So, what makes Chop Shop: Bodies of work so unique? Because Artists are chosen purely on how they approach and construct their work. I am not interested in the technical expertise of the dancers. I am interested in GREAT work. Each choreographer that presents at Chop Shop is engaged in HOW their work is communicating with audiences.

As our new art form of contemporary continues to evolve (at an incredibly rapid pace), I feel that many of today's American choreographers are moving toward an abstraction that is alienating audiences. I am not saying alienation does not have its value....Tricia Brown is one of my all time heroines and probably the reason I became a serious choreographer. But I believe dance should be relevant, 'connectable' on some level...that someone in the audience should walk away saying, "Wow, I've never thought about ....... like that before." Dance makers live in a non-verbal abstract movement language which, when strung together in a thoughtful and creative manner, possesses a multitude of meanings and imagery. So why waste that precious time with vague, unending, unfocused work?

I am fortunate to be asking audiences to trust my opinion. Our living experience needs great art to challenge everything we know and feel and what we believe to be true. Great dance can do just that...on so many visual and visceral levels. The 'visual buffet' that is Chop Shop: Bodies of Work will, without a doubt, shift something inside you....or your money back.