dance – Marissa Thomas

Touring with the Dancing Wheels Company in 2021

I am currently in my third season with the Dancing Wheels Company, and this season has been pretty incredible in terms of the performances and touring opportunities that I have been granted. It is still a little hard to believe that the dance world has returned to some bit of normalcy. Since the first of the shut downs in March 2020, I hoped and could only imagine that a little over a year later I would be able to tour nationally and internationally with my dance company. Performing looks a little different, and I know from the administration-side in my role as the company’s Tour Manager that we are still working in a volatile period – but it is amazing how adaptable and resilient the dance world and dance artists are.

Here’s a recap of my third season so far, and there’s still more to come that I’m looking forward to!

August 6 – Performed in the premiere of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Cain Park in Cleveland, OH as Helena

August 17 – Danced with the Statue of Liberty as my backdrop in the Battery Dance Festival in New York, NY

September 11 – Toured to Cincinnati, OH

September 25 – Presented at the Forward Motion Festival in Miami, FL

October 2 – Drove to perform at the Abilities Expo NY Metro

October 21 – Toured to Old Dominion University

November 6 – Toured to Point Park University

November 24 – Presented at the Festival Internacional de Arte Contemperáneo in León, Mexico

Virtually touring Morgan Walker’s “inside Outsider”

Since October 2020, I have been working with my dear friend, Morgan Walker, in her newest choreographic project “inside Outsider” as a dancer and collaborator. “inside Outsider” is a work that is inspired by the complexities of mental health impacts due to sheltering in place, social distancing, and isolation. Despite the pandemic, this project has toured to multiple virtual festivals – Mark DeGarmo Virtual International Arts Festival (VIA), Trifecta Dance Festival, and the 2021 CDCFest. I am incredibly proud of Morgan and so gracious to her for including me in this work. I am excited to see the future iterations of this piece and its continuation!

Rehearsal shots by Liz Cooper (@theballetexperiment)

Performance shots from CDCfest by Sorcha Augustine

Tour to Beijing

I have just returned from Beijing, China on my first international tour with The Dancing Wheels Company at the 2019 Luminous Festival!

The Luminous Festival is China’s first disability-led performing arts festival, and it was incredible to be a part of this historic festival and join in on this international discussion regarding inclusivity in the arts.

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I am still amazed that I would have an opportunity like this a few months after graduating undergrad. I also have been given the opportunity through Dancing Wheels to choreograph a work based on my experiences on the trip and also taking influence from art being currently showcased at moCa Cleveland by Liu Wei. I am looking forward to creating a solo to be performed in December based on my trip at moCa Cleveland in “East Meets West…A Tale of Two Cities”. Thankfully when I was not dancing or in rehearsal, I was also able to play tourist on the trip and explore what Beijing had to offer. With the group, I saw the much loved pandas at the zoo, walked around the Forbidden City, visited shopping districts, admired some beautiful architecture, and wandered around a few gardens in the city. I wish I could have had another week to see more.

Local news coverage of the Dancing Wheels Tour to Beijing:
https://fox8.com/2019/09/16/clevelands-dancing-wheels-company-to-perform-in-china/
https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/dancing-wheels-company-completes-historic-tour-of-china/95-a8656761-3c4a-4c13-9a01-3a9713239783

Expression through Intermedia

Intermedia is information {comma} expression {comma} building.

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Reflecting back on my first lab, I feel that I was very stunned by the ability to create and the tools at my fingertips. I had never worked in the medium before and was not very knowledgeable about what it necessarily was. I had seen a few Intermedia performances from students in department and was completely amazed by the ability to create a fully dimensional and immersive performance and by the many composition possibilities. I do not consider myself a choreographer – I find it so hard to express ideas through movement and adding infinite layers of possibility through multimedia seemed overwhelming. However, I was intrigued by this course, and I am very excited to learn how to create in different ways this semester. There is interest in seeing what I am able to do when bringing in aspects of digital technology and visual media to dance composition and seeing what channel opens for expression. Already, I have seen exponential growth with my knowledge in use of technology and artistry in correlation. Continue reading Expression through Intermedia

Composition – Final Study & Reflection

In making my final study, I have realized how much I have grown as a choreographer and dancer in this class. I found that I have learned so many techniques for generating and using movement material. All the lessons I have learned have found their way into the process of my final compositional study. I see my final study as a culmination of all the topics, discussions, and viewings of this course.

Continue reading Composition – Final Study & Reflection

Reflection on application of movement analysis concepts

Of the concepts that I have been introduced to in Analysis thus far, I am most interested in the area of Laban Movement Analysis. This concept is the most interesting to me because of its openness to interpretation and ability to be applied to all types of movement. Defining and describing the body, space, and effort qualities of movement are way more appealing to me compared to Labanotation or Motif notation. There is something about language that can closely capture the feel of movement and that cannot be translated into a score.

Continue reading Reflection on application of movement analysis concepts

2 Strengths

By reflecting on the challenges I had when composing my previous studies, I feel that I have gained a better understanding of my creative process. I have found that the challenges I have with my studies typically correlate natural tendencies that can be considered strengths in different situations.

Continue reading 2 Strengths

5/8 – Compositional Study

I honestly had difficulty in the ‘5/8’ study – the movement theme of the prompt was unnatural to me as I move with a lot of circularity and rarely do sharp, linear movements. I found it hard to improvise movement while in this mind-frame of 5/8 meter, and that lead to a block to the creation of movement for my study – I could not figure out how to piece anything together that fit the ‘5/8’ theme that I actually felt comfortable presenting.

Continue reading 5/8 – Compositional Study

Opposite Tendencies – Compositional Study

After weeks of creating studies in comp class, a trend becomes apparent in everyone’s movement – natural tendencies that seem comfortable to a dancer and that appear frequently in the work that they create. In examining my own movement and previous studies, I found that there are definitely things that I do that have just become synonymous with my movement style. For example of a few, my ballet background shows most obviously with my contemporary ballet style of movement; I seem to put a lot of focus onto my feet; and my head often has an upward tilt, giving myself a higher-than-eye-level focus.

My final comp study took these natural tendencies and use them to create different movement. This was later paired with my partner, Paige St. John’s work to create a duet of opposing tendencies.