Futile Gestures

Futile Gestures’ I am trying very, very hard to be here right now is a meditation on presence and the ways in which we find our mental selves dissociating with our physical selves. The work examines moments of presence, attempting to find the key to living in the moment. Relationships between the dancers fluctuate as they struggle to stay grounded. The piece invites audience members to pay attention to the moments that capture them and the moments that catapult their minds a million miles away.

Futile Gestures is a movement collective founded in 2018 by Dot Armstrong, Liana Kleinman, Kyra Fludd – Smith, and Lea Torelli. As a collective of female-identified creators, we merge and support our individual ambitions into one big messy fun endeavor. Collaboration, in work and play, grounds us. Mutual support is intrinsic to our company structure. We prioritize working for and with each other, without relying on stale hierarchies. Our roles remain fluid while we shape and produce performance events in traditional and unconventional venues. Futile Gestures serves as a platform for interdisciplinary investigations. We believe in busting up boundaries with sensitivity, courage, and wit to examine the nuances of human connection.

The things we make negotiate the fuzzy lines between public and personal, spotlighting awkwardness, pleasure, pratfalls, and intimacy. Futile Gestures creates smart, odd choreography peppered with unexpected emotion and based in athletic physicality. We use movement to challenge the audience and each other with fresh perspectives on femininity, spectatorship, and other cultural phenomena.

We want to tell you our inside jokes. Can we make you a friendship bracelet?

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