Well, team, we made it to the end of another brilliant residency! Today was our last day working with Terry Marling and we had the privilege of showing our piece to guests and supporters at the KLS studios at the Auditorium Theater!

The theater’s studio is BEAUTIFUL! It’s one of the largest spaces we’ve ever rehearsed in and it’s so wonderful to have so much space to work with. Throughout this second week with Terry we’ve been at the KLS studio and have been able to use it’s vast area. Terry used this week’s rehearsal to hone in on the first section of his work. Musically, and in topic, the piece is split into two parts. The second part was created in our first week of rehearsal and is slow, peaceful, connected, weightless, and graceful. Working in opposite order, this week of rehearsal we worked on the beginning of the piece – the first section. Working in collaboration with the dancers, Terry created a contrast to his second section and choreographed a heavy, weighted, grounded, and hard-edged opening to the piece.

I’ll still leave some of the choreography and story to the imagination, but this piece definitely leaves audience’s experiencing two sides of society – disconnected versus connected. Terry’s process was unlike others as he heavily relied on the collaboration of us dancers and weaved our choreography together to make the dance specific and personal to our group. Our audience today seemed wowed and impressed, asking lots of questions about Terry’s process, how he comes in with his ideas, and what it’s like to work in such a collaborative environment.

As you know, we have 6 world premieres at the Auditorium Theater on April 27, 2024. Three of them are now completed and we are so excited to dive into 3 more! We are so thankful to Kia that she continues to bring in such wonderful choreographers for us to work with and learn from. Each time we finish a process, it feels like I’ve broadened my horizons to new styles, ways of thinking, process, and creative endeavors. Here’s to the next residency!!