Commissioned Choreography

(2023) Commissioned by the American Dance Festival, The Dwelling Place draws inspiration from feminist and Afrofuturist thinker Adrienne Maree Brown’s concept of emergent strategy, a transformative justice model rooted in natural existing frameworks. This work explores the idea of “home” as both a choice and a responsibility, emphasizing our role in cultivating life within the spaces we inhabit.

(2020; restaged in 2023) Created during a time of global disconnection, Holding Space is a dance film that asks what it means to show up for yourself—and for others—when the world feels distant. Through quiet gestures and intimate movement, the film explores how presence, support, and accountability can emerge even in solitude. Premiering in November 2020, Holding Space has since been presented in New York City, Ladyfest in Charlotte, NC, and Toronto, where it received the award for Outstanding Emerging Dancers in a Dance Film. The work is a meditation on resilience, inner listening, and the subtle power of holding space—together and apart. In a time when isolation felt inevitable, Holding Space offered a reminder: connection is always possible.

(2015) Blood Moon is a powerful exploration of feminine strength, vulnerability, and choice. Created in collaboration with aerial rig operator Andrew Munro, this work blends contemporary dance and aerial movement to examine how moments of resistance—however brief—can illuminate the often-invisible forces that shape our daily lives. Rooted in the symbolism of the lunar eclipse, Blood Moon uses its celestial namesake as a metaphor for female empowerment and the cycles of concealment and revelation. Originally a 45-minute, all-female sextet performed in a historic tobacco warehouse in Durham, NC, the piece was described as “somber, heavy, yet serene and light.” It was later adapted into a 12-minute stage version for regional festival presentations. At its core, Blood Moon is a meditation on what emerges when the body takes space—both physically and metaphorically—in defiance of systemic quieting.

(2023) Yoke was created during the NC Choreographers Residency in Charlotte, NC, through collaboration between myself and the dancers. Using metal skirts crafted by SteelThread Art, we explored the tension between movement and metal, examining how these elements embody and challenge traditional gender norms and power structures. Through this process, Yoke investigates the weight of societal binaries and the fluidity that emerges when those constraints are tested.

(2017) BoneGlow is a performance project that merges anatomical awareness with artistic expression. Rooted in three years of research, this work explores how The Franklin Method®—a somatic approach that combines experiential anatomy with dynamic imagery—can be integrated into choreography to support performer agency, movement efficiency, and embodied storytelling. BoneGlow brings this inquiry to the stage. The result is a 40-minute work that illuminates the body's inner architecture, revealing how clarity of structure can fuel creative freedom. With BoneGlow, inner knowledge becomes visible—movement radiates from the bones, glowing with purpose and presence.

(2014) Presented in the NC Dance Festival and American Dance Festival mainstage concert, Acquiring Dawn is a haunting and poetic response to Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. This work imagines a post-apocalyptic world shaped by stark dualities—hope and despair, truth and prophecy, nature and industry—offering a visceral meditation on survival and the human spirit. Rendered through richly textured movement and an atmosphere of tension and beauty, Acquiring Dawn invites audiences into a space where ruin and resilience coexist. A university version of the piece was selected for the National College Dance Festival gala, recognizing its choreographic strength and emotional resonance. With both urgency and grace, Acquiring Dawn asks: in a world undone, what remnants of humanity remain?