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This work is a full body exploration identifying the internal self. VESSEL illustrates perceptual (how does it feel?), conceptual (imaginative thinking), and bodily (materiality of the choreographic) ways of being a vessel. These ideas have led me to researching live sound and instrumental music to fully exaggerate the expansiveness and extreme physicality of the body. Through a culmination of various forms including contemporary ballet, contemporary, and modern dance. The research is surrendering and how that leaves a residue in space (opening portals, portals inside portals). The body holds so much power and this work illustrates those qualities through fearlessness, love, gratitude, grief and everything in between. In other words, how as people we can distribute those specifically through our bodies while connecting to the essence we all hold. Vessel to me is a spacious container/or being/an object, strong architecture and shape shifting, vast depth, having an essence about yourself (unexplainable quality) - how you carry yourself, moving as one. With that, I have thought about how my sound will set the tone for the work? And how can the dancers enter/exit the space intentionally? How do I want others/audience to view and experience the work? The process for me began with what I was inspired by most recently and live sound in (the vessel of an instrument) relation to the vessel of the body really held a deep place in my heart. I reached out to musicians to see my options and that led me to collaborating with them on a sound inspired by Justin Hurwitz’s Drum & Drone. The process movement began with some set phrases and working on the spot in rehearsals to see what was speaking to me from within. I held space for play inside the process to allow my ideas to truly take flight. I also enjoyed having the dancers create duets based on the material I had given them. Choreographically my curiosities were in technicity, aesthetic, and form (movement vernacular). In the process, my journey was constantly being reimagined with sometimes drastic changes (ex.// my sound score). The development of my language for transitions to layer the space is an area that I had struggled with. I feel that developing my work was necessary to feel the strong complexities and intricacies of what the movement is saying. I was able to let go each week to lean more into the endless possibilities, which speaks to one of my glossary terms – bodily freedom (inside out inscription of you, telling who you are, newness). My rehearsals began each week with everyone hugging each person because I feel it’s important to know you are seen and cared for in any process. We added words/phrases to a canvas I brought in every week to keep building on our thoughts, discussions, and journals. My central influences for VESSEL stem from William Forsythe, Helen Pickett, and Alonzo King. I also love to reference the Wayne McGregor ted talk “A Choreographer's Creative Process in Real Time” to help me stay grounded in finding new ways into structure. William Forsythe’s work “Artifact” informed me how I want the dancers to hold space for each other throughout the piece and especially in the last section with the live sound. Helen Pickett works so intentionally showing continuity and tactility when it comes to partnering work (listening and storytelling). Alonzo King works with a room full of soloists because they all carry their own essence that makes their presence undeniable as a unit. Central influences also stem back to my dance schools back home and what I gained along the way in my journey to bring me to this moment. I’m grateful for this process and the learning/unlearning that happened for me along the way with each person involved. 

Citation is within us all and we unlock that sometimes unconsciously - it is all around and within us.