there is a huge family: earl the mean beet, hail yea and kale yea, hell raisin, bowl-o-grits the super hero, cup-o-joe, ice bear, muffin the mean mean kitten, shuckley the shy corn, burt the beaver, jittery the coffee fairy, snakes of all ilk, bad ass bunny, leek havok, super hero brown banana, carrot bottom, rhonda the racy rutabaga, beer bear and more.
with Julie Rothschild and zap mcconnell
The Practice of Making: Dance Making, Improvisation, Performance, Collaboration, Possibilities.
Three to Five day workshops.
We create a workshop based on the site we are inhabiting, with the people we share time/space with. Tapping into over 20 years of collaboration, Julie and zap embrace their individual skills while supporting the group to fall in love with making, all over again.
Indoor/outdoor depending on location. If you are interested in hosting us at your studio or space, please contact us.
photos by: will kerner
using found natural objects, scraps from builds/rebuilds each light is hand crafted and unique.
i can teach. young and old.
i have spent quality time teaching in colleges. i love high school aged folks so much, i taught for a decade at THE LIVING EDUCATION CENTER FOR ECOLOGY AND THE ARTS. i do well with mixed age workshops.
i am curious and can help others find their way through investigating their wonders, bring out the ways one may work. uncover interests. help gain traction in the unique way each person learns.
FAVORITE SUBJECTS:
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site-specific work
choreography
composition
the practice of making
improvisation in movement
technique of performance
intuitive somatics
stream ecology
writing creative
Native American politics
scrap art
drawing
ancient cultures
making a happening: stream clean-up, performance, installation
Every few years I create a large multimedia performance experience framed inside a residency. The backbone of the work revolves around finding unusual spaces to gather and/or create an installation in. I collaborate with visual artists and local volunteers from all walks of life to flesh out the production. A dance performance happens within the site specific installation, with the audience led or allowed to wander, depending on how I direct. All of this occurs inside a residency that includes free classes to the public, free group tea where the challenging subjects of the project are discussed, outreach to organizations that serve children, connection to local nonprofits that tie into the work, as well as the immersive rehearsal process with local/international movement artists.
I am currently continuing my research and development of an upcoming immersive performance event, “all things discarded: an indwelling”, which will weave site-specific Dance, screenings of Dance for Film and installations that curate learning experiences. “all things discarded: an indwelling” will be choreographed in collaboration with local dancers, performed within residencies that invite audience participation, and tour in NC and VA. This project investigates the legacy of structural white supremacy and its current effects in the USA. Dancers will embody “The Hidden Wound”, as Wendell Berry writes about; connecting invisible trauma from the formation of this country with the root of our society’s addictions, and dysfunctional and destructive life-ways. This work ties seemingly disparate subjects such as chattel slavery and native genocide to environmental racism and the opiate epidemic, through the lens of dance.
The seven chapter dance for film: the owl of minerva arrives only at dusk is part of this endeavor, as well as a stand alone film. It is currently in the final phase of editing and will be viewable in the spring.
here is a copy of the program for the thesis performance in June 2019 at Hollins University:
Thesis Performance V
Mobile Tour
A site-specific performance presentation
At Hollins MFA Dance July 6, 2019
8:00pm: VAC Sculpture Studio
all things discarded:an indwelling
-a three chambered experience involving live performance, film and radical care inside an environment created by Instant Installation Choreography (I.I.C.).
director: zap:::mcconnell
live performance:
co-created/choreographed by:
Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Opal Lechmanski, Demetrius Burns, Liz Simmons,Taryn Griggs, Chris Yon, Beatrix Yon, Ali Cheff, Mikeala Deihgan, Gabriela Bosquenegro, zap
With additional artists: Sean Nguyen-Hilton, Erica Gionfriddo, Taylor Schmuelgen, Eliot Fisher
Consult: Sean Nguyen-Hilton
sound design by zap:::mcconnell
Art direction: CrystalClaw (Liz Simmons and zap:::mcconnell)
Tea:
Mikeala Deihgan, who is practicing Japanese Tea Ceremony, is a graduate of the Midorikai program at Urasenke Gakuen, Kyoto. Ali Cheff is performing a hybrid gung-fu style based from The Twisted Tea House tea slingers.
Concept of 1000 cups: Daniel Overstreet
Tea cups made by Mikaela Deighan, fired in the kiln of Masahiro Nagakui.
Special Thanks:
to mentor Martha Mendenhall, crucial to all parts
to the cast who joyously unknotted this many threaded weaving and joyously created a tapestries
to those who came before, the Tuetlo and Africans, whose forces are still felt
to my cohort: Brynne, Sean, Penny, Jennifer, Kara, Erica, Elizabeth, Helen
film:
the owl of Minerva arrives only at dusk:
a dance for film in seven chapters
director/producer: zap mcconnell
filmed by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro, Liz Simmons, Matteus Frankovich /Skyclad Aerial, Corbett Smithson,
special assistance: Samb Hicks, Chip Staples, Karl Pfefferkorn
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro, Marco Duran, zap mcconnell
photographed by:
Liz Simmons, Gabriela Bosquenegro, Will May, Will Kerner, Corbett Smithson
all installations at CABIN created by CrystalClaw (Liz Simmons and zap mcconnell)
special assistance :
Tessa Eve Everton (Night & Day Design), Matteson Haglund
music:
Amy Fitzgerald (Damiyana), Jared Draughon, Paola de la Conche (Suculima), Blakeney Bullock
—all recorded improvised sessions based on the content of the material. These sessions they generously allowed zap mcconnell and Gabriela Bosquenegro to edit.
this is a hugely collaborative process, in all ways.
BOOTS TRAP:
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro
musicians:
Amy Fitzgerald (Damiyana), Blakeney Bullock
co-created/performed by:
Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Jennifer Tweel Kelly
THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE:
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro
musicians:
Amy Fitzgerald (Damiyana), Blakeney Bullock
costumes by:
miss lizziepants
co-created/performed by:
Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Opal Lechmanski, Demetrius Burns
THE STICK HUT OF GIRL PROBLEMS:
edited by:
zap mcconnell
stick hut:
CrystalClaw
musicians:
Amy Fitzgerald (Damiyana), Blakeney Bullock, Jared Draughon
all movers volunteered to be in a timed, three minute authentic performative ritual in response to #metoo
movers:
Jessie Laurita-Spanglet, Jennifer Tweel Kelly, Liz Simmons, Gabriela Bosquenegro, Cara Hagan, Opal Lechmanski, Demetrius Burns, Blakeney Bullock, Caitlyn Swett, Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Julie Rothschild, Heather Hutton, Lisa Eller, Katharine Birdsall, Rahimah von Brieson, Katie Schetlick, Tevyn East, Paola de la Conche, Janice Lancaster
THE CLOAK OF WHITENESS:
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro
co-created/performed by:
Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Paola de la Concha, Liz Simmons, Katharine Birdsall, Julie Rothschild, Caitlyn Swett, Cara Hagan, Demetrius Burns, Opal Lechmanski, Jennifer Tweel Kelly, Blakeney Bullock, Jessie Laurita-Spanglet, Janice Lancaster
LEGACY:
edited by:
Marco Duran
musicians:
Jared Draughon, Blakeney Bullock
co-created/performed by:
Jennifer Stone, Julie Rothschild, Janice Lancaster, Caitlyn Swett, Katharine Birdsall, Jennifer Tweel Kelly, Demetrius Burns, Katie Schetlick, Lydia von Brieson, Rahimah von Brieson, Paola de la Concha, Jessie Laurita-Spanglet, Blakeney Bullock, Cara Hagan, Katharine Birdsall, Opal Lechmanski, Heather Hutton, Jodie Plaisance, Tevyn East, Lisa Eller, Opal Lechmanski
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF TUNNEL:
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro
musicians:
Amy Fitzgerald (Damiyana), Jared Draughon, Blakeney Bullock
special choreography by: Taryn Griggs and Chris Yon
co-created/performed by:
Liz Simmons, Cara Hagan, Janice Lancaster, Caitlyn Swett, Jennifer Tweel Kelly, Demetrius Burns, Blakeney Bullock, zap mcconnell
GRASSROOTS:
edited by:
Gabriela Bosquenegro
musicians:
Jared Draughon, Paola de la Concha
co-created/performed by:
Paola de la Concha, Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Jodie Plaisance, Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell, Tevyn East, Jennifer Stone, Julie Rothschild, Cara Hagan, Janice Lancaster, Caitlyn Swett, Lisa Eller, Jennifer Tweel Kelly, Demetrius Burns, Katie Schetlick, Opal Lechmanski, Rahimah von Brieson, Lydia von Brieson, Blakeney Bullock, Heather Hutton,Lea Marshall, Katharine Birdsall
filmed on location at CABIN (Pittsboro, NC), Winston-Salem, NC, Hunting Ridge and Charlottesville, VA.
an @hand production, in association with chicken bank collective, miss lizziepants, BosgueNegro. introducing CrystalClaw, red curtain productions. a dream of zen monkey project.
Supported by:
The Market Street Wine Shop, Sundog Builders, CABIN, Hunting Ridge, chicken bank collective, Skyclad Aerial, Corbett Smithson Photography, Will May Photography, Drew Gerstmyer, The Twisted Branch Tea House, Chad Haddix, Mary Haglund, Betty McConnell, Chuck McConnell, and the Cville Community.
Special Thanks to:
Chad Haddix, Katharine Birdsall, Karl Pfefferkorn, Eva Pfefferkorn, Sian Richards, Mark Perry, Lunday and Fred Riggsbee
using scraps from building/repairing/retro to make interesting backdrops that show the history of the build mixed with the desire of the builder.
We are an interdisciplinary and international arts collective. We are committed to our communities and are constantly making room for co-creation, for researching the intersection points shared by our disciplines and looking for their expanding possibilities. CBC consists of 6 women: dancers, teachers, choreographers, musicians, visual artists and a videographer/documentalist. We come together from different cities in México and the United States to work with what we can reach out to: our stories, the stories of the body and the stories of the places that we come from and to those to where we travel. Our mission is to weave communities between borders through the art of movement.
dance rocks!
check it:
http://www.chickenbankcollective.com/
i love to create. to direct. and i also perform every so often. i will keep adding to this as i dig up images and video.
here are some links to more info:
~close quarters by karl frost 2005
http://www.bodyresearch.org/performances/close-quarters/
~body of knowledge by karl frost 2011
http://www.bodyresearch.org/performances/body-of-knowledge/nggallery/thumbnails
palimsest by tevyn east (photos by aaron farrington)
the charlottesville wunderkammer by P.E.P. and ZMP , artistic derector zap mcconnell (photo by will may)
saints of all things discarded by liz simmons and zap mcconnell (photo by kathy clark)
by zap mcconnell:
vinculous
invisible spines (photo by
the lifeblood of the black lamb (photos by victor blanco)
lights, set, technical director, painting, costumes, producer, director for my projects or other artists:
most recent: Pip and Twig by Sian Richards and Kara Burke;
check out all the details:
photos by: Will Kerner
this international interdisciplinary site specific dance installation happened in charlottesville, va usa and then was re-framed in puebla, mexico. its complicated. its a lot.
for more info, check out these links:
https://www.c-ville.com/Zap_McConnell_ties_it_all_together_in_The_Unearthing/
https://www.charlottesvilleballet.org/2012/01/theunearthing/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/53256689/the-unearthing
top picture by: Will May
https://athandproductions.wordpress.com/
GOALS of @hand productions, a project to project based performance company created by zap mcconnell:
-to work collaboratively with peers to create all elements of a performance: dance, movement, art, installation, music, costumes, lights, and production
-to strive to utilize all aspects of the work with the most efficiency, based on attention given to recycling, reusing, reducing use of resources, respecting the community we are based in and each other
-creating an empowering community with in the project, networking with surrounding communities, and connecting to international communities
-encouraging emerging dancers, choreographers, designers, photographers, videographers and musicians as well as offering classes and workshops where ever we are
-to engage in a creative process that helps all involved to gain a greater insight into themselves, how they connect to others and the world they are part of
-to search for meaningful stories, subjects or curiosities to make work about; especially including the abstract, the literal, the symbolic, the ridiculous, the activist voice and good clean entertainment
-being in the moment as much as possible while balancing all of these goals with living a good and compassionate life
-always striving to find a sustainable way to work that cares for our bodies, our minds, our emotional life, our families, our friends, our basic life sustaining needs, our work and our ideals
-responding to the specific site we are in-and/or performing in and really using whatever is at hand
nothing too heavy, really…
@hand productions may be presented by zen monkey project often, yet not exclusively.
made out of layered bees wax, resin and pigment on board.
wood cut, letter press and all the carving in between.
meet petal. or soup. or the angry vegetables. or this egg. or ruffles the rooster aka toe sock. whittle the water horse. they have adventures.
using old roof scraps, down spouts and other metal culled from the heap i cover walls, doors, more.
3 of swords
all photos by emily pitti
feature length dance for film
click the link below to find out all about the film:
www.secondarysuccessiondancefilm.com
Synopsis:
In the Autumn of the year, where the veil is thin between worlds and time, five beings cross into a sacred land of many indigenous tribes that is locked in remembering by the dismantled military fort of another era, blocking passage to the return to the sea. These magical spirits tell the stories of the displaced, the invisible and the return of the wilderness, as they honor the past, present and the future. In this dance for film we see the hidden, and the evident, as we dance towards our insistence on revealing that which is needed.
Sinopsis:
En el otoño del año, donde el velo es delgado entre los mundos y el tiempo, cinco seres cruzan una tierra sagrada de diferentes tribus indígenas. Territorio encerrado en el recuerdo, por el desmantelado fuerte militar de otra época, que bloquea el paso del retorno al mar. Estos espíritus mágicos, cuentan las historias de los desplazados, lo invisible y el regreso de la naturaleza; al mismo tiempo que honran al pasado, el presente y el futuro. En este videodanza vemos a lo oculto y lo evidente, mientras danzamos hacia nuestra insistencia en revelar lo que es necesario.
