Mitzi Adams – Page 8

Celebrating 25 Years!

“Where do I begin? To tell the story of how great a love can be?” Sound familiar? The theme from Love Story is a little corny, I admit, but true. Twenty-five years of a deep, passionate relationship to dance, the dancers, and the craft we’ve created together throughout the years, is a moving, telling story of love. Dance has been an ultimate channeling that has colored and shaped everything I’ve produced. Though more often than not it’s been a tough journey to stay afloat, being in the company of dancers has always kept me feeling alive. “In the company of dancers,” is what spawned Adams Company Dance. “C’mon over and let’s share in each other’s company, and if the mood strikes us, we’ll dance.” The name felt more like it came out of my living room than from a director’s chair, which is why I never named it, Adams Dance Company. The backward notion is more me– plus it’s a great conversation starter.

From the early stages of my career, I backed out of traditionalism and leaned toward the human side of making dance. It seemed from the get-go that I was not meant to engage in a big touring company with my name at the helm, and cookie-cutter dancers working beneath me. Most rehearsals focused on the process of creating, and allowing the dancers to add their own voice, and nuance. I never liked in performance for my “choreography” to be overshadowing the story. In other words, let the dance do its thing without the obvious outlines of the craft. If the dancers are really genuine, sensing their weight, and musically aware, the lines of choreography are blurred and you focus on the beauty. This comes from a deep trust in the studio, and from the human element of the artistic process.

25 years ago when I came to Connecticut from Arizona with my husband, I morphed my post graduate studies into my emerging career as a choreographer. 1991 was the beginning of renting vans, and schlepping props to venues throughout NYC. Back then, it seemed doable. It was easier to mobilize all units and get the job done. Dancers were ready, willing, and eager, and opportunities were always there, without paying to be involved with them. Really! Now, you have to pay on PayPal to apply for a gig–more on my thoughts on that in a blog to come! Taking care of the dancers that have worked with me has always been a priority. Providing pay, and a letter agreement to ensure all equality, was essential to allow for the dancer to feel that they were being honored, and accounted for professionally. It was never enough for all they contributed, but in the long-run, the gift of dance made up for the lack of remuneration they really deserved. I am so grateful to all of them for their loyalty and dedication!

From East to West and places in between, I carried my spirit of dance through these past 25 years. Performances wracked up, and dancers have come and gone, but the process will always be the gem I remember most in my heart. The times when stories were shared, tears were shed, laughter rang out, hugs were given freely, and new relationships were forged. That’s the company of dance I’d like to continue keeping! That’s the love story that I hope keeps unfolding. Stay tuned for our Fall events celebrating our anniversary!

Please see our Anniversary Photo Album here! See our celebration video here!

Vintage Mother’s Day

In an attempt to overcome my deep emotions over the loss of my mother, I choreographed a solo entitled, “Mother’s Day,” circa, 1998. It took me three years and six months, after my mother’s death in 1994, to be able to get my legs under me enough so I could go back into the studio just for me. It’s easy to work with others, but putting myself into the ring with my shadowy self, was like walking into a dark alley, facing the fear that I might be accosted, or trip on a crack and fall unconscious. So, that time came and went, and I am still alive to tell about it. Phfeww!

As all artists draw upon their pain and suffering to create their art, I, too, was going to revel in my psychological pathos, and use the tools I had, to be responsive to what was lurking deep within me. I had a red chair. That was my tool. It was after my Mom told me that she had a dream that she saw me on a chair, dancing on a stage, that I found it. That was just before she died that she told me that dream. I, in turn, told her the dream I had. It was a dream that she died. She said, “sometimes dreams of death are not always about the person dying.” However, Mom, that dream was a prophetic, and so was yours.

I used my Mom’s and my dream as part of the narrative of my piece. It turned out to be more of a theatrical dance, rather than a “dance-y dance,” and it just seemed to pour out of me. It was just before Mother’s Day in May, when I premiered this solo at the Cunningham Dance Studio, back when Merce was still alive. Backstage, against a dusty, dirty wall, I placed a picture of my mother, took a deep breath, and walked out onto the stage to perform. I felt her presence with me on the dance floor, stirring me to tears.

So, now May 2016, with all cobwebs cleared away from the past, I can engage fully with my mother at any given moment. Though I have no children, I have felt like a mother for most of my life. The joy of functioning as a nurturer has brought enriching experiences into my life, and has even allowed me to help when one of my dancers lost her own mother. The hurt and broken places, within many of the dancers that have worked with me, has opened doors to healing while we have been in the creative process together. Sharing this closeness, through which transformation has always been the result, is what makes me continue to want to create. Without a mother’s love, there’s no telling what might appear in your dreams. Happy Mother’s Day!

See Mother’s Day here.

The Seasons of 2015

Alana Kirzner — Alana at the Botanical Gardens

The seasons of this past year imparted new information to me, most differently than most years. 2015 brought waves of new energy in, as each season came and went. Beginning with the frosty chill of February, when we made our film, “Hush Little Child,” when the bitter cold was whipping at our feet, we went deep into our creativity. We felt like the mail carriers delivering mail, no matter what the weather, as we trudged through the snowy botanical gardens. The frozen parts of our souls were melting into our editing, as Amelia Golden and I, churned out another film short, complete with symbolic threads that apparently were just beneath the surface of winter.

Next wave was when spring sprung into action. After a bear of a winter, palpable change and transformation were in the air. I was inspired to return to my piece, “Miles,” to contribute again to the IKADA Dance Festival in NYC. Spring allowed me to get my mojo going and invite understudies into the rehearsal process, which made for a fun and productive time. My niece, Alana Kirzner, and dancer, Gierre Godley, (returning to the role), worked their magic with the dance, melding their energies together with beauty and strength.

annieportdebra2 — “A Dress in the Stream” with Annie

Summer washed in a wave of energy when our film, “A Dress in the Stream,” was screened at Triskelion Arts Film Lab, at their new, funky location in Brooklyn. We were honored to be among the first participants of their new film lab series. It was an evening of uniquely crafted films, and a chance to hob nob with their creators. This summer also found me housecleaning a lot. Not only did a few dance shoes leave my collection, but I also decided to overhaul my website, as it felt like a necessary thing to do, and long overdue. Those hot, oppressive days inspired me to go deep, and find what I really wanted to keep and what needed to be tossed in the annals of my site. My website had felt like an old shoe wearing out with the many years of its treading the web. So, after finding web developer, Greyson Schwing, I was put to work making all the needed changes.

I also was delighted to work with dancer, Annie Heinemann, in the heat of the summer, entrusting my vintage jazz class to her, for the purpose of bestowing it to future generations of dance enthusiasts. Posterity worked as a great workout for us, as we ball-changed and isolated ourselves into a pool of sweat, which lingered into the fall, when we seemed to have mostly pulled it together for safe keeping.

With the crisp air and the colors of the leaves deepening, more inspiration was in my midst. Dancer, Claire Hancock, (from my blog, Fall in Love With Claire), was able to find time to work out a new piece with me at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, “Drift.” Anyone who is lucky enough to work with this gem of a dancer, knows that whatever she touches, turns to gold. And so, with the knowledge that she was in town for only a couple of short days, we jumped into another one of my Jiffy-Mixes, and I all too soon was lost in awe. Art in any form is art, even without a professional staging, for which we didn’t have the time. So with this project, I respected the process, and how the raw performance, superseded the product.

So, after the arduous task of gathering, building, and tweaking my new website, the autumn saw the launch of MitziAdams.com. It’s a work in progress–we all know, you never arrive, it’s never done, and it’s always more for yourself than anyone else. FB: Like! I also was happy to be on a panel of lecturers again this fall with the dance students at UMASS. My colleague and former dance partner, Paul Dennis, is a distinguished faculty there, and it’s always a good time to share with the younger group of hopefuls, and shed light on the topics of dance survival.

Alas, the final wave of 2015 was Behind the Lens 2, slated for the Producers Club Thanksgiving Week. After some grueling hours in the editing room, I had my film in hand and was all set for my screening night. As a matter of course in the theater, there’s always technical issues that can crop up, but thanks to my tech-savvy husband on board, a click of a few switches, and a shout of “the show must go on,” we screened our film, ironic as it was: Behind the Lens— what goes on behind the lens. It proved to delight the crowd of some of my closest colleagues and admirers– the after party in the lounge saw more tech problems, though, as the the bartender forgot how to measure, but no one seemed to care!

Finally in December, I enjoyed the season of light… no rushing around for me. I was at peace, and so grateful for the waves of dance experiences the year had brought in. Season’s Greetings were year-round for me– very indulgent, indeed! What a wonderful gift to be able to reminisce at the close of the season… Happy New Year!

Behind the Lens 2

Adams Company Dance presents “Behind the Lens 2” at the Producers Club in NYC on November 23rd at 7:30pm. From the Baryshnikov Arts Center to the shores of Silver Sands State Park in CT and everywhere in between, Adams and filmmaker Amelia Golden, weave dancers into their unique settings to create film shorts that are visually stunning, whimsical and emotionally stirring. Included in the evening is the director’s award-winning documentary, “Except at Night: The Making of a Dance,” by filmmaker, Benjamin Moss. This year Adams shares a new short, “Hush Little Child,” to the compendium of short dance films.

This event is free! Seating is limited so please RSVP!

Producers Club: 358 W. 44th Street, NYC.

Contact Don Adams: 203-829-4767 or email: adamscodancegm@gmail.com

Fall in Love With Claire

Having duende is a rare gift as a dancer, and if you’ve ever experienced laying your eyes on a dancer who has it, you’ve surely had your socks knocked off! Claire Hancock has duende, or a soulful, heightened state of emotion, different from your average performer who may be good technically, but is just missing that extra something. If you’ve ever seen a good Flamenco dancer, you’ve seen duende in action. Claire makes you yearn for more after you’ve seen her dance. Her lines, grace and technique are obviously eye catching, but then there’s that plunging into the energetic force within her that makes your hair stand on end. She’s simply one of my favorite dancers, and I was so happy to jump into the studio with her, for a couple of short days in New York this Fall, while she was visiting.

I’ve known Claire since she was seven years old, and now she’s a mature artist, making her mark in the dance world as a dancer and talented choreographer, with her own dance company. When I first met Claire, her parents were my teachers at the University of Arizona. Claire would sit backstage and watch as we all danced around her, but somehow she felt like one of us, and we all welcomed her into our big, happy dance family. I saw her mom and dad, Melissa Lowe and Jory Hancock, perform frequently, and they never failed to blow me away. I also had several occasions to dance with them, lucky as I was, and each time was an energetic high, that to this day, I’ve never quite experienced — so, I guess it’s fair to say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

Back to NYC, where Claire was using a natural GPS, leading her to experience just about every good thing that New York had to offer, and not just dance. Indulging in every aspect of arts and culture contributes to the educated artist that she is. She comes and goes, but each time she digs her heels in a little bit deeper. I found her visiting in September, and the timing was right for us to embark on one of my “Jiffy-Mixes.” Time was of essence, as she was soon to leave, but in only two short rehearsals, we whipped together “Drift, “ a dance conveying the idea of transitions in life, and how they inspire putting us in a new places and new directions. I asked her tune into her senses and write about what she was experiencing during our short process together — and we used that text to set the tone. Drift was caught in the raw at the Baryshnikov Arts Center– Misha was in the next room rehearsing — the sun was shining through the big windows, and I was in my ultimate delight — drifting into a deep, emotional place, as I witnessed the best that Fall had to offer.

Mitzi and Claire at the Baryshnikov Arts Center

See some of our rehearsal shots here.

See Drift Here.

Summer Sole-fullness

It was fourteen years ago today that our nation suffered a great catastrophe. 9/11 stirred our souls and changed our lives forever. It was one month after that horrific day that I was an invited guest artist at Wichita State University. My dear friend and colleague, Nick Johnson, was then, and is still Chair of the dance department there. His lovely wife, Sabrina, is on the faculty and they both teach the most extraordinary classes, and choreograph very intelligent and creatively-thought-provoking work. I landed there knowing that I needed to address my feelings about those awful events that had just taken place, just one month prior. I guess I could’ve choreographed a simple, dancey-dance to something light and airy to off-set my heavy emotions, but instead, I wrestled with the the event head-on, and and used my guest artist time as therapy to choreograph a piece that I titled, “Unthinkable Equation.” Not exactly Martha Graham’s “Dances After Catastrophe” from “Chronicle,” but similar intention. Nick and Sabrina told me one morning while I was staying with them, that I had been screaming at the top of my lungs in the middle of the night. I hadn’t recalled much, but what that did tell me, is that I must’ve been suffering PTSD.

It was after my residency, however, that something wonderful occurred. Sabrina and the students presented to me this Capezio box containing what would become my motivating dance shoes for years to come: Cheetahs! They became my non-red, Red Shoes. Remember the The Red Shoes? You can google it. These became my favorite pair of jazz shoes to date, my Cheetahs… and sad to say, it’s time to retire them. The black rubber soles are flaking off on every studio floor I dance on, leaving pieces of rubber behind, as if tiny pieces of a dance I had been choreographing had been lost to those chunks of Cheetah goodness–those magic shoes helped mold numerous artistic undertakings, and held such sentimental value for me.

Of course, these shoes have become obsolete, as does most great dance attire and footwear in the dance world. They had a cool split-sole, and they made my pointe look better than what it is. My barre work excelled with my Cheetahs, and I was excited to create new dances with my happy, pointed feet! However, as the soles broke off, and I found myself cleaning up after my mess in studios far and wide, I finally had to make the decision to let them go. The broken sole disintegration seemed symbolic in part, as I wondered if parts of myself were flaking off along with the rubber. It’s been a summer of letting go and taking time for rest, renewal and inward reflection. It began with saying goodbye to dancer, Ryan Schmidt, as the sun set in NYC on a hot, sticky day. James Pierce, longtime friend and dancer of ACD, joined us as we toasted her new home near Chicago, where her husband landed a new job. My heart was heavy that day. Though so elated for her, it felt like yet another piece of that black sole falling off. She was, and is a gem that brought so many vital contributions to ACD. As she continues to dance and perform in an aerial company, I’ll dream of her touching down in NYC again to dazzle me with her amazing talent.

Letting go IS hard… it often finds us looking back, which clearly I’ve been doing. I googled my first dance teacher, Hedy Tower, the other day, to see if she was still alive. I came to find out that she passed away three years ago. I felt remiss in not getting back in touch with her after all of these years. I learned that she had been teaching up until the age of 99! What the what?? I was five when I first started dancing with her in Jenkintown, PA. I was terrified when she beat her gong and made us act out being witches. I remember having to put a fake wart on my face and wear a black dress and tall, pointy hat, as we did our first public performance at my grade school. Of course, later in life, I had an a-ha moment, as I sat in my first dance history class learning about German dance pioneer, Mary Wigman, and her famous “Witch Dance,” and how that dance resembled what I had learned when I was five. Oh THAT’S what Hedy was making us do! Though shocking to my system at such a young age, it was Hedy that taught us to “let go” of our fears and to risk making a fool of ourselves… she impressed that it’ll be good for you.

Summer 2015… more letting go. No witches in site, but lots of old stuff to toss out, not just shoes, but old tapes, and not just the ones in my head. VHS tapes. Digitizing is time consuming and yet necessary this day and age to preserve those antiquated tapes. I have much transferring to do, all in an effort to save my vintage work before it ends up like my broken rubber soles. The humidity can ruin VHS tapes so fast, and so time is not on my side with this job. Letting go of the old technology has not been easy. If it were up to me, I’d still be cooking food in the toaster oven, and turning the knob right on the TV to change channels. I like buttons, knobs and switches. I abhor touch screens. There’s so much room for error, and I’m sure you can agree that there’s more malfunctioning going on now than in the past. Ok, so more letting go.

Looking back at my old jazz class pedagogy this summer, it dawned on me that the material really needed to be passed on. Let go of that, too. Like my fist dance teacher teaching me the “Witch Dance,” I wanted to pass on a tradition of jazz dance that could be archived with a suitable and trusted dance enthusiast. After a briefing with my ‘daughta from anothah motha’ and beautiful dancer, Annie Heinemann, we decided to book studio time and revisit the hour-long warm-up I created back in 2006 for my students at WMU.

We broke it all down, and got most of it back, with a few holes here and there. My last stint with my Cheetahs was with Annie. We chuckled as we watched the shedding rubber pieces fall onto the studio floor! Passing down this warm-up class to her has been a fun and rewarding process. She is a skillful teacher, and has it all together as a dancer… among other works, you’ve seen her in “A Dress in the Stream.” With a few more rehearsals, and a few changes here and there, I think we’ll get it back. The mix of the old theater-dance style, with contemporary modern, should get her students at Greenwich Academy working hard, and hopefully they will come to appreciate the heritage of the jazz dance… sooner than their first dance history class — fingers crossed.

So, with time to ruminate on my many walks this summer on the beach, I finally made the decision to let goof that old rubber-90s website, and start anew. Dumping pages and ideas that no longer were relevant was humbling, and yet encouraging. Taking stock of what was good, and throwing out the rest has been a daunting task after nearly thirty-years of making work. OMG!! I visited Tucson this summer and went back to my alma mater. Yep, it was 29 years ago I started graduate school. My soles were fresh and raring to go then. I started right in on choreography and somehow, never let go of it. With so many years, so many tales, so many dances, so many dancers, and so much time, energy, and not to mention MONEY, I still am finding within my soul, a place that holds sacred those creative urges. Those old, broken pieces of sole are thrown away, but the memories of those times past will forever be imprinted upon my soul. And from this day forward, it won’t be the same, but I’m sure I’ll still somehow get to the pointe! Oh, and please don’t forget to revisit the Beatles, Rubber Sole. One of my favs– I’ll never let go of that one! Stay tuned for my new website!

Feasting on Spring

As this Summer begins and I prepare my tote bag for the beach, I also have to unload my dance bag and head for the laundromat. Time has gotten away from me, and I haven’t yet laundered the costumes that put me in high gear this past Spring. Typically, in a week or so after a gig, I do all the post-clean-up, but with my heavy workload, a trip to my former residence in Tucson, and a short stint in Austin, TX to visit a good friend with my sister, I literally have been on a treadmill and haven’t had time to tumble dry, or process what has simply been a whirlwind of a season.

Except for the initial hiccup with casting, my piece, “Miles” went to the stage at the end of May in the KoDaFe 2015 Dance Festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in NYC. Adams Company Dance has been invited to the festival since its inception, three years ago, and it went off without a hitch. Cultural exchange between artists, choreographers, and dancers united the evening, as we shared a common theme of sharing our origins. My niece, Alana Kirzner, along with Gierre Godley, who previously performed this duet at Ailey, danced beautifully together in this emotionally driven, highly athletic dance. How very proud I was of my niece for her comeback dance performance, after a two and a half year hiatus from dancing, due to an injury. Adding two understudies to our rehearsal period made for a fun time, as I reunited with a former student, Jeremy Neal, from my time at Western Michigan University, and with Ana Estrada, a lovely dancer from my alma mater, University of Arizona. Appropriately titled, “Miles,” the mileage this dance has driven so far, had more miles to go, and the dancers certainly drove it home with their bold performance.

With music by three-time Grammy Award winner, Maria Schneider, ( I could never tire of her composition), the dancers strapped in for another tour of duty for this gem of a dance, for which Maria so generously granted permission. As a side note, I was distracted in a really good way this Spring to attend the launch of Maria’s new CD, The Thompson Fields. As I said with her last CD, and I’ll unabashedly state again: run, don’t walk to buy this album of pure genius!

Next up was the first annual Film Lab at Triskelion Arts. Annie Heinemann-Church was the lead in our film, “A Dress in the Stream,“ which was selected for this all-dance film festival in a funky neighborhood in Brooklyn. This art-house, laboratory of dance culture, moved to a new location this past season, renewing its vigor and promise of a brighter future– so nice to see the smaller venues gaining such momentum! Being in the company of other like-minded artists, made us all feel like one, big, happy family. Fast forward from the 80s, when Beta was making its debut, we sure have come a long way with dance morphing into new and acceptable mediums in the digital era. I almost had forgotten about live dance that night!!

Simmering with the smell of a stew so rich with ingredients you can taste it’s flavor from around the corner, was our film, “Hush Little Child.” The frigid film shoot, on the last day of February in the freezing cold, still resonated in my mind, yet the days of Spring, with the flurry of activity, disabled me to take this rich pot off the stove for a cooling off and completion; however, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t able to taste-test during March, April and May! With my many trips back and forth to Brooklyn to work with my videographer/editor, Amelia Golden, the stew that once seemed raw and without spice, finally cooked up to the right temperature and flare. I hope you enjoy our premiere .

So there. I’ve now aired all my dirty laundry from the Spring, my dance bag is cleaned out, and now I can enthusiastically start my Summer, savoring the good memories from our events. Thanks to all the artists who participated in creating our artistic feast!


Amelia Golden Filmmaker	Dancers rehearsing	Film shoot day with Amelia and Alana

Alana and Gierre in “Miles;” Photo by IKADA	Annie in “A Dress in the Stream”

Frozen, but Fluid

Amid the snow and ice of the last day of February, a day brimming of inspired artistry unfolded with ACD that melted the frozen feelings of a long winter. Inspired by my niece, Alana Kirzner, a stunning dancer with a fierce energy and supermodel look, I loosely wrote a script for a new film short. Amelia Golden, filmmaker and collaborator with ACD, joined our project for a day of artistic discovery in NYC, beginning at Ripley Grier Studios in NYC, and ending at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

Alana brought it all to the table with her technical finesse and dramatic edge, portraying a character that oddly came to life once the costume pieces were donned. A spirit came alive; however, when this black, velvet dress and shrug, hung on a pipe in my basement to air out and de-wrinkle after I brought it home form the thrift store. It was then, in the dark shadows, that it swayed side to side, ever so gently, that I could see a mysterious woman from the turn-of-the century living in it, or could it also be the spirit of Madeline from the famous children’s book? No matter the origin, Alana awakened her own spirit to flesh out the character she became that day, both indoor in the studio, and outdoor at the Botanical Gardens, where we choreographed a frosty frenzy of quick-study exhibitions on the snowy, wooded paths. We ended at the gorgeous Haupt Conservatory at the Chandelier Orchid exhibit, where we warmed it up for a supreme finale among the fertile plant-life and blossoming flowers… we were loose, fluid and filled with a taste of Spring in the air! Stay tuned for our new film–coming soon!!


Film shoot day with Amelia and Alana

Treasures of 2014

A year’s worth of creating, polishing and processing new work has come to a humbling end. Placing these fine collectibles into this year’s treasure trunk has me joyfully reminiscing about the many months of studio sweat, theater dust and reams of film footage.

Goddess Danu and Birds Over Lower Lough Erne, a commissioned work by composer, Claudia Howard Queen, began my journey into 2014 and sent me into Celtic motion. Ryan Schmidt rose to a mystical, new level when she danced her fairy good performance in Brooklyn at Triskelion Arts, where we also had a sneak-peak of several of our film shorts, in collaboration with filmmaker, Amelia Golden.

Next was the KoDaFe Dance festival in NYC at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, where Milan Misko and Nana Tsuda performed Descendence, a touching duet about how our ancestry links us to our life’s journey. This was ACD’s 2nd invitation working with the IKADA Contemporary Dance Company.

I was honored to have been able to work with the extraordinarily talented Chris Jackson again, for the creation of the new solo, Flight, and our new film short, Sea Chapter. Composer, Tamara Wilcox added her musical talent to Chris’s solo with her inspiring piano composition. ACD is proud to now have two scores of Tamara’s in our repertoire. Returning to Triskelion Arts again, Chris gave the most soulful performance of Flight, effortlessly moving through the space, as I wiped away my tears from the front row. We waded our way through the waters of Silver Sands State Park, making our companion film short to the solo, capturing beautiful scenery, including breathtaking views of the sun setting over the calm ocean waves.

Flipping through the short films I’ve done, with collaborators Benjamin Moss and Amelia Golden, I was aching to be able to work this compendium of films into a production where we could share what we’ve done in a proper screening room. After a brief search to find a venue for my vision, I was able to secure a night at the Producers Club in NYC this December, where we included our documentary, Except at Night: The Making of a Dance, giving the audience insider information into my process of making a dance. The whole evening, entitled, Behind the Lens, tied all the frames together, giving a glimpse of the past five years of seeing things from the camera’s point of view. It was a thrill to know that some of the dancers involved were sitting in the seats, as so many over the years have scattered over the globe. I was lucky to have been able to raise my glass and toast with a few of them afterward, as we celebrated some of our greatest shared treasures.


Benjamin Moss Filmmaker	Amelia Golden Filmmaker	Claudia Howard Queen Composer
Tamara Wilcox Composer

Sea Chapter: A New Balancing Act

Through my adventures at Silver Sands State Park in Milford, CT, I was awestruck by the sheer beauty of Mother Nature’s creation, nestled so close to my home. I had thought that at some point, the setting would surely be a gorgeous backdrop for a short film. Well, this past October, during a tumultuous Mercury retrograde period, I knew it was time to sieze the moment. I knew immediately that Chris Jackson, a dancer with whom I’ve worked, off and on for twelve years, would be my prime candidate to place his footprint upon my film, and on the cool sands of the beach. Amelia Golden joined us again for this new chapter at the sea where we were to begin.

Chris and I began our time together in NYC, rehearsing the material for this new solo. The music, by Tamara Wilcox (she supplied the score from our film short, Woodland Aire), and David Darling, gave us the perfect feeling for the style and approach to the movement. We magically finished the piece in two rehearsals, with the last being the most powerful in a large, open studio at the Dance Theater of Harlem, where Chris also teaches. Somehow the annals of DTH ancestry in our midst, moved our spirits to whip the piece into shape and finish it in a couple short hours that day.

The next task was having Amelia and Chris come up to Milford for the day, so we could shoot interiors and exteriors for the film. Using the material from Chris’s new solo, we mixed up our time shooting his dance, and other off-beat shots inside the building of Connecticut Dance Conservatory. After wrapping up the indoor work, we convened at the beach, where the sun was slowly descending, and the wind was whipping at our faces. Minute by minute the lighting was changing, so I had Chris follow my direction quickly, and Amelia remained steady behind the lens, capturing footage that later proved to be invaluable.

This majestic tree, standing all alone was tantamount in the unfolding of the meaning of this project of ours at the sea. Each of us knew internally what that tree represented for us, and so we left exhausted, cold, but exhilarated at the prospect of what this film could later become.

A couple weeks later, we archived Chris’s solo at the Triskelion Arts Center in Brooklyn, where he performed at the highest level of his game, and brought tears to my eyes. His performance will be coming soon to Vimeo, and you’ll see what I mean when you see him dance his most soulful, and genuine performance to date. In December, look for our new film short, Sea Chapter, at ACD’s screening night at the Producer’s Club on 12/17. More on that coming soon! Until then, enjoy these scenes from our shoot, including some from the last nice weather days of the year, at the beach!


Chris at CT Dance Conservatory	Chris with an Open Heart	Chris at Silver Sands State Park

Amelia, Chris & Mitzi	Chris & Mitzi