Winter choreographic fellows: Maddie & Kayla

update: for info on their final showing, visit the Upcoming Events page HERE.
Maddie & Kayla take class at UMA nearly every single day. When they applied for our summer residency, it became clear I needed to create a longer-term program for movers to do some slow cooking of creative ideas alongside their  committed training in our classes. As two young women recently out of college and settling into Philly, they also were asking questions about the technical side self producing. They were diligent and excited about helping with other productions in the space, and thinking about dance in Philly at large. Kayla helped run lights and sound for me fringe show with Metal (and had a dancing cameo). Maddie performed at our works-in-progress-cabaret  workinonit this past July and has written about UMA and other aspects of dance in Philly for thinkingDance. And so, I present to  you, UMA's first Choreographic Fellows: Maddie & Kayla. They will present a full evening performance on Sunday Dec 16 at 7 and 9 pm! 

I asked the duo (Kayla left, Maddie right) to write about what's changed for them over the past six months, and also what they are thinking about as they move towards presenting a full length work on Sunday Dec 16.

From Maddie:
I want to work with the challenge of Kayla and my different instincts, the constant hum of the space, the challenge and joy of feeling the weight of the community in the room, feeling like you are making with and for the community. The feeling that you are not acting alone.
I am in the process of re-thinking preconceived notions of who performance is for-- thinking about how making something for a bunch of strangers is just one mode of making, and one with a certain history (which I’ve yet to really understand), and that knowing the people you make it for isn’t “cheating” but rather a different way of crafting and like, living life that just feels so much fuller and appreciative of multiplicity.
I’m more confident physically-- in general and in the forms I’ve been studying here for the past year. They feel more like my own, materials I can feel a respectful agency in exploring. I’m excited to address my initial question from several months ago about how to make my performance resemble my movement interests... that feels more rich and approachable now.
Our content has arisen seemingly by chance, but I love that we are exploring verbal communication, because it’s becoming so much a part of how we have to work together. Some days we are on the same page and also
many days we are not -- it’s just that practice of being able to say where we are over and over again, out loud, to each other. Excited, frustrated, confused, out of it, nauseous, giddy, stressed, happy, obsessed.
​

From Kayla:
Since beginning to work together in Philly we have come up against differences in aesthetic preference. I
think that this namely stems from my continued interest in formalism and Maddie’s growing interest in
dance theatre. I am interested in structures and how the shape/ pacing/ tone of what we experience affects
people. Maddie is more interested in character and creating content driven work that pulls from multiple
mediums. There is a lot of overlap in our interests, but sometimes they diverge or conflict. I think that we
also approach process differently. I like making a bunch of crap and shoving it all together, then taking a
lot of time to edit the draft. Maddie likes to edit as we go and build a little bit piece by piece. I know
sometimes we both can get frustrated with the other’s process and preferences.
But all of that exists under the larger umbrella of our relationship. Overall our rehearsals are fun and
playful and full of love. I value the intimacy of being able to watch each other improvise and being
comfortable enough with each other to follow an idea/ get really goofy/ try out something new that
definitely might not work out. Its really special to have someone so close to you who is so passionate
about the same thing. We have shared value systems that I hope come across in the final product- for one,
we both want our residency to eventually manifest as a gift for our community (UMA, our friends in
Philly, each other, our families who may or may not be present..) and center around that community.​