This week I am setting my work The People’s Evolution at BYU for the DancEnsemble Winter Concert as well as teaching master classes to BYU dance majors. I am also setting a work Second Future at Copper Hills High School for the CHHS Dance in Concert this spring. I’ve loved having a quick trip to the states to dance, create, and continually learn more about choreography and teaching.

Photos from my M.F.A. thesis, “[ME]thod”, explored the curiosity and concentration of problem-solving and negotiation while seeking the embodied humanity behind political processes. This piece was one of my favorites with three sets of different characters: the representatives, the workers, and the citizens. The piece delves into the way these three composite characters work in order to accomplish policy acts. And the challenges of negotiating with a group when it seems that everyone is out for themselves. This work incorporated highly physical choreography, with moments of humor about policy language and writing, as well as challenging conflicts among relationships and space.

Chameleons – Venetian Masks, Venice, Italy

My Favorite Colors – balsamic vinegar vineyard, Modena, Italy

The Harvest – Modena, Italy

City on Water – Venice, Italy

…is found in Venice – Venice, Italy

Armed – Venus de Milo, Louvre, Paris, France

Angels and Demons – Paris, France

Enter with Caution – Versailles Gardens, France

The Setting Reign – Marie Antoinette’s Home

Mirroring Angels – Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, France

Evite – Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, France

Bit – Versailles, France

Saint Chappelle – Paris, France

The Eiffel Tower – Paris, France

THE French Onion Soup – Ile Saint Louie, Paris, France

Le Petit Fernand – Paris, France

More, please! – Paris, France

Up – Ceiling of Notre Dame, Paris, France

Notation – Saint-Germain church, Paris, France

Flower Shops, Ile Saint Louis, Paris, France

Notre Dame – Paris, France

The Laduree – Paris, France

Fashionable Details – Laduree’s Powder Room

Then and Now – View from Laduree, Paris, France

Arc de Triomphe – Paris, France

Dust- Palace Gardens, Paris, France

Clash – The Louvre, Paris, France

The Other Side of Mona Lisa – The Louvre, Paris, France

America vs. France – The Louvre, Paris, France

“..Nothing matters now, for he has gone so far away.”(Troubadour Marcabru)

“Two to One” was a piece I presented at the Artist, Interrupted performance held at the Wild Goose Creative in May of 2011. My husband and I interviewed each other about our first year of marriage; if any of you listen to RadioLab (I am a huge fan) and I felt inspired to try my hand at story-telling through sound and dance. I blended laughter, still moments, stories, and tears as we talked about our perceptions of our careers in terms of creation and destruction and shared ways we’ve stayed connected after a year of long-distance. The piece was meant to be performed as a duet, but, due to circumstances of separation, we had to make it a solo.

Since this time I have become more intimately connected with women who are balancing their complex lives as temporary widows. The power and paralysis that happens for many couples as they balance that fine line of independence/dependence. As I have thought more about this idea I had one of those moments, when you see threads of characters, concepts and ideas. I have learned the invaluable lesson to share and discuss creative processes so I wanted to take some time to write down a few of these ideas.

Women and the Crusades: http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine3.html

“In times of constant warfare, women’s role in maintaining household stability was needed. Women who governed in their husband’s name engaged in legal transactions, directed the farming, collected monies in case of ransom, and brought up the children.”

“Such changing conditions gave some women greater power than they had had before. In times of constant warfare, women’s role in maintaining household stability was needed. Women who governed in their husband’s name engaged in legal transactions, directed the farming, [and] collected monies in case of ransom.”

Three women in particular are highlighted in this brief history:

Blanche of Castile (1187-1251), queen of Louis VIII of France. “Blanche managed to suppress rebellions and actually extend the power of the French dynasty. In 1249 she completed the absorption of the Midi into the French state and made advantageous alliances. As a result, the kingdom of France more closely assumed the shape and appearance it has today.”

“In 1249, Shagrat al-Durr mobilized the Egyptian Mamluk army to drive Frankish Crusaders out of the coastal town of Damietta. This helped her become, for a short time, the Sultan of Egypt.” “Shagrat was a slave who rose from the ranks of mistress, or lover, to become the wife of the sultan (Muslim leader) of Egypt. Following the death of her husband during the Seventh Crusade (1248-54), she assumed joint control of the Muslim forces with two other counselors and helped defeat the Crusader armies of French king Louis IX at the Battle of Mansurah. After a palace revolt, she was made sultana, or female leader of Egypt, a position she held for three months. She was displaced by those uncomfortable with a female leader and replaced by a Mamluk soldier, Aybeck. Yet Shajarat would not give up her power so easily. She went on to marry Aybeck and in essence continued to rule Egypt on his behalf as he fought enemies abroad until her execution for treason in 1257.” http://warandgame.com/2009/08/18/shajarat-al-durr/

“One of the most fascinating was Queen Melisende, daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, who became a sovereign in 1131.” Her husband provoked a war against his wife after believing infidelity rumors about Melisende. She insisted on strong peace-terms, which included her admission to the inner councils of the kingdom. She was given great leeway in promoting the arts and in founding a huge abbey. Even after she bore an heir, she had had a taste of real power and she became determined to hold unto it, despite her son’s frustrations. Rivarlies between mother and son continued until he ultimatley won her army. “But these rivalries greatly damaged the future of the crusader’s Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Muslims took great tracts of territories from the crusaders during the period of Melisende’s troubled reign. As a result, Jerusalem never again let a woman rule. When in 1186 a woman actually inherited the crown, her husband was effectively elevated to rule in her place.”

Today, as I was musing on the idea of temporary widows I had a flash of images come across my mind: images of events and actions for two.

Dancing couples
Dropping an egg while cooking in the kitchen
Driving shotgun with an empty driver seat
Empty hand
Two straw drink
Sitting alone at a restaurant with two plates
Empty Chairs

http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/elderly-women-children-left-behind-in-chinese-rural-countryside.html

Farmers’ Market in Padova, Italy

Mare Insalate, Mikey’s at Cinque Terra

Bread Dumplings and Beef, Prague, Czech Republic…and yes, they put cream in everything.

The best barley salad and (not the best) horse-meatballs in Verona, Italy.

Brie, Pear, and Berries with Vegetables, Prague, Czech Republic

Pasticcheria in Thiene, Italy

To feed the artistic hole that has been gaping over me the last few months I’ve kept active in art through designing our home, traveling, and, of course, eating my way through this time of transition. Here are a few of my favorites over the last few months:

Cathedral in Padova,Italy

“If I could be a statue…” Verona, Italy

“Ruins” Verona, Italy

“M.I.” National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic

“Charles” Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic

Cathedral at Royal Palace, Prague, Czech Republic

Dolomites, Northern Italian Alps

Road to Monte Berico, Vicenza, Italy

“Little Italy” Marostica, Italy

“Riviera” Cinque Terra, Italy

“Mare Bella” Cinque Terra, Italy

“Pomodore Parade” Marostica, Italy

“For highs and lows” Vicenza, Italy

“DIY” Vicenza, Italy

My new work will explore military images and propaganda with a twist of the personal and individual. I recently attended my husband’s graduation and used various photos and film to jump start a new duet that will be presented at the Artist, Interrupted show at the Wild Goose Creative on May 20, 2011. As of now, I’m interested in exploring the more personal triumphs and challenges of a military and arts relationship that my husband and I share. We are both athletes and we are both teachers – we train and command, direct and lead, create and destroy. The duet is a way for me to draw in my family instead of my art taking me away from them. As part of the research process this video is one of my first explorations into military identities and bodies as a performative construct as well as exposing the personal side of the relationship my husband and I share as we both carry the responsibilities of military life.

The Ohio State University Department of Dance presents Here, Then, Us and the Other, an MFA thesis concert by graduate students Maree ReMalia, Kristen Jeppsen Groves, and Teoma Naccarato. The show runs Thursday April 14 to Saturday April 16 at 8pm in Sullivant Theatre, 1813 N. High Street.

The choreographers will come together to share three individual pieces that represent the talent and diversity within the department.

ReMalia invites audiences to meet a charming cast of characters in all the little things that are nearly them. Independent worlds intersect through unexpected encounters and what is recognizably dance meets the fringe of the form. This composition of idiosyncratic, seemingly disparate elements emerged from improvisational explorations and materials contributed by the public: HYPERLINK “http://mahiree.wordpress.com/mfa-project-solo-input” http://mahiree.wordpress.com/mfa-project-solo-input.

As an emerging arts advocate, Jeppsen Groves combines the intricate configurations of policy creation with complex, athletic choreography in her new work, [Me]thod. Her physically dynamic piece explores the curiosity and concentration of problem solving and negotiation while seeking the embodied humanity behind political processes.  

Naccarato presents Gently between us, an interdisciplinary piece that explores emotional and physical intimacy, mediated via technology. By manipulating cameras onstage, the dancers connect and depart in flesh and video projection. The piece was created in collaboration with media director Shawn Hove, composer Tristan Seufert, and the performers. Samples of Naccarato’s past work are available at: HYPERLINK “http://www.naccarato.org/dance” www.naccarato.org/dance.

Tickets can be purchased at the door: $10 general admission $5 seniors, students. Parking is available at the Ohio Union’s South Garage (1759 N. High St) and North Garage (1780 College Rd) as well as at the Arps Garage (1990 College Rd), and is wheelchair accessible.

In addition, on Monday April 18 at 5pm, Mara Penrose will present a lecture/demonstration summarizing her investigation of large group performance. The lecture will include discussion of mass movement spectacles Penrose created as well as excerpts from a 1930′s ‘movement choir’ arranged by Albrecht Knust. 

For more information, contact Teoma Naccarato at (614) 886-6696.

I felt a need to get out of my routine and take a break – from even my spring break – and explore. Click on “My Canvas” page above to see my recent photos.