Heartbeat: A Modern Dance Rock Concert

I am performing as an ensemble dancer in “Heartbeat: A Modern Dance Rock Concert”, an incredible collaboration between folk-funk and modern dance on March 21st 8:00pm at the Oberon Theatre in Harvard Square. Tickets are $35 for VIP Table Seat and $20 for Standing Room and can be purchased here.

From this experience, I am inspired to collaborate with live musicians in creating new dance work. It is more visceral and intensely experiential to dance with live music; the sound vibrates through the body and the aural experience takes the movement to another mind-body-in-the-now-place.

Check out the press release I put together below. See you at the show!

For Immediate Release

Heartbeat: A Modern Dance Rock Concert Premieres at the Oberon Theater

Live music and dance celebrate a story of love, throughout life

Boston, MA, March 7, 2013 – One part folk/funk concert, one part contemporary dance, “Heartbeat: A Modern Dance Rock Concert” weaves together music, dance, and visual arts to tell the story of one man’s love life at the Oberon Theatre on March 21st, 2013 at 8:00pm. Follow the protagonist through teenage twitter-pation, affairs, temptations, weddings, and funerals as dancers bring to life thirteen interwoven tracks that blend classic grooves with stellar songwriting. Performed in the round using the Oberon Theatre’s full 360 degrees of theatre space, the audience becomes the active participants in an extravagant party that celebrates love, throughout life.

The George Woods Band and Boston choreographer Jen Kuhnberg teamed up and raised more than $6000 via Kickstarter to turn “Heartbeat” into a full-fledged Modern Dance Rock Concert. As The George Woods Band performs live their new full-length concept album “Heartbeat”, 12 dancers will portray the story through Jen Kuhnberg’s intricate yet relatable choreography. With soaring strings, groovy horn sections, and a through written lyric that reads track to track and cover to cover, the show keeps you moving with lush partnering arrangements, heart-felt movement, and solid grooving rhythms. Special guest acoustic soul artist Dan Rodman will open the show.

“Watching Jen’s choreography bring to life the storytelling in George’s emotionally rich songs is like having a camera into someone’s beautiful dream. As a whole, the production is full of surprises and payoffs of the things you hope (and fear) will happen. This is collaboration at its best,” says Amy Kucharik, a Boston Singer Songwriter Performer.

Get an inside look into the collaborative rehearsal process for this show via video clips and dancer interviews on the Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/georgewoodsmusic. “Heartbeat” the record is currently available via iTunes and Bandcamp.

The Inaugural Nachmo Boston Showing 2013

In January 2011, I watched Erica Frankel, a dancer I met at NYU create and document new choreography every single day. I was inspired by the challenge and the opportunity National Choreography Month presented; a call to action to set aside excuses and overcome obstacles to create new dance work. In 2012, I set aside my excuses and created new work, in four 1 1/2 hour rehearsals. We performed for the camera in the studio on the last rehearsal.

In 2013, Nachmo founders Sharyn Korey and Anna Brown-Massey suggested I organize a Boston showing for choreographers to share their work. I was both afraid and excited. If I organized a showing, I would have to submit my own work to be performed for the public, which would be in many ways for my company Intimations Dance.  

Put excuses aside. I sent an email out to the Dance Action Network, an list-serv hub for dance happenings in Boston. Crickets. I posted on facebook, on my website, and emailed again. I almost called it off. Meghan McCaffrey, founder and artistic director of Impact Dance Company encouraged me not to give up so easily. So I sent one more email. Over 10 companies responded to my email, and from there the show fell into place. Green Street Studios contacted me about hosting the event and suddenly I had a venue, a date, and a 75 minute run time show.

80 audience members, including many dancers, teachers and choreographers from the Boston dance community, came out to see 9 new works. In addition to challenging choreographers to an intense month of dance-making, Nachmo hopes to create connections and gather energy that will last throughout the year. I am thrilled to have this event contribute to an already vibrant dance community here in Boston.

Here are some photos from the event by Kristophe Diaz and I look forward to Nachmo 5 and the second annual Nachmo Boston showing.

“It was so cold, but the colors” by Jessica Muise – Intimations Dance

“Weightless Souls” by Katie Egan – Cambridge Dance Company

“A foundation from which to fly” by Sarah Mae Gibbons and Renée Amirault

(de)construido by Callie Chapman – Zoe Dance Company

“Untitled” by Meghan McCaffrey – Impact Dance Company

All photos © Kristophe Diaz 2013

– Jessica

Nemo cancels dance classes rehearsals across Boston

We were supposed to have our final rehearsal for the inaugural Boston Nachmo informal showing yesterday. Winter Storm Nemo had other plans and dropped over 2 feet of snow in Boston. Public transportation is still out of commission and parking bans leave little opportunity for parking outside the dance studio, so I had to cancel.

I am happy I don’t have the task of rescheduling the informal showing which is thankfully set for next Saturday night, but I did have a small freak-out trying to get alternative rehearsal space in lieu of yesterday (thinking worst case what if we couldn’t find another rehearsal time? Would I be happy with the dance we’ve made? Is it finished?). I am not sure if I’ll ever quite feel like dance work I make is ready. Before almost every show my work has been performed in, the last rehearsal is a blur of last minute changes, additions and subtractions, a final push to see the vision inside my head out in the world on real bodies. It is hard but I think necessary to allow for uninvited interruptions like Mother Nature that mess with our time and space to have their influence on the dance work I am creating. So we’ll rehearsal for an hour or so before the show, and what happens will happen and again on stage.

Under 2 feet of snow, we are all happy the inaugural Nachmo Boston informal showing is next week. Here is the press release with all the details from the show. Hope to see you there!

For Immediate Release

Announcing the inaugural Boston celebration of National Choreography Month
Nine Boston Choreographers present new works on February 16th 2013

Boston, MA, Feburary 5, 2013 – It’s here. Announcing the Inaugural National Choreography Month (Nachmo) Boston performance. On February 16th, 2013, nine Boston based dance choreographers will be presenting new dance work created in the month of January. Green Street Street Studios in Cambridge, MA is hosting the informal showing at 7:30pm.

From solos, to duets and groups presenting a diversity of dance styles, the event will showcase new work created by Boston Community Dance Project, Cambridge Dance Company, Ara Glenn-Johanson, Impact Dance Company, Intimations Dance, Kara Fili and Tara Weaver, Sarah Mae Gibbons and Renee Amirault, Valerie Angell, and Zoe Dance Company. The informal showing will celebrate the vibrant creativity of the Boston dance scene and hopes to forge new connections that will strengthen our community.

Tickets are only $5, and all costs directly support the space rental and performance fees. The show is expected to sell out, so please reserve tickets here: http://www.intimationsdance.com/nachmo-boston.html

About National Choreography Month
Nachmo is your yearly choreographic kick in the pants conceived by Sharyn Korey and Anna Brown Massey. Nachmo spurs dancers to choreograph by challenging you to work against a deadline. Choreographers have one rollicking month from January 1st to the 31st to forge new steps and complete their pieces.

National Choreography Month Website
Nachmo Boston Facebook Event

Press Contact
For more information, please contact:

Jessica Muise
(p) 617-967-7135
(e) nachmoboston@gmail.com
 http://www.intimationsdance.com/nachmo-boston

Nachmo 4 Rehearsal After-thoughts

I’ve been collaborating with 16 dancers to create work for Nachmo 4. This year I’ll be presenting the work to the public at an informal showing on February 16th at Green Street Studios.

With only one rehearsal left (out of 5 total) I am feeling more anxious and excited as ever to share new work. I am trying to suppress the sometimes incessant inner questioning: am I creating the work I’m supposed to with the ‘right’ music and structure and story and movement? Will people ‘like’ this work? What will they think (if anything) at all?

In rehearsal yesterday we took all of the pieces we created through structured improvisation and stitched them together, all of us surprised when the music ended and we were ‘finished’, after an hour of allowing aural and visual cues to lead the way and a flow sense of mind making decisions of what to put where when and why.

The where and when are the easy decisions for me. The why is much more elusive, harder to articulate and define. Last night I attended the Dance Complex’s Shared Choreographer’s Concert, a program that pairs choreographers with mentors over 3 months to develop new works. To conclude the show, choreographers answered questions from the audience. One question was how the mentoring process changed or influenced their work, and a choreographer responded that the mentorship focused her attention on why she was making decisions about time and space – understanding why dancers were doing what where, who enters and exits, what music to use and what risks to take.

Is articulating and understanding why each move exists where and when necessary to make work that resonates with others? Or can I trust the different way of knowing that I tap into when choreographing?

– Jessica

My ChoreoReel and Woes of Self-Promotion

Almost a year ago I decided to work on a promo video for my choreography and performance. It’s something I’ve thought of doing for a years, but is generally a thought I have only when I feel like I am not doing enough, being enough, just not good enough. While putting it all together, I couldn’t help but feel a bit vain and narcissistic. Is there a part of choreography that is inherently selfish or self-centered? Or is it the way this economy is; individuals market products trying to make other people want to buy them? While I know I don’t want to ‘commoditize’ myself, I do know that eventually it would be nice if people paid to watch my dance work.

So here it is, The first draft of a short video I made on free editing software. Yes there is a watermark, the text is funky and there are plenty of other things wrong with it (at least in my opinion), but I have to send it out there. If I wait until it’s perfect, no one will ever see it except me. Enjoy, and please comment!

– Jessica

New Year, New Cubicle, New Dance Happenings

It has been a while since I’ve posted here, and wanted to update y’all on current dance happenings. In addition to my cubicle location changing (I now work at MassArt and thankfully am surrounded by art and artists all day), I am currently working with 16 dancers to create new choreography for National Choreography Month (Nachmo)!

Nachmo Rehearsal

This year in Boston, almost 20 choreographers are putting their nose to the grindstone for Nachmo 4. I started participating in Nachmo 3, having been inspired by videos from the previous year, where dancers committed to creating new phrases each day. I am excited by the call to put aside all excuses, objections, and barriers to choreographing for the month of January.

This year, in addition to creating new work and challenging myself, the most exciting yield of Nachmo 4 is the networking connections that are brewing in preparation for an inaugural informal showing of work I am organizing. Green Street Studios, a non-profit center for movement and dance, is excited to host the event and support the continued development of dance-making in Boston.

If you are in the Boston area, we are still open for a few more choreographers to participate, and hope you can attend the show and support dance making in our community.

Nachmo Boston Informal Showing
February 16th, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Green Street Studios
Cambridge, MA
Register to present work
*Ticket info coming soon

Looking forward to sharing new choreography with you in 2013!

– Jessica

I know where I’m going it… it ain’t where I’ve been

I started formally choreographing when I was 16 for middle school plays and high school performances, always working in a room by myself in front of a mirror creating movement, making sure everything matched up with a 5, and 6 and 7, 8 count, analyzing every slight variation of an arm, speed and dynamic with my eyes.

When I was 19 studying dance in South Africa, I learned all over again how to choreograph with Lliane Loots of Flatfoot Dance Company. Her process facilitated movement with dancers, drawing it out from the inside, rather than create it in the vacuum of a lonely room, scrutinized by critical self-awareness. She would share a framework or a phrase and then give us “presents” – additional directives to add or remove movement, change dynamics, space and time. I became incredibly invested in the choreographic process as both a dancer in her Flatfoot Training Company, and a choreographer in the university classroom.

The process I learned there became a method to break down inhibitions, initiate movement explorations, and develop relationships amongst dancers. I worked from somewhere inside my body, instead of looking from the outside with a critical eye.

In January I choreographed for Nachmo 2012 – National Choreography Month. As a participant, I had to set and reach a goal in the month of January. My goal was to choreography with some of my dear dance friends with no pressure of creating a finished product (one of them being Michael Lupaccino!). We had previously only been in rehearsals together for shows, stressed out by technical expectations. I used structured improvisation and some of my favorite music to create a dance that encouraged us all to work collaboratively in ways that made us enlivened and happy, without worrying about fulfilling particular technical or aesthetic conventions. I was able not to worry about “what it looks like” or “if its good”, because I had immediate feedback from my dancers that it felt good.

We started each class in a circle, after some welcome chatter, with a quiet and calm yoga inspired warm-up, moving in an open unison that encouraged variations that were needed/felt good individually, rather than mimicking exactly my movements. I facilitated our journey through various exercises to create new material; improvise across the floor in a 3-dimensional orbs, your next move dictated by a new direction…create 6 movements in 2 minutes (forward, backward, left, right, up and down)…find a partner and share back and forth pieces of the 6 movements, experimenting with different directions, dynamics and spacing…giving jumps, lifts, repetition and pauses as ‘presents’…observing everyone create, drawing shapes and writing notes to capture it all, inspired a short phrase that I taught back to everyone so we could move in unison.

In four 1 1/2 hour rehearsals, the phrases we created improvising were strung together into a 3 minute piece.

Thank you to my dancers, Deana Bramley, Kate Genovese, Michael Lupacchino, Lauren Pajer, Diana Pilarski, Samantha Rose-Lawsky, and Cara Spilsbury, for showing up every time, and for trusting the process.

– Jessica

The Storm Before The Calm

My creative process has many different facets.

Inspiration and opportunity usually present themselves while I’m in the middle of a distraction (i.e. driving, riding the subway, taking a shower, etc.). Personally, I always (without fail) hit a part in my creative process where I not only start to second guess EVERYTHING, but I begin a downward spiral in which I HATE every single aspect of myself as an artist, as a dancer, and even simply as a human being. It isn’t a pretty cycle, but it is how I work.

To say that dance is an emotional topic of mine would be the understatement of the century. Feel free to ask every dancer I’ve ever worked with. I’ve probably cried openly in front of them at least once during the creative process.

Definition (in this scenario): “Creative Process” – the time spanning from the initial conception of a piece of work through rehearsals and ultimately ending with the performance.

I become incredibly emotionally attached to my choreography as it is an extension of me. Therefore, when I am experience a bout of choreographer’s block, I become overtly emotional and (in essence) devastated that I can’t come up with anything new. My inspiration for writing this article is a direct result of a current case of choreographer’s block.

I have two choreographic opportunities coming up. I start rehearsals this coming week for one, and have begun preparing for another which will start in October. Yet at this point in time, I feel as if I can’t do anything with dance.

My sense of defeat initiated, I then spiral out of control to a point where I begin to question my career as a choreographer. I then move further and start to try to convince myself that I should stop dancing all together. Then I hate myself for thinking that, but continue down the same dark path.

This absurd stream of consciousness usually results in me watching videos of my past pieces of work or (if I want to make myself feel even worse about my predicament) YouTube videos of routines from So You Think You Can Dance.

I honestly can’t explain why I hit such a low point during my creative process. Back in college, I was blessed with the opportunity to choreograph two years in a row for our Experimental Dance show. Both years during the two weeks of tech rehearsals, I would get home after a long night in the theater and begin to bawl hysterically. My tears would be a release of my frustrations from comparing my work to the other choreographers, nitpicking my own work, and exacerbating whatever minor flaws were present in the evening’s run through.

I think this current case of choreographer’s block and subsequent “self hatred” kick I’m in is a result that I haven’t physically danced in a while. I mean I’ve played around in my kitchen almost every day, but that doesn’t compare to being in an actual studio with a mirror present. I know I need to take a class, to kick start my creative juices, but I just haven’t been able to yet.

To be completely honest, I assumed that when I finished this article, I would want to continue my YouTube marathon and go through half a box of tissues. Yet, I feel more empowered than ever, now that I have been able to share my struggles with you (the interwebs).

I’ll just be incredibly pretentious and hipster-like and say that my choreography is “like a Phoenix.” In that it needs to crash and burn and then rise from the ashes. So basically, hitting rock bottom is a good thing. I think…

– Michael

Where does it come from?

My boyfriend Mike asked me recently “How do you choreograph? Where do the moves come from?” Good question.

For the fun of it, let’s consult wikipedia. If I never choreographed before, I am not sure if this article would help or not (or any article online alone).

To answer my boyfriend’s question, right now my choreography is coming from 3 main sources (in no particular order):

1) Visions in my head

2) Improvisation

3) Inspiration from teachers, choreographers and dancers I have worked with before or seen in performance or in videos.

I have spent countless hours in dance studios, living rooms and bedrooms alone trying to “find my voice” and create. Within 10 minutes I usually find my arms resting on the ballet bar, chin in hands staring at myself in the mirror, or laying starfished on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

Choreographing alone, I always feel like I am missing something.

My yoga teacher recently has been using visualization techniques during practice to help embody certain asanas to the point where I am both inside and outside of it, totally in the present moment; to the point where that imagery becomes reality. Working to embody feeling or thought during rehearsals can help dancers turn a choreographer’s vision into reality. How do we as choreographers create a rehearsal space where that is not only possible but successful?

I googled, “How to choreograph modern dance” and came back with this article. Instruction #3 is spot on for me:

“Give the dancers characters to play, and use sense-memory techniques to bring the dancers to the emotional place and level they need to reach. Teach them the steps that you have decided upon, but allow them to interpret the music as well. You never know what you may spot when someone improvises to the music.”

I miss working with choreographers who provided a few movements that we as dancers turned into several 8 counts. I miss the free rehearsal hours on campus, where I felt I had the time to experiment, structuring improvisation to create choreography during rehearsal, instead of before it, alone.

I miss the dancers who, with no technical training, showed up and were present.

I have always had trouble translating choreography I made when alone, so why have I moved towards this method? Time? Money? The pressure to ‘produce’?

The eHow article also posts a key fear of mine as a warning: “If the piece is too abstract, no one will understand it or be able to appreciate it.” Does improv and experimentation always mean that a piece will be too abstract?

Wherever it comes from, however it is created, I think dance needs to come from a place of love in order for it to matter to anyone, whether abstract, improvised, rehearsed, or not.

So, I ask you the same question my boyfriend asked me: How do you choreograph? Where do the moves come from?

Dancing Defensively

So remember back in Drivers Ed when the instructor would tell you that you need to “drive defensively?” You know, being alert and conscious of what the drivers around you are doing. Well I’m going to talk about dancing defensively, a term I have coined meaning being aware of the dancers around you.

The whole idea for this came from when I was taking class. I was in a Modern class with one of my favorite teachers. Her choreography tends to incorporate a lot of big jumps and leg extensions, so it is lucky for us that her class is held in a very large studio.

I set up camp slightly to the rear of the class. As the class progressed, I somehow ended up in the middle line.  With this modern class in particular, we learn 1 phrase of the combination as part of the warm up. Once we started learning choreography, I noticed that a woman kept on creeping up in my personal space. I tried moving over and ended up almost kicking one of my friends.

I tried to brush it off, figuring that we were just learning the phrase and that later it wouldn’t be an issue. I was wrong. Come combination time, this woman was almost up my behind. Every time we finished the combination she managed to inch closer and closer, and I was starting to get really pissed off.

Why does this bother me so much?

1)      She had the entire back corner of the room to herself, kept on moving downstage.
2)      She was in my personal bubble. I like my personal space.
3)      I couldn’t dance the combination full out.
4)      I was afraid of kicking her.

I have a pretty short torso, so my height comes from my legs. I have long and stocky legs and one swift kick would render anyone in a lot of pain. I was terrified that I would either hurt this woman, or I would try to move away from her, and hit one of my friends also taking the class.

If I’m dancing, I want to be able to do it full out. So having a dancer bumper to bumper gets rid of this luxury. So here is what I ask of you. Please dance defensively. Be AWARE of those around you. Use a combination of your spatial cues and your own center of gravity to be hyper aware of your surroundings.

I’ve been in situations where a prop was left on stage, or we were dancing in an outdoor field and had to dance over an electrical cord that ran down the center of the “stage” area. You keep these in mind while you are performing because your safety is what is most important.

I remember in college, I was working on this huge group dance. There were 20 girls onstage at one time doing a contemporary/lyrical piece complete with side extensions and big turns. I remember one girl came up to me frazzled. “I’m going to kick (insert name here) in the dance, because she keeps on creeping up on me.”

My response was “Don’t worry about her. If you accidentally hit her, so be it. SHE needs to be aware that she is in your space. Maybe one brush of your foot will be enough to make her realize she is in your space.”

I am by no means advocating physical violence; I’m just saying that you need to take care of yourself first.

– Michael