As my artistic practice falls in between the disciplines of contemporary dance and theater, I work from archetypes and cinematic images to study and compare actions of behavior and how one positions oneself in space and time. My work concentrates on the multiple versions of the self to examine actions within a specific situation. My current research is focused on the female figure as she confronts herself within situations and tries to find opportunities to renegotiate her position. By framing the female figure within certain viewpoints and proximities to the spectator, I play with shifting the configurations of who and how one is viewed while aiming to give agency to the female figure to rearrange herself.

“Hold Yourself Together” continues to focus on how the female figure negotiates her multiple selves within specific positions as she experiences the act of holding. I am interested in the fine line between when the hold takes control over the body and when it becomes counteractive, turning the hold into a movement, a tremble for instance. At times the body holds itself to stabilize within a certain circumstance: grabbing onto something, tensing up, or sustaining within a memory. The work proposes how the body copes with the lost chance to grasp and what the mechanisms are to survive within the imaginary space of the past.

The performance introduces three female figures in pursuit of a hold ranging in different intensities and interpretations of this action. The performers create and deconstruct images through a climatic process wherein each individual finds their own rhythm of engagement. One performer sits in a chair and slowly tenses up her back and entire body, leading to her interpretation of crying. The choreography of her movements go through a series of repetitions as she transitions from one state of being to the next. The second performer goes through a variety of gestures where she holds her head in her hands and periodically becomes distracted by what is happening around her. She begins to speak what she sees and feels. The third performer enters the stage dragging two lights behind her. She goes through stages of fits and stillness until she ends up crawling around the space like a deer who eventually gets caught in headlights. The audience experiences the performers in their pursuits through various obstructed viewpoints. The work frames the spectator’s perspective through the focus of the individual or through the relationship as a trio composition.