The Process Part 1

You are cordially invited to join me on the journey of creation for my newest work. So new it doesn't even have a title yet. This new untitled work will premiere on May 5th on the Tennis Courts as part of the Midwood Mania Festival in the Midwood neighborhood of Charlotte NC. I am inviting you to partake in more that just a viewing of the final work but in the whole process leading up to May 5th. This work is being supported by a grant from the Arts and Science Council. This is my first grant and I am very excited. I am working as part of the KinetiCollective and choreographer Sarah Barnard and I wrote the grant, with much assistance from Martha Connerton, and are both choreographing works for the 1st ever Tennis Court Dance at the Midwood Mania Festival. We received $2,000 which has to be matched by indivdual donations and raised funds. To donate: http://www.mckineticworks.or/kcollectiveprojects.php

We held auditions March 15th and 16th with a nice turn out and I had my first rehearsal last night. Though I must admit I've been working on the ideas for the piece since last Fall.
I am excited for you to join me on this journey and I hope you'll tune back in regularly to check on the progress. Let The Process begin:

Step 1: Generating Movement- The clip is of some contact improvisation that company member Amber Debnam and I played with back in the Fall. We knew this piece was going to include a lot of partner work so contact seemed like the most logical starting place. However, as we found out perhaps Lady Gaga is not effective music for serious exploration. Despite all of our fun some of this movement inspired phrase work that I am using to create the piece. Please feel free to comment. Enjoy!

In a moment

It wasn't a moment for everyone. For some of us it was a gradual understanding that seeped into us before we were aware of it's power, before the beginning of our memories. For some of us it seems that we always knew. For others of us we were hit by a bolt of painful lightening at some early stage in our lives. But we were all born in perfect ignorance without any knowledge of race. Race is not often something someone sat us down to explain guiding us toward to healthy understanding, but something that becomes part of our consciousness over time or through one major event that opens our eyes to the simple fact that in America people are treated differently based on the color of their skin.
This weekend I am premiering a dance piece entitled: "Stir". The work looks at early understanding of race, single moments or memories of awareness that changed the course of our lives and social understanding and beyond that consciousness to our actions upon awareness. The work begs the question, What do we do with racial awareness?, How do we choose to respond to those who are different from ourselves?

I am a founding member of the KinetiCollective, our first annual show is this weekend: March 9-11th

Show: WeAreHereWeAre

Date and Time: Friday and Saturday 8pm, Sunday at 2pm

Location: Actors Theater, 650 Stonewall Street, Charlotte NC

Tickets: In advance $10- $15 at http://www.mckineticworks.org/kineticevents.php

I hope you can make it!!!

Premiering this weekend (3/9-11 2012): "Stir" a new trio choreographed by Camerin Allgood McKinnon, performed by: Camerin Allgood McKinnon, Amber Debname, and Arlynn Zachery. The new piece will be premiered as part of the KinetiCollective show: WeAreHereWeAre.
Shows:
Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm
Actors Theater: 650 Stonewall St. Charlotte NC
Tickets (cheaper by Thursday online): http://www.mckineticworks.org/kineticevents.php

"Stir" is about that moment when we each individually became aware that race plays a part in our lives and in our society- and then what do we do with that new awareness. I collected stories from a diverse group of people about when in their lives they became aware of race and then my wonderful fiance created a sound score out of the recorded stories.