What is Ma?
Ma is a performance where dancers inhabit a world between presence & absence, practice & performance, certainty & the unknown.
This project originates in a choreographic questioning of our compulsion to make dances (art) even with the inevitable impermanence of the work and our selves. Can this dance celebrate ephemerality? Can we embody the bittersweetness that is part and parcel of making dances and living life? The title: Ma refers to a religious-aesthetic paradigm in Japanese culture that illuminates meaningful intervals and gaps of time and space. A revealed world “emptied and filled anew in each moment, nothing abides.”
Why Fund This?
Ma is a vulnerable, ambitious, and heartening project. It is a dance made from loss, birth, living, enduring, and curiosity about how we live our art. AND...because there are unbelievably wonderful human beings a part of this project and great relationships forged. Since 2014, Noelle has collaborated with these artists on a handful of enriching processes:
2014
- Worked on 2 group dances with Linsy; Mountains Have Feelings Too (Full Tilt) & Hot Toddy for My Body (Studio Current Residency facilitated by Vanessa)
- Nurtured by ongoing improvisational research and inquiry with Vanessa @ Studio Current like so many others!
2015
- Made noisy dances with raincoats and boots with Linsy and Tara; It's Not Raining, It's Tuesday (Converge Dance Festival)
- Lip-synced Julie Andrews and danced with balloons with Hendri and Tara (NEPO 5k)
2016
- Worked with Vanessa as dramaturg on a performance improvisational process
2017
- Made Garage Dances with Linsy and a baby (actually in my garage)
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These experiences have been important in creating a close-knit ensemble that has allowed for an incredible openness to experimentation and ways of working with both ambiguity and specificity. This history together is evident in Ma, and another reason to support us in our next level endeavor!
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Who We Are
Noelle Chun (Choreographer/Performer) is a dance artist specializing in the performance of improvisation and choreographic forms emerging from collaborative authorship, somatic investigations, and efforts to deconstruct the boundaries between practice and performance. Her work has been presented at parks, galleries, universities, and theater venues throughout the US.
Vanessa DeWolf (Performer) is an improvisational poetic performance artist. Driven to encourage creative process she founded Studio-Current & directed The Field-Seattle where artists grew works-in-progress, creative practice, and peer-support. She is dedicated to making work over her lifetime, and to that end makes works of intentional in-expertise that reside in the realms of the present moment, nostalgia, and vulgarity and an abiding naivete.
Linsyanne Owen (Performer) seeks to uncover stories: everyday stories, fantastical stories, and lost stories. Her choreography and performance works have been presented at Seattle International Dance Festival as well as On The Boards '12 Minutes Max'. She has had the pleasure of performing works by Alia Swersky, Emily Johnson, Mark Haim, Michele Miller/Catapult Dance, Scott/Powell Performance and Wade Madsen.
Hendri Walujo (Performer) loves to move and perform, to make you laugh, smile, or even cry a little inside. Traces of his experiences are on http://hendri-w.weebly.com.
Tara Tamaribuchi (Visual Artist) As both a visual artist and dancer, Tara's art practice explores impermanence, identity and pushing painting into its outmost parameters. Her public installations in the last year include the Seattle Center Sculpture Walk and Storefronts Seattle. She is the 2017-2018 recipient of the Edwin T. Pratt Memorial Scholarship at Pratt Fine Art Center and a member of CORE Gallery in Pioneer Square.
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Like most self-produced shows of this nature, our biggest risk and challenge is financial. We remain unwavering in our commitment to share this work to a broader audience, but with the caveat that all parties involved are fairly compensated and not financially burdened. We're grateful for anything you can contribute. If it's not financially possible for you, please help us get the word out about the show (which we hope you can see!) and let people know about our Indiegogo campaign.
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When is Ma happening?
Seattle premiere
April 27th, 8pm & April 28th, 5pm
Yaw Theater
FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/408867962858360/
For tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3371145
Thankyouthankyouthankyou and see you in April!
