My Future is Turtle II continues an exploration into of the nature of reality, and the various ways that we seek and make meaning in the world as individuals and groups. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged isolation, this research has turned towards the ways in which we make meaning through and within our relationships. Created with Galen Bremer in while in residency at Judson Church in New York City, this hybrid work was made for online audiences in February, 2021
Watch the full 20 minute performance here.
My Future is Turtle is an ongoing exploration of the nature of reality, and the various ways that we seek and make meaning in the world as individuals and groups. Research for this project to date has involved fields and systems ranging from quantum theory to tarot, astrology, Buddhism, improvisation, chance operations and genealogy. The project was first developed in residency at LAKE Studios Berlin, in collaboration with sound and video artist Galen Bremer. Video footage - inspired by the three defining tenants of reality outlined by quantum physicist Carlo Rovelli as: relationality, granularity and indeterminacy - was collected from the natural world and brought into the studio in conversation with live movement, music and text. Work-in-progress presentations of the work have been presented at LAKE Studios Berlin and Triskelion Arts as part of the Never Before Never Again Festival (guest curated by The Lovelies) in Brooklyn, NY.
This short dance film, created with and inspired by photos by A-CHAN, was made in collaboration with Galen Bremer and Stephanie Sutherland, with choreography and performance by myself. The piece was featured as part of Sky and Cloud / Winter Spring, a photography exhibit by A-CHAN at +81 Gallery in SoHo, New York, February 15 - March 16, 2018. The piece was screened at a GRRL HAUS CINEMA event in Berlin, Germany in July, 2019, with an original score by Galen Bremer.
Run time: 3:58
Click here to watch the full video
Weft investigates how we weave our personal narrative from the people, places, and communities we come to know throughout our lives. Developed in residencies in the U.S and abroad through site-based improvisation, dance for camera, and studio practice, this multi-media solo work incorporates movement, music, film projection, and textiles in an intimate live performance that attempts to unravel the thread of one artist’s journey. Original score by Galen Bremer. World premiere on November 8, 2017 at Cucalorus Festival, Thalian Theater in Wilmington, NC. Additional performances at: Judson Church in NYC (film screening and live music performance, March 2018) and Marrowbone in Vermont (October, 2019).
Alongside+ is an international collaboration with Won Kim, Young Hoon Oh, and Tim Motzer, performed at the Arko Arts Theater as part of the International Modern Dance Festival (MODAFE) in Seoul, South Korea on May 27 and 29, 2016. Alongside+ deals with the understanding and consideration that are the prime value for the people in the world. It explores the sharing of recognition that comes out of the exchange among people based on individual free thinking. Also, the work suggests an example of horizontal, not vertical, relationship among people.
Run time: 25 minutes.
On a gray day a weathered sculpture in a public space may go unnoticed, but for the figures weaving through it. Are these two women, or one? The mystery of their circumstance ignites a curiosity of the anonymous subject in this abstract short film. know you is an official selection of the 2016 Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center.
Choreography and Performance: Emma Hoette and Zoe Rabinowitz
Music and Video: Galen Bremer
Wardrobe: Emma Hoette
Run time: 4:11
Click here to watch the official trailer!
be-seek-let is a performance for two dancers and two bicycles that examines bodies and bikes as objects, performers, and machines. The piece investigates the relationship between human and apparatus in a world that blurs the line between animate and inorganic, set to an original score by Galen Bremer. With sound derived from field recordings, modular synthesis, and tape manipulations, the composition mimics the physical mechanics of a bicycle and the explorative agency of the human-bicycle connection. be-seek-let was first shown as a work in progress performed by Kensaku Shinohara and Osias Yanov at the Omi International Arts Center in August 2014, and again by Zoe Rabinowitz and Kensaku Shinohara at New York Theater Workshop in October of the same year. The full premiere, commissioned by Women in Motion for May 2015, was performed by Lena Lauer and Zoe Rabinowitz at the West End Theater's Soaking WET Series. This production was made possible in part by public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and space grants from Hunter College and the Joffrey Ballet School.
Video coming soon.
k(not) uses intimate gesture and abstract movement to investigate harmony, dissonance and compromise between two people. The dancers share weight, create and dissolve shapes to negotiate the space between dependence and support. An ongoing investigation of relationship, the cast changes with each performance, engaging the dancers through a changing set of circumstances. k(not) began as a work in progress at the Fleet Moves Dance Festival in July 2013 with Mikey Rioux, and was first performed by Zoe Rabinowitz in collaboration with Connor Voss for the Estrogenius Festival at TheaterLab in October 2013. Later performances by Connor Voss with Kensaku Shinohara at New York Theatre Workshop (2014) and Shalya Vie Jenkins with Zoe Rabinowitz at FIRST LOOK, Gowanus Art + Production (2015). Music by Chance the Rapper and Giuseppi Ielasi. Duration: 7 minutes.
Click here to watch a two minute excerpt.
Steps is a site-specific performance that investigates the role of hand games and play in the lives of female youth. Drawing upon hand clapping, double-dutch and tag, the performance explores how the skills of coordination, precision, musicality and wit define and instill a sense of value in the players, and reinforces or subverts the cultural expectations of young women. Conceived in response to the site of the Masonic Lodge in Welfleet, MA, the performance takes place outside of the lodge building, much as social and educational opportunities for women have often existed outside the formal structures historically provided for men. Set on a steep staircase, Steps evokes the front stoop and schoolyard as places of play and deep learning. Steps was choreographed by Zoe Rabinowitz in collaboration with the performers (Sara Gurevich, Emma Hoette, Jessie Young and Anne Zuerner) and features an original score created and performed by Galen Bremer. Employing experimental and hip-hop sampling techniques, Bremer mixes original, analog synthesis with sounds from classical, disco, hip-hop and jazz vinyl records and cassette tape loops. Steps premiered in July 2014 as part of the Fleet Moves Dance Festival, presented by the Movement Party.
This is How We Remember is a meditation on loss and wonder - both personal and collective - and our responsibility to remember ourselves to one another in the face of grief. An evening-length live multimedia performance featuring original movement performed by Mary McGrath and Zoe Rabinowitz, choreography by Zoe Rabinowitz in collaboration with Mary McGrath, new music score by Galen Bremer, text, and video projection on found and fabricated objects, and lighting design by Connor Sale. The work bears witness to deterioration and transformation over time. In a period of personal, political, social and environmental dissonance, This is How We Remember offers a space for reflection and revaluation, influenced by experiences ranging from Alzheimer's to Covid to climate change.
World Premiere: November 17 & 18, 2022 at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn, NY.
This is How We Remember is commissioned by Triskelion Arts and sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).
Click here to watch the trailer
Photo by Effy Grey