Executive Director Valerie Green selected for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards General Assembly!

Valerie Green/Dance Entropy is thrilled to announced that Artistic Director Valerie Green has been invited to serve on the 2023 Session of the Queens Borough President Donovan Richards General Assembly!

Dance Entropy and Green Space are heavily invested in the cultural wellbeing of the Queens community, and Valerie is honored to be representing her community and work closely with the Queens Borough President's office.

ABOUT THE QUEENS GENERAL ASSEMBLY:

Borough President Donovan Richards Jr.’s Queens General Assembly (QGA) is an intercultural dialogue project promoting greater respect and appreciation of diversity at the borough level. Appointed Delegates, Alumni, and Advisors engage in dialogue to find commonalities and also to address challenging topics. They participate in community action projects with the aim of breaking down silos between groups. By networking with each other, they develop working relationships, build lasting friendships, and stand in solidarity against bias, discrimination, and hate crimes. The Queens GA is the only initiative of its kind operating out of a Borough President’s office. Its mission is a priority for the most diverse county in the United States.

Borough President Richards launched the 2023 session of the QGA with an installation ceremony on Zoom. He welcomed 24 new Delegates and 15 new Alumni, and he welcomed back longtime Alumni and Advisors. This year has special significance for the QGA, since the initiative is marking its 20th anniversary.          

Founded in 1998, Valerie Green/Dance Entropy believes in humanizing movement, both in Ms. Green’s critically acclaimed choreographic work and the company’s mission to plant creative seeds in communities across the world. Intersecting mortal and transcendent, sensual and sophisticated, visceral and self-aware, VG/DE invites the artist, the audience—the human—into a compelling, physical experience. Based out of its home studio, Green Space in Queens, NY, VG/DE combines performance and specialized outreach programs to inspire communities in cultural institutions throughout the world. VG/DE strives to break down systemic race, gender and other identity barriers to fulfill our ultimate goal of collectiveness and inclusivity through dance. As a professional nonprofit dance company, the communities we engage with have included at risk youth, adolescents, trauma survivors, differently-abled persons, older adults, and aspiring/professional dancers.

The VG/DE Mission is to create a platform for multicultural understanding through dance, nurture connections between dance creation and education, build community among dance artists, foster physicality, creativity and empowerment in underserved communities.

In order to provide VG/DE a permanent company home and root her outreach programs in the community, Green founded a studio in Long Island City in 2005. Green Space is an unparalleled dance hub in Queens, providing performance opportunities for choreographers, classes for beginners and professionals and space rental for doers of all backgrounds. At Green Space, artists and community members alike hone their craft and experiment in a warm, welcoming environment that’s wholly devoted to dance.

"Thank you for being a light in this community." -Deputy Borough President Ebony Young

Jiali Wang, VG/DE Teaching Artist, Teaches New York City Students

It has been exciting teaching students in these residencies! The students are curious, and working in different types of space, such as classrooms, cafeterias, gyms, and stages, has challenged us to think outside the box. We always adapt to our surroundings and let our environment inform our movement!

I started teaching creative movement to students by introducing them to ways to create postures and movement relationships, starting small and building to full phrases. This informed their way of creating elements for a dance, developing their skills as classes progressed. My class requires students to be creators, explorers, leaders, choreographers, and teachers. They teach me rather than just learning from me! My goal is always to have fun dancing with them, which I have been sharing since I first met them.

Cultural dancers like Chinese dance, Mongolian dance, and K-pop dance are important for school kids’ multicultural dance experiences and their cultural development. While some students sometimes feel uncomfortable at first and don’t know how to engage with the new information, I work to keep the energy high and engaging. I also use my study of social emotional learning development for school adolescents to try to connect with more reserved students.

For example, for the Chinese dance unit I worked on simple language learning, showing very simple Chinese characters at the beginning of class and how they related to dance materials, including the word “dance” in Chinese, basic directions in Chinese, and introducing myself in Chinese. In this way I aimed to build cultural understanding and connection. Learning language is a good way to make them mimic unknown things, helping them get comfortable and start having fun.

For class, I often separate kids into at least three different groups based on three different notions I draw on the while board. These shapes include lines, squares, and circles so students can use their imagination to make movement based on the patterns. When working in groups, students often watch and share feedback, telling me what the next phrase can look like. They get to be the judge as well as the creator, which is good for them to stay involved while watching other dancers work and present. It has been rewarding working with these students and I am proud of their development over the last few months!

Jiali Wang is one of the amazing performers that is on our roster of Teaching Artists!

We D.I.G. it!

This past January, Green Space is proud to have completed our first cohort of the Digging In Group (D.I.G.), a program of Fertile Ground! The show was nearly sold out and full of enthusiastic audience members supporting six choreographers. Unlike other Fertile Ground performances, this show was special, as every choreographer had spent the last four months building their pieces in the cohort.

The program began in September, where the dancers met each other and the moderators who would be helping them through their creative processes. For 8 sessions, the artists came together presented the progress on their pieces, getting feedback and pointing out areas where they felt stuck.

“It was wonderful to have a group of people that I was seeing regularly that were invested to a similar process and goal,” (Harper Foote). Dancers had the opportunity to not only talk with peers but meet mentors from the Green Space Advisory Board, who afforded the dancers a fresh eye at their work, as well as years of hard earned insight. Advisory Board members include Chris Ferris, Aviva Geismar, Nicole McClam, Jonathan Matthews, and Executive Director Valerie Green. Harper continues, “hearing advice and wisdom from the moderators was… supportive and expansive.”

Time and space, two hot commodities in New York City, were at the front of this program. Choreographing works can be isolating and frustrating, making choreographers feel stuck in their own head and unable to get momentum to break through their creative blocks. The structure of D.I.G. allowed the dancers to really “dig” into their creative processes and hold themselves and each other accountable.

“I always was so grateful to hear the feedback from my peers and the facilitator as it shaped my process and provided much needed shifts in perspective,” (Campbell Ives). Sometimes, the best idea comes out of a change in approach, and Green Space was a space where artists could try something to get out of a rut, supported by their peers, without worrying about failing. It often had wonderful breakthroughs. “It made me feel that there was no ‘wrong’ answer or scenario. Everyone was supportive and gave great critical feedback,” (Mason Lee).

Backstage of the show, one could see the community built by the dancers. They were chatting and helping each other with costumes, making friends with the other dancers in the casts and expanding their networks. “Being new to the city, the D.I.G. cohort made me feel more grounded in my connections within the dance space,” says Emma Dulski. Emerging choreographers have lost valuable networking opportunities as a result of isolation and a total standstill in performances due to the pandemic, and Digging In Group helps to mend that gap.

A shift in perspective is what performing art is all about, and talking to others who have different backgrounds, both in life and in movement style, can facilitate discoveries never before imagined. “The creative process has many peaks and valleys… it was great to be able to journey collectively with other movers navigating through the same process,” says Will Green. Na An adds, “D.I.G. members played the ‘outside eyes’ and provided different perspectives. The feedback helped me shape and detail my process and choice-making. I felt very involved, although we have different backgrounds.”

So who is this program for? This program is for anyone looking to get out of a creative rut, have a shift in perspective, or find a new network of creators. It’s “for anyone wanting to experiment and grow in their creative practice/voice, and open the door of possibility for themselves as a choreographer,” (Harper Foote). We are proud of the DIG artists and all they accomplished, and we cannot wait to see our next artists in the cohort thrive in their performance in June! If you are interested in joining our next cohort, visit greenspacestudio.org and register there!

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New Adult Support Group Session

A new session for the Adult Support Group has been announced!

It will run from 7pm -9pm every other Tuesday from February 21st to June 27th 202.

Early bird rates last until January 31st for new participants!

Here is what group participants have been saying so far!

"This group has been tremendously opening for my heart and my eyes.  Getting to heal and grow myself, in tandem with my classmates has been one of the most human experiences I've had.  I'm grateful for the time I've got to spend in this group reconnecting with myself, and those around me.  This group has encouraged a healing that I hope all can have the opportunity to witness and pursue.”

"Being part of this group has changed my outlook on life and I really look forward to returning. Tonight I felt the strength of the group and now I understand the importance of being present and willing to participate in a healing a fellow member of the community. Each and every one of you helped me feel whole again”

"This experience has been absolutely profound. I was able to embody my emotions far more vividly than any other healing modality I have experienced. Val has skills and instincts that are humbling. She always challenges you to go deeper and explore more in a safe inviting container. I hope more people can benefit from her highly skilled facilitation.” 

"Valerie’s Artist Support Group opened up doors of my Self that I didn’t know I had even closed off. I felt safe and supported exploring the depths of my fears, past and the future I want to shape. I’m really looking forward to continue this work of learning and growing within the container she has formed."

"Artist Support Group has created a space for me to somatically engage with the world around me in an extremely therapeutic way. Valerie Green’s facilitation has helped me physically embody my emotions and process my trauma in a safe and healthy way." 

"Valerie creates a space where you feel safe and can trust her guidance!”

"I highly recommend Valerie's Core Energetics support group. After feeling isolated during Covid, I needed a more somatic approach to wellness and this in-person class definitely provided that. From the start, Valerie was really attuned to all of us, paying attention to body language and using thoughtful questions to get at the emotion's underneath everything, all with kindness and care. In my time in the class, I worked through some lingering regrets and continued my mission to transform them into hope and action, as well as letting go of some anger and shame. But the best part of the class was the group itself. Valerie created a safe and supportive space where we treated each other with mutual respect and care. It was wonderful to witness people show their authentic selves and start to heal. And it was also lovely how we were all there to cheer each other on.”

"This group has been tremendously opening for my heart and my eyes.  Getting to heal and grow myself, in tandem with my classmates has been one of the most human experiences I've had.  I'm grateful for the time I've got to spend in this group reconnecting with myself, and those around me.  This group has encouraged a healing that I hope all can have the opportunity to witness and pursue.”

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Poem by Rush Johnson

That blood thirsty pressure

Shrieking, wailing

Receiving without condition

To be held

After the drought

Tender flesh

Salted temples

Homegrown despite the lack

Protected navel

Tug of war

Ropeburns cut as I

Curse your development

In the moment

Time frozen

Breath

And other held objects

Selma Trevino Takes Root!

Hello, my name is Selma Trevino.

I would like to open this blog post by thanking Valerie Green for the support and opportunity to present my work at the Take Root program at the Green Space on January 20 and 21st.

Since I was accepted in the program I have been rehearsing at her studio - Green Space - in Long Island City. Besides the wonderful view and big glass windows, the space is sparkling clean and quiet, perfect for exploration and creation. Schedule is respected by other users as well as by the management. Prices are super affordable.

My project consists of 3 choreographies: “Washerwoman” by Etienne Decroux and performed by me; Spring 2020 and Lavadeira Interlude created and performed by me.

The project started from studies of the washerwomen archetype in Brazilian culture, Decroux’s choreography, and the connection of his movements and my Brazilian heritage.

The project was also awarded the Incubator Grant by LEIMAY and after its first showing last fall at the Dixon Place in Manhattan it took its second phase: re-visit my own work.

Spring 2020 is a revival and re-creation of a work from 20 years ago, when I was still studying the Corporeal Mime Technique of Decroux. When the Pandemic became our reality I was invited to show a work online through the Dixon Place program DPTV, which would show feelings of the lockdown which we were facing. I started re-working that choreography, I presented and now I am showing it in person. The big glass windows of the Green Space fitted perfectly to the concept of the choreography and brought even more an aspect of nostalgia and ‘saudades’ of a time that it was.

Lavadeira Interlude, translating “Washerwoman Interlude,” is a transitional choreography between the Washerwoman and Spring 2020 that breaks the solitude that was shown in the first choreography to get in the hard women’s work of the second one.

Etienne Decroux (1898-1991) is considered the Father of the Modern Mime. His technique, Corporeal Mime, was what structured lots of works of contemporary artists, like Marcel Marceau, and also started to bring movement to the actor’s body fertilizing the soil for Physical Theater and research in the field of Theater and Dance. Decroux lived in New York from 1957 to 1962 when went back to live in Paris. The Performing Arts Library by Lincoln Center has lots of files about his work and his work in New York. Even with the word “Mime” in his work title, his work is not pantomime, it brings physical expression before the words, sometimes by the use of stylized gestures and sometimes as abstract movements. I started studying Corporeal Mime while in College, in Brazil, in 1991. I followed my passion going to specialize in the technique in Paris and California, (1996 to 2001) with one of his students, Thomas Leabhart. In 2003 I started my own company, Corporeal Arts Incorporated, with my life partner William Trevino and today I am here telling my story in words and movement.

I hope to share part of this story with you on January 20th and 21st, 2023 at the Green Space!

Indian Dance Fusion Comes to Green Space

This is Sonali Skandan, Artistic director of Jiva Dance.

We are an NYC-based Indian Classical dance company that works to create new voices and expressions using the classical arts of India. We are so excited to be presenting our new works commissioned for Take Root this November in the beautiful Green Space studio. We are of course thrilled to be supported by a Mertz Gilmore Late Stage Grant facilitated by Green Space.

The works that we will be presenting have had quite a journey - the two works we will be presenting depart from classical presentations of Indian Classical dance, and incorporate elements of modern dance, martial arts and theatre.

The first piece, Elements is a piece very close to my heart. Ever since my childhood, I have found solace and peace in nature. Sometimes I would retreat to the woods to sit on a rock and just listen, sometimes to seek out a new adventure that awaits me. All these years, I took nature for granted, thinking that it will always be there for me, a place to give comfort and peace. My recent trip to Zimbabwe showed me a different story - nature is suffering. As human society “progresses” a heavy price is paid, destroying the harmony with nature that has existed for ages. The scales that were once balanced have shifted, there is destruction, fear and chaos, and the world is at a tipping point. In this piece, I use these metaphors and tie it in with the concept of the Pancha Maha Bhoota - or the five primordial elements as manifested by the Hindu figure, Shiva. The five elements are air, water, earth, fire, space. The piece actually found its first voice through the last winter/spring at the Green Space where I spent countless hours developing the initial vision.

The second new piece, Durga, has been developed with my mentor Maya Kulkarni. It was her vision to depict the iconic female goddess Durga, in a very dramatic and different way. The piece juxtaposes the sowmya or calm nature of the goddess with the fierce of bhairav one. We have used Kalaripayattu (martial art from the southern state of Kerala) to enact the epic battle between the buffalo demon Mahisasura and Durga.The musical score has been commissioned to some stellar NYC based musicians who have scored a masterpiece.

It has been a very rewarding process working with my collaborating artists from choreographer Maya Kulkarni whose vision expands the boundaries of Indian Classical dance, and dancers Anugraha Sridhar (whose voice is featured in the Elements soundtrack) and Swati Prasad who have added their expertise and personal visions into the works. I appreciate how open they were to experiment and try new things and their sheer dedication to the process. We are so happy to be developing and showcasing the work in such a beautiful and inspiring space such as Green Space and look forward to our shows.

- Sonali Skandan

www.jivaperformingarts.org

Many Firsts by Chris Bisram

Hi everyone my name is Christopher Bisram,

I started using Green Space during the winter, as the home base for myself and other dancers, who were a part of the first performance I directed! It was amazing to have found a space so close to my apartment that was affordable. I rented Green Space pretty much every Saturday for about 5 or 6 months. The space allowed for me to work with three of my close friends to create an experimental modern flow dance, to demonstrate a relationship between my mothers strength and the waters.

After using Green Space, Valerie Green mentioned Fertile Ground, and I was more than excited to join. It was an noncurated showcase, where performers present a work in progress, and hear feedback from the audience and Valerie. It was the first time that I danced in a professional setting. It was amazing being in the dressing room and talking with other dancers, and hearing the pre-show speech from Valerie. The feedback after the performance was extremely useful because I have performed the piece a few times, but wanted to make it into one block of a show I hope to call Embrace the body.

In this performance I am still making, I hope to cultivate a piece that discusses the body in all shapes and forms. After Fertile Ground I asked Valerie about the work study that she has, and was super excited when she emailed me a couple weeks after that night saying that the position was available. Since then I have been working with Valerie, and learning about various administration tasks and studio/office maintenance.

During the summer, I took part in the summer intensive, where I learned so much. We had various teachers and styles taught to us, which were then integrated during our performance workshop, where we created choreography for our final performance. We had technique classes, a how to create choreography workshop, where we learned various exercises that could be used to generate choreography, that I still use, and a performance workshop. It was my first intensive and I couldn't have been happier to have been a part of it.

Overall my experience at Green Space and Valerie Green/Dance Entropy has been nothing but wonderful, and I am so happy that it has been many firsts for me.

Christopher Bisram, Interdisciplinary Artist

VG/DE Artists on HOME

About HOME

HOME is an international cross-collaborative dance project with choreographers from six countries: Maria Naidu (Sweden), Ashley Lobo (India), Souleymane Badolo (Burkina Faso), Sandra Paola López Ramírez (Colombia), Bassam Abou Diab (Lebanon), and Dance Entropy’s Artistic Director Valerie Green (US). These esteemed choreographers were commissioned by Green to create a work for her company examining the meaning of home from their unique perspectives, drawing upon the significance of this concept in their home countries. Directed by Green, the dynamic full-evening work, which weaves together the different dances, explores identity, culture, environment, ritual, history, and community.

About Valerie

Valerie Green’s Home is a reflection of the company dancers’ ideas of what home means to them, paired with research of what Americans across the country feel about home. The movements are juxtaposed with Balkan music, home for Green given her Serbian roots/identity.

On The United States

About Ashley

Ashley Lobo’s idea of home is the dichotomy of confusion and clarity that is India. Everything is chaotic but within that there seems to be a naturally evolving order, the natural progression from confusion to clarity.

On India

About Paola

Paola Lopez Ramirez’s Home is simple and complicated. Home. Hogar, land, territorio, ancestry. Home is all that is mundane and the most inexplicable magic. Home is that which bred you, all you love and all you hate. Magnificent complexity.

On Colombia

About Souleymane

Souleymane Badolo says of home, “I am like a snail, I carry my house with me wherever I am, wherever I go. I still have my culture, tradition, and my language that I speak, and also my land and my ancestors living in me. My house is my movement, my dance.”

On Burkina Faso

About Maria

For Maria Naidu, Home is energy. Energy is movement. Movement is dance. Dance is home. She quotes Verlyn Klinkenborg as saying, “The most basic meaning of home is a place that can’t be seen with a stranger’s eye for more than a moment. Home is home, and everything else is not. It is so familiar that you don’t even notice it. It’s everywhere else that takes noticing. Home is more than just a place. It’s also an idea, a way of organizing space in our minds.”

On Sweden

About Bassam

Bassam Abou Diab’s home is linked to accepting religious, ethnic and cultural differences to generate a feeling of safety and belonging. Home is acceptance, safety, security, and privacy. “It is the space in which I feel I can be free, natural and present; the place in which I entrust my secrets and my details. It is the place that gives me the feeling of being an integral part of the place that I feel comfortable despite my racial, gender and social differences.”

On Lebanon

The Dancers on Home

Introducing Artist Process Group at Green Space!

We are excited to announce Artist Process Group.

This will be a process group for all artists of any discipline that promotes physical, emotional, mental & spiritual growth through movement, expressive work & group dynamics in a safe & therapeutic environment.

This group will help with: PTSD ~ Various Forms of Abuse ~ Relationship Issues ~ Concerns Related to Personality ~ Anger Issues ~ Body Image Concerns ~ Guilt and Shame ~ Anxiety, Panic, or Depression ~ Life Transitions ~ Self Esteem ~ Depression ~ Injury ~ Professional Transitions ~ Addictions ~ Personal Growth ~ Social Anxiety

Facilitator: Valerie Green, CCEP, Certified Practitioner in Core Energetics and Body/Mind Fitness

When: 10 Bi-Monthly Sessions (Tuesdays 7pm-9pm)

9/20, (No session 10/4 - holiday), 10/11, 10/25, 11/8, 11/22, 12/6, 12/20, 1/3, 1/17/ 1/31

(Attendance of a minimum of 8 sessions is required)

Where: In-person @ Green Space- 37-24 24th Street, #211 Long Island City, NY 11101

How: All interested can apply by filling out this form here.

Session Series Fee: $300

Early Bird Rate: $250 if registered by August 31st

VG/DE Summer Dance Intensive is a Wrap!

We have just completed another successful Summer Dance Intensive! This summer's students were motivated, open, and passionate - a complete inspiration! For seven days the summer dance students trained daily in hip hop, contemporary techniques, yoga, and choreography practices all led by a wide range of Teaching Artists. Apart from dancing, students were given the opportunity to dig deep into themselves as artists, clearing the way for some major self discoveries. Students worked very closely with Artistic Director Valerie Green throughout the week, and put all this new information into practice for their culminating final performance "Come to the River".

We love hearing what our students have to say about their Summer Dance Intensive experiences:

“Deep breath in! This was such a wonderful journey through all forms of art in this studio. After completing this process, I feel liberated. I am so motivated and encouraged to keep releasing control in the new experiences I’ll encounter. The community of different personalities has broadened my list of resources for networking. Not only have I found comfort in opening for myself, but I’ve found a healing in opening for others. I am grateful to Valerie for offering me a scholarship as I know the value of the classes and the artist teaching. I appreciate all she has sacrificed in order to make this program come to fruition and I hope to work with her again someday”

“I loved that we got to have a wide range of styles and teachers. As well as constantly being pushed to be better artist in all aspects”

This was a special week, with special dancers, and even MORE special humans. We are incredibly proud of the work they did and can't wait to see what is in store for next year!

Senior Stars!

Valerie Green/Dance Entropy presented free performances throughout the borough of Queens as the culmination of their SU-CASA residency.

Dance Entropy and it's teaching artists have been leading onsite movement workshops with seniors across Queens, providing free performances and open rehearsal opportunities and a performance series onsite at each center.

The culminating events featured a performance of Everything by Dance Entropy and a presentation by the participating seniors themselves from Hanac Ravenswood Neighborhood Senior, Elmcor's Golden Phoenix Club Two, Rego Park Neighborhood Senior Center performing "Senior Prom" and "Dance with Somebody."

Dance Entropy, Inc is grateful for the opportunity of working with seniors, it important cherished work, and we look forward to the program coming back next year.

“I didn’t know I could still move like that! ”

— Senior Student

“It was my first time teaching seniors, I looked forward to seeing them each week, their energy was inspirational, it was a great experience!”

— -Hayleigh Schmidt, Teaching Artist

About SU-CASA

SU-CASA is a community arts engagement program that places artists and organizations in residence at senior centers across the five boroughs of New York City. The program, funded by the New York City Council, provides grants to artists and organizations for the creation and delivery of arts programming for seniors. The program supports a total 255 residencies for individuals and organizations at senior centers across the City's 51 Council districts.

About the Work

Everything a dance performance installation evoking the ever-expanding universe, transforming the performance space into a constellation of stars and human bodies in various states of formation and explosion. Inspired by astrophotography, string theory, interconnectivity and meditations on space and time. The new dance work weaves together a visual, physical and emotional translation of the cosmos.

And a very special presentation by the participating seniors created from their time in the workshops with Dance Entropy's teaching artists.

Monday, June 13th and Wednesday, June 29th

Senior Prom- a dance performance celebrating the highest of all ranks in life and that is being a senior. This performance is upbeat, playful and energetic. Infusing hip hop, house, Afro beat and Latin movements. Reminding seniors that we will always remain children in the eyes of the universe and maintaining a youthful spirit.

Monday, June 27th

Dance With Somebody! - a celebration displaying the power and magic that happens when we come together in dance. A fun and energetic performance combining aspects of jazz, Latin, and contemporary movements.

APRIL TAKE ROOT: MEET THE ARTISTS AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THEIR WORK -Part Two

BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance is thrilled to be participating in Take Root 2022 on April 8-9 at Green Space in Long Island City. Our work this year is titled Continually Healing and we are having so much fun developing this new work after our COVID hiatus. As the choreographer of BodyStories, my work examines society’s darkest and brightest moments, moving audiences to perceive emotional and psychological aspects of the human condition. Social justice is a core tenet of our choreographic mission, and our work explores issues of the human experience while raising awareness on a local and global scale. BodyStories is committed to reaching diverse populations through performances, community engagement, and accessible education. Over the past two years the company fluidly transitioned to virtual and in-person performance and educational programming, working with an international roster of collaborators to focus on themes of social tumult and isolation.

Continually Healing continues research from a choreographic series that began in 2018, and has gone through many progressions, advancing my artistic inquiry into the management of trauma, violence, inaction, and eventual reconciliation through movement and creative expression. This work, in particular, will focus on the mental distress caused as a result of the pandemic. Through Continually Healing, we aim to explore the frustration caused by the isolation and separation from loved ones. This work intends to speak to traumas and healings experienced by a diverse range of individuals throughout the pandemic. Stories are extremely varied, yet our work seeks to uncover universal truths through a shared artistic experience. Choreographically, we worked on differing dynamics in phrase work to demonstrate the quick changes in mandates, variants, and social issues.

We also played with the contrasting qualities of isolation and demonstrating the varied experiences from person to person. This allowed each dancer to express their individual experience and a space to work through the feelings of isolation and longing for others through text to movement and pulling from that to develop our material. We hope that through Continually Healing the audience will feel invited to process their own feelings and emotions in a safe space alongside us.

The final form will be an evening-length performance integrating live dance with elements of video projection and audience participation. Developed choreography will be layered with video projections of rehearsal footage, as a means to represent the full arc of the work which would include integrated text and reflection. Bill T. Jones’ work, Still/Here, serves as a major source of inspiration. Using choreographic phrases and key imagery synthesized through prior research of current events, personal reflection, and shared stories, this work explores the process of healing and finding social equity through dance. Our music score was composed by Kevin Keller, Muriel Louveau, Kiernan Robinson, and John Yannelli. Performers include Kate Bishop (and Baby Siena), Nicole Kadar- Greene (and baby b & baby a), Emma Iredale, and Sabrina Petrelli.

“The “W” in the title stands for “world,” and Ms. Fellion and her colleagues do succeed in creating one.... John Yannelli and members of the SLC Experimental Music Ensemble contribute a richly textured, partly live score of drones, strings plucked and strummed, swelling distortion, and high hums. The choreography is action-packed with a strong flow, a current that is sometimes tidal, washing the dancers back and forth across St. Mark’s Church, turning the terrarium into an aquarium.”

-Brian Seibert, The New York Times

Make sure to follow BodyStories on Instagram (@bodystories_teresafelliondance), Facebook (@BodyStoriesTFD), and Twitter (@BodyStories_TFD) for updates and behind the scenes footage of our season!

APRIL TAKE ROOT: MEET THE ARTISTS AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THEIR WORK - Part One

Choreographed by Clouds

By Kristin Hatleberg

Choreographed by Clouds is a duet between body and sky. The work is a solo performance in the way a cloud is a solitary form. It embodies the singular but contains a multitude. The individual raindrops comprise a cloud; this solo is culled from myriad stories, memories, moments, artistic creations, and voices.

I can hear Katie Duck’s voice reminding me, “The group choses the solo.” That’s certainly true in both dance improvisation and in life. Working on this show, I have been amazed time and again, by the rich generosity we people constantly offer one another. Everything in this show has been given to me to share with you, and the parts that have made it onto the stage are just a little wisp of it all.

It is the third artistic collaboration between myself, Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann, and Erik Moe and something like the hundredth between myself and Fred Hatt. The project was born out of the year-long research and performance project, Half | Life, that was made in 2018-2019 with support from DC-Commission for Arts and Humanity. It has been building slowly and steadily throughout the pandemic years. I have a feeling the show will keep amassing and shifting in many more forms -- if you see this iteration, I would love to hear what was on your mind while taking it in.

While tethered to a specific geographic region, the show expands to cover the globe. Visually, the clouds compiled in it were shared by friends around the world who knew what I was up to – namely, attempting to directly transpose the cloud motion onto my own limbs to create movement sequences -- and saw a cloud that made them think of me. They pointed their phones straight up into the sky, and I tried to become the cloud as they witnessed it to be and to morph.

During the show, the body multiplies through voices. Men and women young and old regale us with stories. These stories speak on how clouds that were once here have drifted and changed and are now over far-flung places or no longer clouds. It seems to me our lives are much like clouds in this way. Our stories themselves drift, to other times and other places, to remembered sensations and unanswered questions.

We all have the extreme force of nature as our own make up. We all yield to it now and then. This yielding is what shapes our lives. I mean, that’s the point of cloud gazing, right? Sure, we all know somewhere back in our minds that clouds are incomprehensibly heavy masses of water and ice droplets and that we’d die if we were dropped into them, probably. We’ve mainly never given them a moment’s notice and yet innately know when a storm’s brewing. At some point, we all yield to the bigness of it all.

On the good days we can relax into the shapes we think we see, or into the texture against the brightness, or let our thoughts drift through our minds. That’s the point of this piece. Getting whichever thing you need a little of tonight, while you’re here. Thank you to all who have contributed to the making of this project so far: Annmarie Sculpture Gardens; Gaby Agis; Isabella Bruno; Cecilia Fontanesi; Dallas Graham; DC-Commission of Arts and Humanities; Valerie Green; Jenny Hatleberg; Steven Hatleberg; Fred Hatt; Kirsi Heimonen; Marianna Kosharovsky; Eliza Langley; Russell Langley; Mary Madsen; Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann; Rebeca Medina; Erik Moe; Sarah Moore; Next Reflex Dance Collective; Alexa Schmid; Elaine Stampalia; Ana Stegnar; Vasiliki Xrysan Tsagkari.

Someday maybe, this show would be performed in new iterations in all the places it holds: Brussels; Mantova; Mombasa; St Cloud; Vals; Washington DC; etc. In each new city, the dance would be passed on to a local performer who would recreate their own expression of the score. The stories could be retold and reformed to tether to that place in its own language. The continual morphing of the production reflects the transient nature of its original authors, the clouds themselves.

Eating Disorder Awareness and Arts Advocacy: Borne Dance Company’s Mission to Fight Eating Disorder Stigma

Written By: Julia O’Brien | Photos By: Cary Davis at Human Stories Photography

I’ve danced for Borne Dance Company for the past three years, and each year our season ending National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) Awareness Showcase event raises hundreds of dollars for the organization. This year, we were lucky to have hosted our event at Green Space with the beautiful LIC skyline as our backdrop. It was our first in-person show back since 2020, and it was an eventful return to the stage. 

Borne Dance Company was first created in 2015 by Katie Kilbourn-Santiago and Kiana Moye with the goal of creating work that challenges the stigmas surrounding mental health difficulties and eating disorders.  Awareness week is created and initiated by NEDA, and each year collaborators of NEDA host workshops, groups, and events during Awareness Week to celebrate recovery, educate the public, and connect people to resources they need to access adequate eating disorder treatment. 

Borne’s 2022 work, titled Out of Darkness, explored the phenomenon of succumbing to bad habits or negative influences that distort our realities and manipulate our behavior. This could include negative people in our lives, vices, or cyclical patterns of behavior that do not help us be who we desire to be. The piece, which totaled about 34 minutes in length, was separated into nine movements including group numbers, solos, duets, trios, and spoken word poetry. Black and white feathers were used throughout the performance to symbolize the choices we are faced with - to either surrender to maladaptive patterns of behavior or fight to make a different choice. 

As a long-standing member of Borne, the core of our work centers around raising awareness through our performances and community mental health workshops. It is at these events we are able to educate our audiences and participants on the impact of these illnesses and create a community where people feel safe to embrace themselves fully - diagnosis or no diagnosis, mental health struggle or allyship with those who struggle. 

When I am not creating and dancing with Borne, I am studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Dance/Movement Therapy at Rider University in New Jersey. I also work part-time at a residential eating disorder facility for adolescent women. With my education and clinical experience, in addition to being 10 years in recovery from anorexia myself, I know and see first-hand the devastation of these diseases.

Eating disorders are formally the deadliest mental illness of all psychiatric illnesses. Now they are in second place, only surpassed by the opioid crisis within the last few years. Eating disorders take many forms, and for lack of better words, there is no “one size fits all” criteria for who is susceptible to an eating disorder or what it will look like. 

Common eating disorders include Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, Unspecified Feeding and Eating Disorders, Pica, and Orthorexia.

It is beyond the scope of this article to explain the differences between all of them, but many times these illnesses get the stigma that they only affect middle class, heterosexual, white, cis-gendered women, which is far from the truth. Eating disorders affect people of all ethnic and racial groups, religious groups, genders, sexual orientations, and ages. They do not discriminate. 

Here are a few facts that are coming straight from the National Eating Disorder Association to demonstrate the severity and prevalence of these illnesses:

• Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 with anorexia have 10 times the risk of dying compared to their same-aged peers.

• Males represent 25% of individuals with anorexia nervosa, and they are at a higher risk of dying, in part because they are often diagnosed later since many people assume males don’t have eating disorders.

• Subclinical eating disordered behaviors (including binge eating, purging, laxative abuse, and fasting for weight loss) are nearly as common among males as they are among females.

• Binge Eating Disorder is 3x more common in the USA than anorexia AND bulimia combined.

• The best-known environmental contributor to the development of eating disorders is the sociocultural idealization of thinness.

What makes these disorders increasingly complex is the common prevalence of comorbid conditions, or co-occurring disorders that complicate treatment and make recovery for these individuals that much harder to attain. Common co-occurring disorders include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, substance use disorders, and PTSD or stress-related disorders. Current research shows two-thirds of people with anorexia also showed signs of an anxiety disorder several years before the onset of eating disorder symptoms (NEDA).

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted those with eating disorders by either exacerbating current eating disorder symptoms or influencing the onset of eating disordered behavior. We are already seeing the mental health repercussions of the 2019 pandemic, and will continue to do so for the next few years. This makes attention to mental health that much more important now than it has ever been before, including in the artistic sphere.

Borne believes art can help us heal and that recovery is possible. It is our mission to help give voice to those on every part of the recovery spectrum. We were so grateful for the opportunity to perform this year and continue to share our message. Thank you to our wonderful guest artists, and thank you to Green Space for giving us the opportunity to share our message our stories, and raise awareness for the cause.

Please feel free to follow our Instagram @bornedancecompany and Facebook page for company updates, future workshops, and performances. Or visit us online at www.bornedance.com. 

If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, you can call or text the NEDA Helpline at (800) 931-2237

L’Apres Le Monde

Artistic Director Valerie Green participated in the 9th Edition of the “In Out Festival” in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, Africa.  

The places I travel with my dance making and teaching are often off the beaten path. And so it continued to be even more so an adventure to travel to West Africa and the lovely country of Burkina Faso immediately following a coup, in the same week.  While safety was a concern, I am happy to report that staying within close proximity to the festival headquarters the tour felt very safe.

I worked with 8 local dancers and 6 world class musicians. Offering my signature class Dance Your Frame, alongside creating a new dance work to be presented for the festival finale. Our creation and performance hub was the French Institute of Bobo-Dioulasso, we worked on a giant outdoor theater daily. Modern/Contemporary dance styles are new for the dancers. It was a very different movement experience for all and quite challenging for them to say the least. But somehow each day provided more growth and understanding as well as curiosity to new ways of moving, as well as how to think about dance and create it from our personal life experiences.  

For the new creation, topics explored were how the dancers saw themselves, their emotions, what their wish for Burkina Faso after the coup is, what they wanted to bring into the world.  Words that came up were independence, struggle, hope, anger, unity, freedom, connection, and liberty.  But what I experienced among the process that keep rising to the top was the desire for connection and unity. The dance titled “L’Apres Le Monde” also included the use of African textiles, and some cultural dance influences.  The drummers accompanying my residency and performance were phenomenal world class musicians, and the most exciting part of this residency. It is rare or moreover never occurring that I have had 6 percussionists to accompany me on a daily basis. I felt so this to be the largest gift of the experience.

The greatest challenge to the process of working together was language.  Burkina Faso being a former French colony led to the population speaking French outside of their many local dialects. My French was extremely limited, and there was no translator. Somehow with a little help from some of the musicians who spoke a tiny bit, google translate, and my few words of French, we managed!

In the end all the dancers each of different ages and levels to begin to grow in their own ways. And we all were very proud to present the fruits of our labor for the festival finale. The offering was a great success and had the whole audience up and dancing in the end!

I also visited the American Corner of Bobo-Dioulasso operated by the American Embassy, who supported my participation in the festival.  There were about 20 university students present to participate in a movement workshop. I also shared a video clip of VG/DE’s work Utopia.  We then broke out in small groups to talk about what we saw in the dance. Allowing the locals an opportunity to practice speaking English.  We wrapped it up with a group discussion with each group sharing from their conversations.

The festival also had guests from other countries performing including Spain, Slovenia, Nigeria, Togo, and Mali. As well as a conference attended by other international dance leaders.  We all joined daily for meals, visiting cultural centers, viewing the performances and getting in some African Dance in the Village.

The experience was very meaningful and challenging for me in many ways, so I am not sure how to wrap up this latest experience except to say my heart and soul felt full as I started my journey home.

NYC Students Discovering the Power of Dance

Our Teaching Artists Sara Pizzi and Richard Scandola have just finished a fall residency working with students at Pan American High School in Queens. Students learned and explored a variety of contemporary and street styles!

Part of VG/DE's core mission is to create a platform for multicultural understanding through dance and to nurture connections between dance creation and education. We work with local schools to increase cultural exposure for youth and communities underrepresented in the arts. Dance encourages creativity, discovery, and inquiry; students who participate in dance develop coordination, observation, co-operation, listening, and memory skills.

As a DOE approved vendor, our Artist in Residence partnerships and performances are tailored specifically to each school's educational needs.

Valerie Green/Dance Entropy's teaching artists work with the Department of Education in NYC, partnering schools throughout the boroughs to share dance with as many students as possible.

Here's a look at what they accomplished this semester, can't wait to see what they do next!

“The students who attended the classes regularly improved significantly, found a better connection with their body, movement in general, and with the music and the space.”

— Teaching Artist Scandola

“I’m leaving the students remembering a 3minutes dance piece, having basic knowledge of hip hop, knowing how to count in eights, knowing steps in syncopation, moving in space, and with more awareness of their ability and the possibilities of teamwork.”

— Teaching Artist Pizzi

VG/DE’s Artistic Director Valerie Green returns from successful tour in Beirut, Lebanon!

From Nov. 20-Dec. 5 I was happy to be sharing my signature workshops with diverse populations in Lebanon. First, I spent a week offering my choreography workshop Enter the Body with local dancers and actors at Amalgam Studio. The group dove deeply into the theme of pain. I led the participants through various explorations and process’s targeted around releasing each individual’s buried trauma and pain.  The week was intense for all, many emotions were processed, beautiful movement was created among the group. Connection, healing and understanding emerged on this journey into the self and as a community. The result was 15-minute dance called “The Invitation”.  The work was performed at Amalgam Studio and The Sunflower Theater. Followed by in depth talk backs with curious audiences wanting to learn more about the therapeutic creative process.

Next up was workshops with Seenaryo a not for profit working with marginalized communities. Female Syrian refuges participated in Valerie’s Skimming the Surface workshop. Not knowing what to expect, I was touched by how deeply the women were able to open themselves to the experientials in the class and share. It was a very profound and new experience; whereby new means of expression and confidence were gained in short time. Sceenaryo facilitators also gained new skills to offer their students in the Enter the Body choreography workshop. Finding new ways to explore movement creation and play with a trauma infused lens.

The third stop was in the mountains at a new art center called Sarmada.  Skimming the Surface at this venue was offered to a general mix of people. It was exciting to how many people were curious and in need and wanting to explore the complexities of their emotions. Each workshop kept surpassing itself on how engaged students were. My experience as an educator and healer was very fulfilling. Each moment was so special in its own way.

The fourth stop was the Sunflower Theater. Here the healing workshop was offered once again to diverse movers. This time exploring where each experience being stuck in their life and finding new tools and steps to create ways of moving forward. This was followed by the reprise performance of “The Invitation” and VG/DE’s film Time Capsule: A Physical Documentary and a talk back. The whole day was center around movement as a modality for healing.

The last stop was the beautiful Houna Center a yoga studio in Hamra. Again the healing workshop was offered to a cast of many different souls focused on the chakra system and personality drives. It was exciting to see familiar faces popping up at each workshop who wanted to follow my teaching and go deeper, be curious and explore themselves.

Filling out the trip was some site seeing, eating delicious Lebanese dishes and the seeking out of live Arabic music! Somehow, I was surprised that Lebanon is a third world country, what was not surprising was the populations struggles with trauma related to war, politics, the recent port explosion, and Covid. Even with all this baggage the Lebanese people are warm, generous, full of life, curious and ready to get up and dance and sing whenever they get the chance!

The tour was in collaboration with Bassam Abou Diab and the Beirut Physical Plant, and part of a cultural exchange in relation to Dance Entropy’s HOME Project.  The tour received generous support from American Dance Abroad.

“It was a great pleasure and honor to host your workshop, “Skimming the Surface”, at Beit Sarmada. Everyone who participated, including us who work every day in the space, experienced an opening and integration with the space, between one another, and within ourselves. It is important work for us to connect on different levels to space, community, and individually during a multi-faceted crisis in Lebanon.”

— Paul Saad, Project Manager, Beit Sarmada

Happy Thanksgiving to our Community, Supporters & Dance Family!

"At this time of year, we’re always reminded of the power of gratitude – and I’m thankful for you.   Your being a part of the work of Dance Entropy/Green Space has made so much possible this year and I know you share with me in celebrating the gift of dance to the world. 

I am also grateful for my beautiful and talented dancers who are open and trusting to follow me on my many creative journeys not knowing exactly where I will take them. I honor them for their gifts in allowing my artist visions come to life".   -Valerie

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NOVEMBER 25TH IS MY BIRTHDAY! I INVITE YOU TO HELP ME CELEBRATE!

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You’ve already made a difference with Dance Entropy/Green Space as an audience member, as a donor, and as a champion for bringing the joy of dance and movement to the communities we serve.

Please take a moment to share why you support Dance Entropy by posting a note or picture on your social media page and tag our Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and/or Twitter accounts.

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On Tuesday, November 30, nonprofits across the world will share in celebrating the impact of giving.  Amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we’ll pause for a day and focus on what it means to give.  I hope you will plan on including Dance Entropy/Green Space in your #GivingTuesday plans.

May you and your loved ones enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving!

Home Goes from Virtual to Live for September

Photos by Alex Lopez

Valerie Green/Dance Entropy kicked off the Take Root series with Home as expressed by Lebanese guest artist, Bassam Abou Diab. In additon to a solo from Abou Diab, what also makes this event special is that Valerie Green/Dance Entropy dancers performed with Abou Diab.

Read the full Queens Chronicle review here.

Company Dancer Kristin Licata Shares the "Home" Rehearsal Experience with Bassam Abou Diab

In this phase of the "Home" project we are working with Bassam Abou Diab from Lebanon. Unlike any process I have been a part of, I feel like I am truly being educated on a culture and subject matter that is so foreign to me. I am learning about the common Islamic rituals of Wudu (a washing/ cleansing/ purification), Ashura (self punishment for feelings of guilt) and Sufi whirling meditation (turning).

It has been challenging for me. Although he is explaining everything in English, the language barrier of not understanding the intricacies of what he wants is difficult for a perfectionist like myself. While I struggled at first to know what to create and how to structure my ideas into phrases, after a few days of intensive structured improvs I realized the language of movement is universal. Similarly to other creative processes, where I have used pedestrian gestures to influence movement, we are using these ideas and the literal actions of these rituals as our inspiration to create the movement for this piece. I am becoming more comfortable in this process and seeing the piece take shape, as we repetitively work through our creative versions of these rituals and seamlessly and cohesively string them together.

We still have a few more days of rehearsal and I know the piece will continue to evolve. This process has been an enlightening journey for me to grow as an individual human being as well as a dancer. I hope I am able to transform what I have learned and created in these last two weeks of this “Home” journey into an expressive performance where I can share my newfound knowledge with the audience.

Join us on September 24 & 25 at 8pm for the “HOME” project with visiting choreographer Bassam Abou Diab from Lebanon which will feature Diab's solo work "Eternal," and a post performance Q/A. In addition to the performance, the evening will include live Lebanese Music with Richard Khuzami on Percussion and Maurice Chedid on Oud, Pre & Post Show.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please click HERE.