Artist Statement

I understand dance as a meeting place of innate, embodied wisdom and environmental knowing. This 'knowledge-making' is a birthright to all bodies regardless of ability, age, and background. It is also a birthright to all places despite the effects of colonization, genocide, disrespect and maltreatment. I prioritize accessible, community-inclusive and site-specific practices. Through the use of movement and poetry in various forms—improvisation, performance, installation and inclusive happenings—my work explores the meeting places (relationships) between: belonging and dis/location, beauty and neglect, attention and social responsibility.
 
My perspective that dance is a relational practice of being has been molded by diverse dance studies, experiences and travels. I studied Balinese dance in Ubud, Indonesia, Butoh in Japan and traditional contemporary dance and theater education in the United States. I also had the opportunity to work with various artists, healers and shamanic practitioners in the US, Hawaii and New Zealand. Similar to my Romani and Sephardi Jewish ancestors, I have traveled extensively searching for meaning and belonging. My heritage, which involves lots of immigration, assimilation, hiding of faith and changing of languages, has provoked me to explore how places and people shape one another. I come to understand that bodies and places exist relationally. 
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I see performance as a means to transform and enrich these relationships with our bodies, communities and environments through the practice of inclusivity. I believe that when time and space are taken to be with things, they positively respond and reinforce the connectivity within people and places. My work invites audiences to engage with dance in non-traditional and experiential modalities. Often working site-specifically with maps, guides, and audios, the audience has permission to roam and experiment in subtle, curious, durational and self-selected ways.
 
Dance is a relationship that already lives within all bodies and all places. I am passionate about sharing dances, performances and tools that empower dancers to unearth the intuitive expression and innate power that their body and their environments naturally holds. My greatest aim is to empower all bodies to share their dance as a means for personal, communal and environmental transformation. The spark that keeps sustaining my dancing is a deep passion for nurturing the relationships that I am woven within.