Archived Repertoire

dive [work in progress]
Music: Ryan Lott
Film production: Rachel Bruce Johnson
An 8-minute multi-media work for 6 women, this piece is about a response to the word “no”. A film projection, set downstage right on a large portable wall, shows film footage of a woman floating in a pool with the frenetic energy of a water aerobics class happening simultaneously.  The dancers onstage echo the frenetic energy by creating a whirlwind of movement in chaos exploring ideas about catch and release and risk taking, only coming into unison near the end of the piece.  The film work is designed to guide attention rather than compete for it and in the end, has the last word.  

Cauffee Tawk
Humorous commentary on the rapid-changing moods involved in female-to-female relationships.

Women of the Well
The story of a Samaritan woman - adulterous, multiple husbands, social outcast - until the Christ offered her a way out. Drawing a metaphor between the water that was so essential to sustaining their way of life and the Living Water that would fill her emptiness, she helped those who shunned her realize that they were more like her than they knew. She was gifted with a place in history from a desolated life in shambles.

Thy Neighbor
Inspiration was taken from Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot. The work is based on the true story of five missionary families in Ecuador who lost their husbands to the fearful violence of the obscure Wodani tribe. Amazingly enough, the women stayed in Ecuador to continue the work their husbands had started. The love they actively harbored in their hearts gave them the grace to look in the Wodani faces and not see their husbands' graves but the Wodani need for riding themselves of such violence. Their sacrifice enabled the Wodani people to realize they no longer had to live in fear and hatred.

Gypsy
This self-identified 'journal' work is about changing direction, going against the grain, and finding a personal path despite what one might feel like doing. Developed from the choreographer's personal experiences over the last 2 years involving uprooting geographically, suffering emotionally, and finding growth from a bit of chaos. Also reworked into a quartet.

Tic
How well do you spend your time? ~performed to the music of the group Drums & Tuba, which is exactly that, one guy on a drum set, the other playing a tuba. This quirky, fun piece was a favorite at the Tulsa Contemporary Dance Theatre premiere performance at the Nightengale Theatre in Tulsa in 2003.

The Scarlet Ibis
Using excerpts from the book by Henry Ibsen, this children's classic in interpreted through dance and dramatic reading. Influenced by Eastern Asian art, the overall presentation strives to clothe this sad story in delicate elegance. Restaged for Tulsa Contemporary Dance Theatre as a structured improvisational piece in 2004.