Choreographed by Emily Hansel
Performed by Emily Hansel, Moses Kaplan, and Chelsea Reichert
Vertical Words was presented at CounterPulse in January, 2018. An abridged version was performed at LEVYsalon in April, 2018.
Choreographed by Emily Hansel
Performed by Rachel Berryman, Malia Byrne, Katie House, and Nick Wagner
Scale was presented by the Young Choreographers' Forum SF at the Joe Goode Annex in March, 2017.
Choreographed and performed by Emily Hansel
Computer program by Michael Fix
untitled_37.txt was the culmination of over a year’s worth of research on the subjectivity of language. Words are not equivalent to ideas, they simply represent ideas. Words attempt to accurately portray the abstract in a concrete manner. The research developed into an exploration of the human need to make the abstract tangible.
untitled_37.txt premiered on April 27, 2016 at the University of South Florida. This piece was the fruit of Emily’s Honors Thesis for the Honors College at USF.
Choreographed by Emily Hansel for five dancers
Music by Ratatat
Originally performed by Natalie Bohin, Katie Kulasa, Raven Moore, Brent Townend, and Demetrius Tucker
A piece in which there is a reason for everything. An environment in which five movers exist and discover.
No Reason premiered at the University of South Florida’s Theatre One in December 2015. It was later selected to be presented at the 2016 Southeast ACDA Conference, where it received rave reviews from the adjudicators for its originality as a “sophisticated fusion of dance theater, improvisation, and contemporary movement.”
Choreographed and performed by Emily Hansel at Micadanses in Paris.
Vertical Words is an attempt to prove that the perception of meaning is inevitable, regardless of whether or not the artist intended any meaning. The choreographic process was inspired by the "word sculptures" of minimalist sculptor, Carl Andre.
Choreographed, performed, and directed by Emily Hansel.
This film is a response to a performance of Angelin Preljocaj's "Empty Moves" (performed by Ballet Preljocaj). The show's program notes included this statement:
“To highlight his process [Preljocaj] turns to John Cage’s "Empty Words," a random string of phonemes, read by Cage during his performance in Milan – a demonstrative act to show that the abstract exists and that it is unbearable to the audience who responds by jeering at the unperturbed performer….[Preljocaj's four dancers onstage] are paid homage by an audience, who although not necessarily willing to listen, has at least agreed to look upon abstraction.”
John Cage and his partner Merce Cunningham were two artists who refused to seduce audiences through romanticism, narrative, or encoded meanings. They often referred to their work as "meaningless" or "purposeless." But this attempt to signify nothing signifies something. The attempt to remove purpose is a purpose itself.
Choreographed and performed by Emily Hansel and Jessica Zizzo.
Music by ltlp, additional audio from Patrick McCarty.
Insatiable was created in 2015 at the University of South Florida. It is the product of an exploration of the benefits and downfalls of selfishness and unceasing ambition – such persistence can lead to great accomplishments as well as disasters. This includes an investigation of Plato and Aristotle’s ideas on human appetite (or passion) versus reason (which governs the passions). The piece was invited to be performed in a full-scale concert in USF's dance department as well as other performances at USF.
Choreographed by Emily Hansel.
Performed by Hannah Luckow, Alyssa Marchand, Robert Kelley, Hannah Mainellis, Monica Moneses, Cloe Leppard, and Dayne Davis.
Music by Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma.
Inspired by Edvard Munch's "The Scream."
Website by Michael Fix | Cover photos by Jason Lam