RESEARCH STATEMENT 

I am an artist and maker, with my main research interests consisting of dance choreography and dance education with an interdisciplinary inspiration coming from music composition, poetry and painting.

I believe all movement is rooted in breathing. As my lungs take in oxygen, they expand, and as I exhale, they relax, choreographing a sway in my upper spine. This relationship between our breath and our kinesthetic response is amplified in my dance choreography. My studio research relies heavily on my breath-to-body ratio. In my movement research, I look to my changing breath tempo as inspiration for my choreography. In particular, I am interested in exploring my personal embodiment of anxiety through dance, as well as how other people embody anxiety in their bodies.

As an interdisciplinary maker, writing poetry, painting and composing music fuel my art making. I use words, in the form of song writing or poetry to tell stories. Intersecting dance and words combines forces that can seem to be in opposition. Written word is static, and permanent. Dance is ephemeral and usually temporary. I use painting as a way to process my visceral thoughts in a more abstract medium. As a visual learner, painting allows me to produce art that I can repeatedly see as a viewer, instead of embodying the work of art itself, as in my dance practice. I use music to let my deepest veins of emotion come through my art making. My favorite kind of composition starts with improvisation on the piano. Time that I spend sitting and playing the piano is time spent processing and exploring my internal thoughts. I often record songs that I create. It allows me to replay the music and create movement to my original scores. To me, music and dance have an integrated relationship, where each one can stand on its own, but they can also inform each other to create beautiful work.