East of the Sun, West of the Moon

We’ll live in a lovely way, dear… Landing, falling, and orbiting prior selves (and a prior collaboration with Launch Movement Experiment) as time capsule and departure.

Created in collaboration with performers Aya Wilson, Katie Stehura, and Sydnie Liggett as well as Portier’s collaboration with Launch Movement. Sound design by Kendra Portier, featuring Albert Mathias and samples from Nirvana, Melt Banana, and I’ve Lost. Lighting courtesy of The People Movers. This work made possible thru residency and support from the People Mover’s CRAWL at Gowanus Loft and NYU’s Tisch Summer Dance Residency. Presented at Gowanus Loft (NYC) and Jack Crystal Theater at Tisch School of the Arts (NYC). VIDEO, CRAWL presents BANDportier at Gowanus Loft.

Photo: Chelsea Lee

HORSE

Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost [M. Kudera]. An Expressionist love-letter to NYC, HORSE investigates the containment of personal breakdown within the display of moving forward. Ambition and love serve as conceptual desires; as emblems of success and of failure; and as social behaviors that both entangle and liberate the performers.

INFO / Made in collaboration with performers Anna Adams Stark, Edward Rice, Aya Wilson, and Simon Thomas-Train (2013) / Patrick Needham (2015). Sound design by Kendra Portier with music by Mike Wall and Darren Morze, Johann Strauss II, with samples from Four Tet, Direwires, Murcof, Odd Nosdam. HORSE is made possible, in part, by Dixon Place, Arts for the People, Tisch Dance Residency, and Gowanus Art + Production. Presented at Dixon Place (NYC) , Gowanus Art+ Production (NYC), and Jack Crystal Theater at Tisch School of the Arts (NYC). VIDEO

Hound of Wolves

Identity as a manufactured response to the world is the source of this ongoing solo practice. A movement study, or opportunity, designed to soften my forward motion and self-expectation. I’m thinking of my daily reactions as character studies that can be distilled into qualitative rhythms, which I meticulously clip and paste together. The result is a non-linear autobiography that is in equal parts a communing and deep audit of myself.

Performed by Kendra Portier, Music by Mike Wall and Kendra Portier. HOUND created in partial support from DanceNowNYC and residence at Bates College (ME). Presented at Salem University, RoofTop Dance (NYC), Dance’s Dancing Literate Project at Judson Memorial Church , Gowanus Arts + Production’s Green Building (NYC).

Media

At Judson, GAP! Presents BANDportier, Earlier studies: Low and Hunter. Photo (below): Mike Abbatiello

An Extra Season

An exploration of unison and opportunity to work with these generous people with attention to generosity and agency within a group.

Performed by and created with Meghan Frederick, Sydnie Liggett, Meg Madorin, Molly McSherry, Christina Jane Robson, and Laurel Snyder. Created in part thanks to Gowanus Art + Production and DanceNowNYC. Presented at Gowanus Arts + Production’s Green Building (NYC). MEDIA / Photo: Spencer Lum

10 for a bird you don’t want to miss

One for sorrow, two for joy…. ten for a bird you don’t want to miss. Aimed at the discrepancy between language, subjective experience, and the feeling of something, 10 For a Bird overlays multiple perspectives of a singular event.

Created with Laurel Snyder, Simon Thomas-Train, Christina Jane Robson, Leighton Lachman, Tristan Koepke, Dante Brown, Kendra Portier, Sara Gibbons. Additionally performed by Jasmine Hearn, Sara Gibbons, Marcos Durant, Rebecca Lubart, and Emma Judkins. Made possible, in part, by Emerging Choreographer Award at Bates Dance Festival and Tisch Dance Residency. Presented at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Jack Crystal Theater, excerpted Duet: I Heart Gibney at Gibney Dance Center, excerpted Duet: Triskelion Arts, Schaeffer Theatre at Bates Dance Festival. MEDIA / Different Voices Concert at BDF, Photo (left): BDF

Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid

Ms. Portier’s skillful, off-kilter choreography had her dancers buffeted about by winds or tides... rough partnering suddenly turned playful... she did the essential thing: she created a world [Brian Siebert, New York Times].

A reflection on my sisters and a story my Oma told about growing up with her sisters in Jakarta, Beautiful Weather is a rumination on embodied grief and grace. Hyperaware of the imagination's ability to conjure what is not there, resolve the illogical, and sweeten what is harsh; performers engage in a billowing world that is raw and determined, yet luscious and exposed. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Created in collaboration with Sydnie Liggett, Emma Judkins, Laurel Snyder, Megan Bascom, Christina Jane Robson, and chorus of our dance community friends. Costumes by Casey Loomis. This work is made thru the support of the Dance New Amsterdam’s Splice Commission 2012. Presented at Dance New Amsterdam (NYC), WiredArts Fest at the Secret Theatre (NYC), and Center for Performing Research (NYC). MEDIA / Excerpt, Rehearsal Edits, Mash-up VIDEO.