photo by Matthew Wright


Time-based art
bodies moving moments around in space
practicing presence
being present
for the beautiful-ugly-weird-poignant-ridiculous-joyous
whims of the choreographer
who sees this madness?

I’ve been trying to deepen my practice of ‘being present’ lately, mostly through meditation. This seems to be bleeding over into how I think about dance-making. I’m trying to follow a very intuitive, instinctual process, listening to the body, allowing physical impulses to guide me. I'm turning away from my previous work which was content driven, narratively oriented, and am begining to think of myself as a formalist. Not completely sure about that, but that's what I think today.

In this over stimulated, highly mediated culture, I like to think that I (and choreographers as a whole) am reminding viewers to be in their bodies, to move it, to investigate the mind-body connection. I know this is entirely too hopeful and a little naive, but I hold onto the idea none the less.

Michelle Stortz/Ring Dance Theater

photo by Wolfgang Bellwinkel

I've just created this performance company, Ring Dance Theater. I'm using the word 'ring' because I like the image of the circle especially when it applies to a group of people coming together for a common purpose like making dance and theater art. Ring also refers to sound and sound waves rippling out into the world. I like to think that what we create in the studio and on the stage sends out positive, inspirational, groovy, thought-provoking, sexy and robust ripples into the cosmos.

Our premier performance, 'Dissaray', will be in this year's Philly Fringe. We'll be at the Tower Gallery in Northern Liberties, on September 5th and 6th, 6pm. Dancers include: Karin Bookbinder, Lindsay Browning and Erin Foreman-Murray. We're sharing the bill with NYC's Tindance, directed by Kristin Hapke. More info soon.