find it soothing and meditative to come up with concepts. Truthful, I love the entire creative process, it's cleaning and reworking a piece that I curse!!

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?

KC: Personal experience is generally the initial impetus, but I undertake a research process in which information is pulled from art, film, literature, science fiction, and a wide variety of other sources that then inform the content and images in the work.

AH: I find a lot of inspiration in cinema and theater, but when you're living on a budget, I resort to people watching. Observing each individual's body language fascinates me and can really reveal a lot of their character. 

PL: This work was inspired by the poetry of Mary Oliver and Rainer Maria Rilke and images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Typically my work is motivated by a message or theme, but this work is more abstract.

KR: My dancers are the biggest inspiration and motivation. I try to create character driven movement for them, and only them.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?

KC: I'm hoping to get a sense of how successfully I am walking the line between an interesting kind of repetitive movement and a boring kind of repetitive movement-- where exactly does one lose focus? I am also working without sound (aside from speech) at the moment, and I'd be interested to know what sound/score, if any, audience members might envision accompanying the work in the future.

AH: I hope that everyone can become absorbed in the world that we try to create. Ride the fantasy, if you will.

PL: The work is a duet, a medium which is new to me. I'd be interested to hear the perceived relationship or lack thereof between the dancers. 

KR: Excitement levels. My main goal as a choreographer so far with the company has just been to create exciting, captivating scenes. No matter what you're feelings are towards it, you're invested.

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?

KC: The last book I read was Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles. The last trip I took was to a farm in West Virginia to get my hands dirty and visit some friends.

AH: I went to Barbados with my brother! A much needed break from the city.

PL: I am currently reading A Year With Rilke - beginning each morning with a poem and meditation. The last movie I watched was Spotlight.

KR: Room with Brie Larson has inspired a lot of weird things in my head that I hope to see on the stage soon.

Chatting with our December Artists

'Tis the season to be WAXworks-ing!  Our Fall 2015 Season is well under way, PLUS we're currently accepting applications for our Spring 2016 Season (apply by Dec. 30!).  Take a break from your holiday preparations to join us THIS SUNDAY 12/5 at Triskelion Arts!  And keep reading for some behind the scenes insight from some of our December artists.

EMMA KIMBALL

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Emma Kimball: theatrical, gestural, layered

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
EK: The most challenging thing for me, especially with a dance work is finding the right sonic environment.  It never feels like my concepts or interests click into place until I know what the world sounds like for the piece.  

The easiest part is once we’re in rehearsal and I get to connect the dots between things that I’m interested in.  I usually start a work with a collection of feelings, source material, readings, observations, inklings, structural frameworks, movement challenges, etc. that I’m currently intrigued by.  Then a couple of them seem to tango with each other and I can begin really working on a specific piece.  As things progress, my style is to juxtapose these ideas in the room with my collaborative teammates and see what sort of chemistry happens. 

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
EK: I am inspired by small details, big emotions, audible textures, color and by shared or unshared histories.  Currently, the work of congealing and presenting all of these inspirations is motivated by an exploration of HOW we tell stories.  I am exploring how and whether to use a physical language, a vocal language, a sonic or musical language, the language of media, visual design and/or written text. 

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
EK: I asked Evie to do this big slide onto the floor but she had worn only tights that day so her legs stuck too much when she tried to slide.  So I gave her my exercise pants and did the rest of the rehearsal in my underwear. 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
EK: .22 caliber rifle target shooting.  I’m from The West yo!

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
EK: What story or character do you see onstage?  Who’s story are we telling?  What did you feel in watching the piece? What moment was the most striking for you?

AMELIA LOEHE

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Amelia Loehe: layered, narrative, dynamic

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
AL: The final layers of definition in choreography are challenging for me- I love to sketch. Musicality comes easily to me.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
AL: Human story

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance. 
AL: My seven year old daughter filmed my promo video!

SUNHWA CHUNG

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
SC: Family, Love and Moving Forward

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
SC: One of the most challenging was to connect with my daughter.  (My daughter, Sarang (12 years old) will be playing the violin on the stage and performing with me.)

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
SC: This dance is about searching my husband who was sent to the ER. I didn't know for more than 12 hours and didn't hear anything from him over night for the first time...which had made my daughter and I extremely hectic and nervous...I've named this dance, "The Day We Didn't Have the Light: Life is Every Day V."

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on? 
SC: How the audience members would connect to their life experiences while and after my dance...

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
SC: I have been reading "Crazy Rich Asians." My daughter and I were watching "Roman Holiday (one of my favorite movies all the time) at the movie theater 2 days ago. We spent our whole summer in the several cities in Korea.

Chatting with our October Artists

I've got blog entries this month from two intrepid October artists.  Read on!  Then come on out to Greenpoint next Sunday OCTOBER 4 at 7pm to catch them in action at Triskelion Arts.

ANTHONY ALTERIO

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Anthony Alterio: Queer, Spectacle, and Balloons

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
AA: Making work that is useful and contributes to dance. Making a mess on stage.   

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
AA: I find inspiration from friends/enemies, concerts/festivals, and randomness/boredom. I get motivated by queer art and nostalgia.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
AA: I was in a Michelle Ellsworth piece and we had to shoot a gun with blanks at people and then they would fall once "shot". My gun did not go off, so I went over and tried to shoot the person with a finger gun over and over, and she never fell and looked at me and literally muttered "WTF are you doing?" I stopped and then just laid down. It is funny now, but the first time I had ever experienced a prop malfunction on stage, which lead to my inspiration of props and chance in my work.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
AA: I would love to receive feedback on how the piece made the audience feel or what emotions came up during the piece. 

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
AA: Book: The Art of Queer Failure by Judith (Jack) Halberstam. Movie: Trainwreck, Trip: Chicago to work with Darrell Jones.

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
AA: I am really excited and honored to perform in WAXworks. I spent a lot of my younger years trying to escape queer life. Today I embrace my sexuality and gender with this piece, and it gives me pleasure to perform this queer work that questions gender/sexuality social norms.

THEA BAUTISTA

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Thea Bautista: Powerful, Esthetic, Poetic

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
TB: The hardest for me is to start from scratch, it is sometime very hard to turn on your brain and start producing a lot of new ideas... Once you have made the first steps though, everything seems to come so much more easily to your mind. I love it!

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
TB: My inspiration comes from shows that marked me in my life or simply shows that I've seen recently. Sometime it can even come from a very short video, a sentence that someone says. What helps me a lot in getting inspired is also to have a precise idea of what I want to say to the audience or to have a particular subject I want to investigate.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
TB: Often, when I'm very focused on steps and showing new movements I forget a few counts. So for instance I would go 1,2,3,4,7,8 until I realize something is not working as it was supposed to. And usually, dancers notice it before me! 

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
TB: Not that I now, I think I know them all !

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
TB: I would love to receive feedback on the choreographic work I'm showing and I would be interested to know what people felt seeing my dance.

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
TB: I am currently reading a great french book (I'm french) called "All men are mortal" from Simone de Beauvoir. It is about a men that accepted the controversial proposition of living forever...

Kicking off the Fall 2015 Season

Hey there interweb!  Ellyn from the WAXstaff here.  The weather may be cooling off, but WAX is heating up!  We kick off our Fall 2015 THIS SUNDAY September 13th.  Some of our September artists generously shared responses to my nosey questions early this month.  

Find those answers below, and find the artists themselves THIS WEEKEND at Triskelion.  Onward!

AIMEE PLAUCHE

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Aimee Plauche: Theatrical, sometimes funny

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
AP: The most challenging part is the beginning, when you've forgotten how hard the beginning will be. The easiest part is when you're done and can go out to celebrate with ice cream.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
AP: Inspiration is anywhere and everywhere. The inspiration, once woven into a cohesive idea, becomes the motivation for me. I can't let a good idea go unrealized; I feel like I'm betraying it.

WS: Share a funny anecdote from a rehearsal or performance.
AP: While struggling in rehearsal with a new section of a piece, one of my dancers and I decided to make the worst dance in the world. What followed was a slapdash of bad pantomime, fish faces, and melodrama.  None of it made it into the final piece.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
AP: I would want to know the answers to these questions: (1) Which part, if any, do you remember the most? (2) Was it because you enjoyed it, wanted to know more, or hated it? 

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
AP: Book: Special Topics in Calamity Physics, one of my favorite novels (I reread it at least once a year). Movie: Judex, a 1916 French silent serial film that is a complex detective story. Trip: Charlottesville, VA to visit my sister and her new husband. 

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
AP: Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM
(The best part is the audience reactions, so make sure your volume is up!)

AINESH MADAN

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Ainesh Madan: Where I’m At.

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
AM: Currently, crafting the work is challenging. It’s been easier to be inspired and have more ideas.

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
AM: Right now it's streets, parks,rooftops and trains. More importantly, the people who inhabit them. Appreciating music and a a provocative read always gets me going.

WS: Do you have any secret talents?
AM: None that I know of yet.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
AM: Currently, I’m curious to know what physical spaces, other than the traditional stage, the audience can imagine for the work.

WS: What’s the last book you read? Movie you watched? Trip you took?
AM: In the middle of reading Provo by Richard Kempton, which is about the Amsterdam anarchist movement. Recently watched Maachis by Gulzar, which I first saw when I was too young to appreciate it. Every day has sort of been a trip these past few months.

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
AM: I’m just thankful and humbled by the opportunity to share my work through WaxWorks. Thanks Ellyn and Xan! 

ROHAN BHARGAVA

WAXstaff: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?
Rohan Bhargava: Charged, Personal, Dynamic

WS: What part of the creative process do you find most challenging? What do you feel comes easily?
RB: Generating movement is quite easy for me. But, one of the most important and hardest part of choreographing is creating a satisfying and coherent arc in the concept, narrative, or vocabulary of the work.  

WS: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?
RB: Recently, I have been experimenting with having very minimal notions of what I want to create before I start the work. I basically come in with a very simple idea such as a spatial image, a piece of music, a feeling or a mood, a concept from another piece of art, etc. and then I allow myself to be influenced and inspired by the dancers - who are crucial collaborators. So, instead of imposing onto the process, I like to discover the voice of the work in the studio.

WS: What specific ideas or elements in your work would you hope to receive feedback on?
RB: I would like to receive feedback on the movement vocabulary, the structure, and the emotion that the work generates for the spectator. 

WS: Anything else you want to share with us?
RB: I am extremely excited to see the work of other amazing artists at WAXworks and also receive written feedback from the audience!  

Welcome to the WAXblog!

Greetings Interweb!  Ellyn here-- your WAXworks Co-Producer.  I'm mega-excited to be bringing WAX into the 21st century (admittedly in a very small way) via our very first blog platform: the WAXblog.

The plan, as far as I've ideated thus far, is that this will primarily be a platform for us to share exciting tidbits about our featured artists.  We'll kick things off with JAVIER PADILLA, an artist in our February 15th showcase.  

Here's what Javier shared with us earlier this month:

WAX: Where do you find inspiration for your work? Or what motivates your work?

JP: Concrete things and words inspire me, I take that and translate it into movement. My motivation for creating work is storytelling. I like taking things that are obvious to the eye, but most probably overlooked, and show them in a new light.

WAX: If you could only use three words to describe your work, what would they be?

JP: Quirky, narrative, fun!

WAX: What’s the last book you read? 

JP: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

WAX: Anything else you want to share with us?

JP: Can’t wait to showcase with other amazing artists at WAXworks! Yay, dance!

Thanks Javier!  We hope we'll see you this weekend at Triskelion Arts NORTH 11TH STREET location.  

Reserve your tickets online! 

Photography by Elyse Mertz