Emily LaRochelle and Sarazina Joy Stein

Due to technical difficulties, performance starts at 6:20 in the video and freezes around 7 minutes in. You can fast-forward to 7:42 in order to continue watching the video. Such is the nature of virtual performance!

We have been researching how to present our relationship through dance in public spaces, and now online, in an honest and open way. Much of our collaboration for this work, entitled Moon Map, involves digging into the personal, safe, and varied worlds we embody. One aspect of our world that we are exploring is the notion of charming while challenging each other. This can play out physically but also as underlying subtexts, with compromises and strong-headedness. We find ways to enliven day-to-day interactions and intimacies, often using personal, quirky mannerisms as jumping off points for finding new dialogues.

Our current and ongoing research also incorporates the experiences that are not so light; particularly, and more recently, this work has been influenced by an unexpected event from this past fall as well as the present state of isolation. We are exploring how our bodies can respond to trauma, how they can react to moving in what used to be familiar pathways, and how our bodies can become puzzle pieces once again, seamlessly interlacing and fitting together in unexpected ways.

Photos by Raquel Beauchamp in El Jardin del Paraiso, NYC

Photos by Jenna Westra, with Katie Clark, in NYC

Rehearsal clips of improvisations inspired by Moon Map during NY on Pause in the Hudson Valley, NY

Emily “Emla” LaRochelle is an NYC-based dancer from Peabody, MA. She received BAs in dance and biology from Connecticut College. Sarazina Joy Stein, a native New Yorker, received her BA from Hampshire College in performing arts and feminist theory. They have both created and performed in works around New York City. Emla and Sarazina met at Bates Dance Festival summer of 2017 and have been collaborating ever since. They have performed iterations of their piece “Moon Map” at Theater for the New City, The Wild Project, Tada Theater, Triskelion Arts, Spoke the Hub, The Footlight Bar, and various New York parks and gardens. The two have also performed together in works by Mindy Toro as well as Kathleen Clark.

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If you want to be added to our email list and be kept informed about our upcoming performances, email us at emlaandsarazina@gmail.com !

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