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Collaborations witha range of dance artists

For the Fall Equus in Action Series we invited eight seasoned professional to share ideas and ZOOM pedagogy with the Equus Projects company: Audrey Rachelle Stanley,Rebekah Morin,  Melissa Riker, Melissa Turnage, David Norswoorthy, Marielis Garcia, Jenna Pollack and Cynthia Pegado. The 8-Part Series ran through the second week of November.

September 8-11, 2020

JoAnna Mendl Shaw spent three days at Dunrovin Ranch teaching a daily workshop and exploring possibilities for developing a Physical Listening program for Dunrovin's on-going webcam programming.

September 2020 Issue

The Equus Projects was pleased to have a short article on our work in the September issue of Dance Magazine.

September 5-6, 2020

Shaw and DeJohnette coached clinic participants in finding connection with horses through herd observation, physical listening and embodied joining.

July 7 - August 8th

A workshop series for all curious movers. Each session tauight in collaboration with an equestrian. Footage of training sessions, Equus company in the studio and in performance opaired with guided embodied experiences

Despie Covid-19, we are still performing

The Equus Projects created a full evening length performance virtual and LIVE narrated performance as part of the Mark DeGarmo Dance summer Salon Series. The evening featured excerpts from performances and video of trainings sessions with horses, offering the audience a comprehensive overview of the work of the company.

March 9-13, 2020

Continuing work with May center faculty to develop and implement a Physical Listening curriculum for 1st - through 8th grades.

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The equus Projects' Salon Series... departs from intimate performance spaces...

The Equus Projects in collaboration with Pastor Luther Mason, Pastor of the Greenstone Church in Pullman  orchestrates a choral convening featuring two choral groups, vocal soloist, musicians and dancers. Envisioned as part communal meditation, part sonic landscape, part choral celebration Straight From The Heart: A Choral Convening will bring together communities from North Pullman, South Pullman and beyond. December 7th at 4:30pm

Building a Physical Listening Curriculum, Phase ll

November 2019, March 2020, August 2020: May Center Research Residencies

The Equus Projects in collaboration with Santa Fe dancer, educator and choreographer Melissa Bransford Briggs have been working with The May Center since 2017, gradually building the foundation for a Physical Listening curriculum to be embedded in the school.

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NOTE: This web page has more in depth explanation of Physical Listening

October 28-20, 2019, May 2020

The Equus Projects returns to Lane Community College for a second teaching residency , teaches classes ranging from Improvisation to Hip Hop!! Equus Artistic Director and Dance Chair Bonnie Simoa are exploring possibilities for a Physical Listening Independent Study at LCC including studio practice and hands on equine experiences.

October 26th-27th

A second convening: Somatics practitioners, equine trainers, Contact Improvisers and choreographers.

Our goal is to further define how our multi-sensory presence with equines informs human discourse, education practice, performance presence and choreographic forms. 

NOTE: This web page has more in depth explanation of Physical Listening

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Explore Right-Left Brain Integration through Movement

Dance Differently is a movement-based LAB that explores one central question for 9 hours each month.

Spatial Knowledge through tactile sensing: We take for granted lots of spatial decisions made through our skin, fingertips. How can we harness that kind of knowledge in new ways? Heightened Noticing: Of change, of patterns, of behavior, of sound. Using this noticing to inform Decision-Making. Strategic Decision-Making and Creative decision-Making, how are these minds sets different?

Physcial Listening for Poe 3rd Graders

The Equus Projects returns for its 6th Residency at Poe Classical, a school for gifted learners in the Pullman District, far south Chicago. The focus of their work at Poe will be Physical Listening...all those multi-sensory skills that are the foundation of Executive Functioning and building compassionate humans. Mid week, learning takes place at Hannaberry Farm where all the Physical Listening gets translated into hands on experiences with horses

Presentation for Training Magazine Tech Learn Conference, September 2019

The experiential learning component of the Tech Learn Conference orchestrates immersive experiences in each host city. The 2019 Conference was held in Nee Orleans and Equus Projects Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw co-presented a session on Physical Listening and Partnership with the Equine Trainer for the New Orleans Mounted Police.

July 9-11, 2019

A convening of dancers, somatics practitioners, corporate leadership trainers, Contact Improvisation practitioners, therapists, scholars and equestrians to experientially research and creatively brainstorm. A collaboration with dancer and equestrian Alissa Mayer, A Somatic Approach To Horsemanship.

http://alissamayer.com/about/

LaPine Oregon

In July 2019 Equus dancer Kat Reese and I both got to dance with Jessica Ealy's wild mustangs. Jessica, a dancer and equine trainer, lives in La Pine Oregon. She teaches 15 dance and exercise classes a week and  trains wild mustangs for the Bureau of Land Management. Jessica has gone through the rigorous TIP training for the BLM and trains the mustangs on her small horse farm in La Pine.

PHOTO: Laura Holbrook

June 26, 2019

A convening of dancers, somatics practitioners, educators and equestrians to experientially research and creatively brainstorm. A collaboration with dancer, dance scholar, educator and equestrian Karima Borni, Faculty Middlebury College.

June 12-15, 2019

JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Sarah Rose Graber present the third in an on-going series of Pullman Salons, sited works created for intimate spaces that celebrate the residents of Pullman. Vol. III is a collaboration with North Pullman resident Deborah Jackson: Educator, Artist and Activist

May 18-24th, 2019

NYS Dance Force presenter Jim Self brings The Equus Projects to Ithaca NY to explore the intersection of horsemanship and choreographic chance operations in a week-long residency.

Film: Equus & Friends, Ithaca

Demo at Liberty: April 27th, Performance April 28th

A collaboration with world renowned equestrian Bettina Drummond,  The Equus Projects participates in a 2-Day Intensive, April 27th & 28th. The weekend features a new work created with Bettina riding her Lusitano, Macho with music composed by Todd Reynolds. Tickets: http://apaha.us/tickets/

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Sarah Rose Graber and JoAnna Mendl  Shaw return to Pullman for a Creation Residency with collaborator, visual artist and educator, Deborah Jackson. The team is preparing for their June 2019 Pullman Salon, Vol III that celebrates Jackson's art and life in Pullman. 

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December 7-8, 2018

Shaw and Graber return to Pullman to create Pullman Livingroom Salon Vol II, based on the life of Pullman resident Alfons Quiroz and staged for the Monsart Art Space.

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NEXT Salon: June 2019

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October 28, 2018

Equus dancers maintain their horsemanship ground skills via hands on equine sessions with  Carrie Christiansen, who is the equestrian director of the therapeutic riding program for challenged teens at Majoda Stables in Moorestown, NY. In exchange for on-going skills training, Equus creates and performs with the Majoda Hipsters several times a year.

October 20, 2018

The Equus Projects brings together horsemanship and dance improvisation in this unique workshop / clinic designed to deepen the equine-human dialogue. Hosted by C&K Farm in East Aurora, NY.

September 17-21, 2018 / September 24, 2018

The Equus Projects teaches its 5th residency at Poe Classical Elementary School bringing text devising and Physical Listening into 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. Physical Listening weeks conclude with an Equine Day at Hannaberry Farm in Crete, Illinois where the children re-experience the Physical Listening via hands on work with horses. Funded in part by Beverly Arts and the NEA Community Engagement.

Designing a Physical Listening program for The May Center, August 14-20, 2018

The Equus Projects partners with Santa Fe dance educator Melissa Bransford Briggs and Equine Learning specialist Machel Jordan to design a Physical Listening curriculum for The May Center for Learning, a school dedicated to creative strategies for challenged learners.

Project Development, July 7-15, 2018

Working with producer Lisa Morgan, Equus Projects' Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw spent 10 days in Jackson meeting equestrians and dancers, teaching a Master Class for Dancers' Workshop and presenting a demo performance with community dancers and horses for an audience of Jackson locals and visiting company, Hubbard Street Dance. Plans are in the works for a 2019 series of projects.

July 5-7

Visit with equine trainer and animal communicator Anna Twinney in Elizabeth, CO, Master Class for Impact Dance, visit to Hearts and Horses Therapeutic Riding Center with plans for future collaborations.

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An epic drive from Fort Collins through the high desert into the mountains, shooting small films along the way.

The Equus Projects has been invited to create a project in rural Western New York with New York State Dance Force Producer Jim Self, in collaboration with Theater Director and equestrian Norman Johnson. The multi-stage project will begin creation process in 2019. June 24-26th, dancers spent round pen time exploring kinetic dialogues with Norm's horses, taught a master class for Ithaca area dancers and presented an informal lecture demonstration performance with horses.

June 18-27, 2018

For the second year The Equus Projects presents a full day Spark Session and Breakout Sessions at the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute Conference at the University of Buffalo. The company also teaches a master class at Wasteland Studios, Buffalo and teaches a Parkinson's session.

A whinsical intrepretation of Pullman history

The Pullman Project team of JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Sarah Rose Graber collaborate with Pullman historian Andy Bullen and Pullman graffiti artist Ian Lantz, to create the first in a series of Pullman Livingroom Salons created for the historic Florence Lowden Miller Historic Pullman Center, Pullman. Funded in part by a grant from the NEA, Pullman Livingroom Salons are also slated for September, and December 2018.

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Celebrating the 2018 Laban Conferenfce, NYC

Site works are presented in Washington Square Park on June 1st from 6 - 7:30 pm

The Equus Projects will perform an excerpt from The Breaking Ring

Red Ascending, Zurich Tanz 2018

Site-specific work created for the Landes Museum, Zurich

May 6, 2018

The Equus Projects & Hipsters Celebrate Horses

The Equus Projects dancers join a team of exuberant hipsters to celebrate horses in a performance to raise money for Majoda Stables, its riding and community outreach programs. Majoda Hipsters train under the direction of Carrie Christiansen.

Majoda Stables

620 Garwood Road, Moorestown, NJ 08057

(856) 231-7552

Shaw and Graber are in residence for the 6th visit to Poe Classical Elementary April 22-26, 2018 where they will create a performance piece with the Poe 3rd graders that celebrates the historic and current leaders in the Pullman community. The project is co-produced by Poe Classical and Beverly Arts as part of the school-wide Celebrate Historic Pullman event to be presented in June.

March 11- March 31, 2018

ArtStart, Rhinelander

The Warehouse, Eagle River

Trees for Tomorrow, Eagle River

The Conserve School, Land O Lakes

UW, Milwaukee

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January - May 2018

Equine Training

Collaboration with Youth Program

May 19, 2018 Performance Event

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On-going Commuynity Engagement

The Pullman Project: Interviews

November 2017

January 2018

April 2018

June 2018

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December 2017

The Equus Projects dancers maintain their horsemanship skills via on-going ground skills training. Since early 2017 the company has been traveling down to Philadelphia to work with dancer and equestrian Susan Deutsch and her horse, Caetano and more recently to Morrisville, NJ to work with Carrie Christiansen at Majoda Stables.

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October 2017

Bringing the Arts to Rural America

Milwaukee

Rhinelander

Land O Lakes

Eagle River

October 7, 2017

Northwestern Stables

Philadelphia

3rd and 4th Grade

The Equus Projects returned to Poe Classical and Pullman Elementary schools for a week-long residency focused on Movement and Physical Listening skills. Equus dancer Audrey Rachelle and JoAnna Mendl Shaw taught a week of in-school classes that culminated with a Field Day to Hannaberry Farm where Physical Listening was re-experienced through hands on work with horses.

September 2017

On the Edge, A Performance Workshop

Hosted by UB Music Professor, Jean Kopperud

Dancers' Workshop with Horses

Hosted by UB Music Professor, Jean Kopperud

Buffalo Dancers Master Class: WASTELAND

August 27, 2017

Workshop with Horses

Santa FE, NM

With Machel Jordan

July 2017

The Bates Dance Festival produced The Equus Projects creation of works for dancers and horses in 2006 and  2011 and supported creation research in 2005 and 2008.

​ July 8th & 9th, 2017

Commissioned BY INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival, this intricate score for 24 dancers was created for the Circular Playing Field at Hunters Point, LIC

VIDEO: INSITU Site Specific Dance Festival

June 2017

The Equus Projects presented a full-day workshop session on Physical Listening

and an evening performance of The Breaking Ring

June 2017

Featured performance event, The Equus Projects presented version of The Breaking Ring focused on playful engagements.

June 2017

Horses and dancers come to the historic Pullman landscape on June 10th with a series of short performances that highlight the beauty and grace of both human and equine dancers. 

Horses in Pullman

March, 2017

Residency: The Dance Complex, Cambridge

Master Class: Boston Conservatory

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April 23 & 26, 2017

Agnes Varis Center for the Performing Arts

Gibney Dance Center

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July 2016

Collaboration with visual Artist Erin Curry. Dance as task and the intersection of movement making and drawn image. Inspiration for this version of After Image is S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 - an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole. The three expedition members perished. As the work progresses, the substrate occupied by the dancers becomes destabilized and fractured.

ERIN CURRY: Collaboration

VIDEO: After Image Excerpts

June 2016

The Equus Projects joined by choreographer Rachel Barker spent a week in residence at the inaugural season of the Sedona Artist Colony, housed at the Verde Valley School in the heart of the epic landscape of Sedona, AZ. Choreographer material was devised and filmed at four high desert sites. Dancers: Audrey Stanley and Kacey Katzenmeyer

VIDEO: The Equus Projects, Sedona

June 2016

A movement installation commissioned by Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe for the M12 Installation: The Breaking Ring, an installation focused on cruelty to wild horses. A progression of round-pen duets seek authentic kinetic dialogue by responding to and shaping given behavior. Six choreographed duets shape the periphery of the space.  The 3-hour installation for ambient audience draws willing spectators into a round pen experience.

VIDEO: The Breaking Ring: Round Pen Duets (Excerpts)

May 2016 & June 2016

#IsThisDance merges performance with social research in a choreographed event that looks to define the line between everyday movement and the art-form of dance. Conceived in collaboration with David Norsworthy the event was presented in two different venues for two very different demographics: DANY studios presented for Stella Adler actors and invited guests. The Raw Space, Harlem co-produced with the Harlem Arts Alliance for a gathering of 40 early, mid and late career Harlem-based artists.

​ May 2016

JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Sarah Rose Graber sin residence teaching 5th and 6th graders in sessions focused  on devising text and creating accompanying movement. Collaboration with Be The Groove performer Kevin Brown introducing body percussion. Residency funded by Chicago Public Schools

Video: Clint Mosley

VIDEO: Poe Classical

VIDEO: Pullman Elementary

May 2016

Gibney Dance, NYC

The movement generates layers of drawn images with the seemingly chaotic markings gradually orchestrated into cohesive visual statement. The performers function in a state of constant decision-making, operating within a sequence of rule structures. Task-based interactions create visual after image and simultaneously expose an emotional terrain that negotiates constant, subtle power shifts. 

VIDEO: After Image (Excerpts)

April 2016

Interspecies Encounters was created during a 4-month residency at Centenary College, funded by the Gates-Ferry Lecture series. The project was a collaboration between Centenary Equine Studies and the Theatre Dance Department.

Interspecies Encounters featured Equus Projects dancers and Centenary equestrians and horses and was presented as the featured event at the Intercollegiate National Dressage Competition.​

VIDEO: Interspecies Encounter (Excerpts)

February 2016

The Equus Projects Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw has a long history of teaching choreographic workshops in Switzerland. The Zurich Creation Lab is an annual workshop that takes places in February or March. Produced by Zurich choreographer, Tina Mantel.

Zurich Creation Lab - February 11-15, 2017

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December 2015

The Equus Projects Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw in collaboration with theater director Sarah Rose Graber spent a week in the Pullman District of south Chicago teaching in the elementary schools, and conducting preliminary research on Pullman history and community residents. This residency was funded by the Pullman National Monument.

May 2015

A Multi-disciplinary, multi-year creation project in collaboration with the Pullman National Monument, Arts Pullman, Historic Pullman Foundation and local Pullman schools and the that brings visibility to the historic role the Pullman District played in Chicago and its current unique multi-cultural landscape.

The Pullman Project

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November 14-20, 2015

Eugene, Oregon

JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Artist in Residence

Modern Technique, Improvisation, Composition and Ballet

Five-Day Playground Lab for Lane students and Eugene community

Playground Lab performance event.

Dancing with Horses Workshop

October 11, 2015

A performance installation created for the North Plaza of Union Square that paid homage to one of NYC’s iconic urban farmers, Stewart Borowsky - The Wheatgrass Man. Borowsky has been selling homegrown wheatgrass for over 15 years with his wheatgrass farm operating out of a warehouse in Brooklyn. In Celebration of Wheatgrass is a series of solos, each functioning inside a large scale visual installation built with wheatgrass flats, soil and farming tools. Research, creation and performance of this project was funded by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

September 2015

Site work created for the Crane Plaza at SUNY Potsdam with a cast off 16 dancers. The 30-minute installation featured a series of task-based scores that moved 74 audience members and constructed a kaleidescopic mandala with 400 apples. The work was commissioned by the SUNY Potsdam Theatre & Dance Department with funding from the New York State Dance Force, NYSCA.

VIDEO: This is a Dance

July 2015

Elizabeth, CO

A film by LA based filmmaker, Gabe Bienczycki shot on the ranch of equine trainer, Anna Twinney, in Elizabeth, Colorado.

​Gabe Bienczycki

Zebra Visual: http://www.zebravisual.com/aboutgabe/

VIDEO: Earth Poem

June 27, 2015

Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY

Grazing Gracefully was commissioned by the Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. The commission requested that The Equus Projects perform with Staten Island horses. Grazing Gracefully was created for a cast of five dancers and two local Staten Island ponies from the Seguine Equestrian Center.

May 1, May 30th & 31st, 2015

Created by choreographer, David Norsworthy for OnSite NYC

Elephant Shenanigans is a traveling choreographic installation for four dancers and inflatable elephant that travels through the streets of New York City. The May 2015 version of Elephant Shenanigans was performed for a total of 8 hours and traveled 50 city blocks.

The 2015 version of Elephant Shenanigans was funded by The Harkness Foundation.

VIDEO: Elephant Shenanigans, May 2015

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December 9, 2014

Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, NYC

A movement Installation created for Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, adjacent to the United Nations, the piece was constructed as a series of circular choreographic scores that celebrated the peace-keeping and negotiation spirit of the United Nations.Circular Celebrations was created for and featured 16 dancers from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and Percussionist, Jeremy Smith​

November 2014

Idlenot Farm - Clinton, CT

(Com)Passion, a collaboration between Equus Projects, dancer Lacina Couliably from Burkina Faso and equestrian Patricia Norcia, explores the intersection of West African dance and classical dressage, both grounded by rhythm, listening and compassion.

VIDEO: (Com)Passion

July 26 - August 3, 2014

Nattdans pa Hovdala was an evening length work commissioned by the Swedish theater company, Klinten Kultur. Created as a site-specific event for the courtyard of the historic Hovdala Castle in Hassleholm, Sweden. Nattdans featured the Klinten Kultur cast of young adults with autism joined by The Equus Projects and European dancers, live percussionist Tina Quartey and Fire Artist Amanda van Rheinberg.

​ May 2014

Elephant Shenanigans was created as a traveling installation for NYC Streets. The 8-hour event, performed in two installations, featured two casts of 4 dancers each and a large inflatable elephant. Elephant Shenanigans was created by David Norsworthy.

VIDEO: Elephant Shenanigans 2014

February 1, 2014

Hastdans pa Hovdala was screened at the Lincoln Center Dance on Film Festival on February 1, 2014, followed by a panel with DFA curator JoAnna Ney, Equus Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw, Equus Projects dancers Carlye Eckert and Jessica Martineau and filmmaker, David Fishel.

Filmmaker, David Fishel: http://guerillagorilla.com/

​ January-February 2014

Choreographer and mathematician Lauren Vogelstein spent six weeks with The Equus Projects exploring the application of math principles to choreographic scoring.Studio investigations investigated scoring mechanisms for:

Curvatures

The Fibonacci Equation

Tessellation

Rolling Objects

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November 1, 2013

Physical Listening and Strategic Decision-Making

Strategic Studies Group, Naval War College Newport, RI

The Equus Projects was commissioned to engineer a full day workshop for the Strategic Studies Group of the Naval War College, Newport, RI. The presentation and demo focused on movement as a dynamic agent for accessing Strategic Thinking and Bold Decision-Making.

September 13, 2013

Bright Morning Stars was created for the David Lichman North American Northeast Tour Stop performed at Que Sera Farm in Clinton Corners, NY. The work featured The Equus Projects dancers with riders from the Bard College Equestrian Team and horses from Netherwood Acres Farm, Hyde Park, NY.

VIDEO: Bright Morning Stars

July 27 – August 4, 2013

Håstdans på Hovdala was a fu;ll evening length site-specific work commissioned by Klinten Kultur, a Swedish company of young adults with autism. Created for the historic Hovdala Library ruin in Hassleholm, southern Sweden, Håstdans på Hovdala featured a cast of Equus Projects dancers, local horses and six Klinten Kultur performers. Filming was funded in part by the American Embassy in Stockholm and a Frances Mary Hazen Fellowship from the Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Fund.

VIDEO: Håstdans på Hovdala (Excerpts)

​ June 29, 2013

Garden Six B was created for the community Garden Six B in the East Village in NYC. The piece featured Equus dancer Jessica Martineau and original soundscape composed and performed by

May 10, 2013

 The Secret Garden was created for the south garden at Tudor City Greens. Set to the Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suite #2, the work featured three Equus dancers and eight guest performers who are planted among the spectators. Based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's children's book, The Secret Garden, the work suggests the fantasy-life of an urban child playing in a small urban garden. Embedded in the choreography are opprtunities for spectators to read small notes with facts about the architecture and history of the historic buildings of Tudor City.

April 3, 2013

Judson Church, NYC

Take the Time It Takes was created for the Judson Church series STUFFED. The work is a duet about struggle, loss and the order we create to keep ourselves sane. Set to the selections from Bartok's 44 Duos, the piece concludes with a snow shower of 1000 paper snowflakes.

January 7, 2013

SoHo, NYC

The first event of the OnSite NYC's 2013 season, Ligne Roset was an installation created for the SoHo furniture store of the same name. The evening explored possibilities for scripted behavior as performance staged for a live party event. Three female performers each inhabit a furniture constellation in the store, embodying a distinct character throughout the 4-hour event. A solo male dancer entices each women onto duet interludes that provide small diversions witnessed by ambient party goers. Throughout the evening, Visual Artist Jeff Hopkins created quick sketches of the evening's events.

PHOTO: Nir Arieli

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December 10, 2012

Created for the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, a city plaza directly adjacent to the United Nations, this task-based movement installation featured 8 dancers in a score that gradually constructed a 10' long glass peace bough constructed with 300 Ronny Brook Farm glass milk bottles. Ronny Brook Farm is one of the primary vendors at the weekly Dag Hammarskjold Green Market. 

September 27, 2012

Migliorelli Mandalas was created for the North Plaza of Union Square, site of the weekly Union Square Green Market where Migliorelli Farms is an iconic vendor. Migliorelli Mandalas was performed by 21 dancers, members of The Equus Projects and dancers from Alvin Ailey/ Fordham and an unexpected small boy. The piece used 350 Migliorelli apples.

July 1, 2012

Commissioned by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and The Drawing Center

for the 2012 River-to-River-Festival and created for Fort Jay on Governor’s Island, NYC.

​Red, Yellow, Blue was a 50-minute work for created for 10 dancers and 3 visual artists whose brush strokes determined the movement material. 

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June 7, 2012

Created for the location of the Union Square Green Market, the choreography used 50 cardboard boxes from the iconic Green Market vendor, Martin’s Pretzels. The score for 8 dancers was based on a Laban B Scale.

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June 5, 2012

The first of OnSite NYC's mandala scores for public spaces, the milk bottle mandalas were created with the iconic Union Square vendor's, Ronny Brook Farm glass milk bottles.

The performance featured eight dancers work inside a complex task-based choreographic score that engineered the building of several intricate glass bottle mandalas.

250 glass milk bottles were used.

May 7-11, 2012

Commissioned by chashama, a NYC arts presenter that nurtures artists by transforming unused NYC property into work and presentation spaces. Anita’s Way was a  40-minute site-specific work  made for the Anita's Way alley in midtown Manhattan. The work investigated the notion of necessity, movement choices  determined by the charcoal markings of three visual artists. 

Visual Artists:

Jeff Hopkins: http://picturescometolife.com/

Alan Bolle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_M._Bolle

Ellen Colcord: http://www.colcordstudioschool.com/efcolcordaolcom/

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​ September 29, 2011

Center for the First American Horse, Morrisville, VT

​Produced by Center for the First American Horse in Morrisville Vermont, Herds and Horses was a 40-minute work that showcased The Equus Projects' unconventional use choreographic scoring to frame natural horse behavior and gently create performance with horses at liberty.

August 1-2, 2011

Bates Dance Festival

Commissioned by the Bates Dance Festival, UnStable Landscape was an evening-length work created in collaboration with choreographer Carl Flink and Black Label Movement, MN. Made for 10 Equus and BLM Dancers, 5 horses and 14 dancers from the Bates Festival Un/Stable Landscape was created as a site specific work for the hillside and horse paddocks of Chance Encounter Farm in Pownal, ME.

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May 1, 2011

High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Center, Old Lyme CT

Commissioned by High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Center for their 2011 Gala Fundraiser, Celebration featured the Equus Projects company and a cast of 6 equestrians.

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October 30, 2010

Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY

Horses & Humans: A Celebration of Dancing & Healing was a 4-hour performance installation for 6 dancers, 5 horses and riders created for The Nethermead in Prospect Park. The project was a collaboration with Gallop NYC Therapeutic Riding Program. A centerpiece of the event was a demo performance with Equus dancers and children and parents from the Gallop NYC programs.

​ September 12, 2010

For its second season at the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival, The Equus Projects created a series of small ensemble pieces with dancers and horses at liberty.

The company also created an installation without horses sited to travel throughout the wine-tasting halls.

August 13-14, 2010

Heart of the Horse Farm, Vashon Island, WA

Dancing in Real Time was commissioned by the Heart of the Horse Farm on Vashon Island. The 50-minute work was a collaboration with composer Jami Sieber & percussionist Geoff Johns, both playing live. The work partnered three Equus Projects' women with a small herd of Polish Arabian at liberty horses.

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July 7, 2010

Mount Holyoke College Equestrian Center, South Hadley MA

Created for the 2010 Eastern Regional Andalusian Horse Conference and performed in the equestrian arena at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. The work was commissioned by ERAHC and featured six horses and riders and four dancers.

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May 2010

OX Ranch, Aubrey TX

Texas Hillside was created for the OX Ranch in Aubrey, TX with a cast of seven local equestrians and their horses and eight dancers including guest performers from Cirque du Soleil and Texas Women's University. Equitation styles ranged from dressage to cutting and reining.

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​ October 12-16, 2009

The Myrna Loy Center for the Performing Arts, Helena Montana

Join Up was created during a National Performance Network residency for the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing Arts in Helena, Montana. The evening length concert of six pieces and a prologue featured a cast of 19 local horses, 16 riders, The Equus Projects company of four dancers, and guest equestrian David Lichman. The bull running arena at the Helena State Fairgrounds was transformed into a theater venue. The performance, open dress rehearsal and narrated rehearsals drew audiences totaling 1500 for the week.

September 2009

An Afternoon of Horses & Dancers and Wine featured a collection of small performance works featuring for three horses and riders and four dancers performed on multiple sites of the festival grounds.

August 2009

Heart of the Horse Farm, Vashon Island WA

A 50-minute work created for four dancers and seven horses was commissioned by the Heart of the Horse Farm and featured a small herd of Polish Arabian horses and live music composed by electric cellist and vocalist, Jami Sieber.

July 2009

The Equus Projects & Black Label Movement

Equus and BLM created three works during their 10-day residency at White Oak Plantation. All works created were collaborations between Equus Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw and BLM Director, Carl Flink. White Oak is funded by the Gilman Foundation that supports the White Oak Wildlife Preserve and annual dance residencies.

June 2009

From 2005 - 2012, The Equus Projects taught a an annual June Dancers Workshop that introduced dancers to basic horsemanship ground skills and translated those skill sets into choreographic scoring techniques.

​ May 2009

Claustrophobia was created for the indoor arena at Country Lee Farm in Pomona, NY. The work was created during the winter and spring of 2009 with horses from Country Lee. The tiny horse farm is located just 40 minutes from downtown Manhattan and was the location for most of Equus equine training 2007-2009.

PHOTO: Vanessa Wright

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August 2008

A performance installation created for a small horse farm in Pownal Maine, created while the company was in residence at the Bates Dance Festival.

PHOTO: Rene Braun

​ June 2008

Commissioned by the 2nd Annual Saratoga Arts Festival for the Polo Fields. Created with a local cast of performers ranging in age from 16 - 72 years old.

​ February 2008

American College Dance Festival at Connecticut College, New London CT

Commissioned by ACDFA and created for the Great Lawn at Connecticut College.

January 2008

Score for Dancers & Rider-less Horses

Ocala, FL

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February 2007

Equine Affaire, Pomona CA

Collaboration with Five Star Parelli Natural Horsemanship Trainer, David Lichman.

Trail Less Traveled performed with singer/songwriter Mary Ann Kennedy singing live.

Gotan Tango created with equestrian Elli Johnson.  

Libertango

October 2007

Dancing with Horses clinic for equestrian co-taught with 5-Star Pareeli Instructor, David Lichman

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September 2006

Week-long exploration lab at Hayfolk Farm in the Shasta Mountains, CA with equestrians and their horses directed by David Lichman

August 2006

Seven Games

Bates Dance Festival

Commissioned by the Bates Dance Festival and created for the central green on the Bates College campus. Based on the Seven basic training games of Parelli Natural Horsemanship. A collaboration with cellist, vocalist and composer Jami Sieber. Four dancers and three Saddlebred horses.

Parelli Natural Horsemanship: http://www.parelli.com/

July 2006

Steamboat Springs CO

Commissioned by Perry Mansfield Performing Arts Camp in Steamboat Springs, CO. The work featured two Equus Projects dancers, Big Apple equestrian and gymnast Sasha Nevidonski, 15 Perry Mansfield dancers and faculty members, Fort Collins equestrians Kime Orth and Cindy Loader and horses and Steamboat equestrian JoAnne Drahota.

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July 2006

Heifetz International Music Institute - Wolfeboro, NH

Bach Suite was commissioned by the Heifetz International Music Institute. Set to selections from the Bach Cello Suites rearranged for cello and violin, and played live by students from the Heifetz Institute

Four Equus dancers, three horses and riders.

Equestrians: David Lichman, Annie Schneider.

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October 2005

Claremont Riding Academy, NYC

A collaboration with Video Artist, Janet Biggs, Rules was created for the historic Claremont Riding Academy in New York City. Equus transformed the arena into a theater space with full theatrical lighting. Rules examined notions of cruelty and survival that play out in nature and in the relationships between humans and equines.

PHOTO: Janet Biggs

July 2005

Walking Score

The Walking Score I was conceived at Perry Mansfield during a week-long residency with the dancers and guest equestrians, Kime Orth and Sasha Nevidonski. 24 dancers, 1 horse and rider.

August 2005

Connecticut Dressage Association

Oxridge Equestrian Center

Equestrian, Bettina Drummond

June 2005

Commissioned by the 2005 River to River Festival , the piece was created for the Oval Garden adjacent to the 9/11 site. The site presented very specific specifications for the piece: The horse must weigh under 1000 lbs, the choreography could not cross the center of the garden until the last moment, the horse could only walk and trot, not canter. The elliptical shape of the choreography was engineered specifically for the site specifications.

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October 2004

Duchess County Tour of Historic Farms, Millbrook NY

Commissioned afternoon of works for dancers and horses performed at Goose Chase Farm in Millbrook, NY. Created in collaboration with equestrians Bettina Drummond & Patricia Norcia

December 2004

Commission for Marion Country Therapeutic Riding Gala, Symphony of Horses,

Performed with lve symphony orchestra

Equestrian, Karen Rohlf

April 2004

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

An evening length work commissioned by Virginia Commonwealth University, created during a month-long residency at VCU. Two Equus dancers, eight VCU dancers, seven local Richmond riders and horses, guest equestrian, Maddrey Baker with her two horses.The live performance was accompanied by an embedded video Installation created by Video Artist, Peter Richards.

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June 2003

Re-staged for the indoor equestrian arena at the Riverdale Equestrian Center in Van Cortlandt Park, NY

This production featured a cast of 14 dancers, 7 horses and 6 riders.his production was produced by The Equus Projects in collabiration with Riverdale Equestrian Center.

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October 5-6, 2002

Re-staged for the indoor equestrian arena at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, CT, this production of Kalliope was co-commissioned by Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT and The Flynn in Burlington, VT with funding from the National Performance Network Creation Fund.

Staged during a week-long Equus Projects residency at Ethel Walker, the work was performed in the Ethel Walker indoor arena with full theatrical lighting. The residency included master classes for the Dance Program  and a clinic for Ethel Walker equestrians. 14 dancers, 7 horses and 6 riders.

August 2002

Kalliope

Created for the historic carouse; at the The Shelburne Museum in Shelburne VT

A National Performance Network Creation Commission from The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, VT. The full evening length work was create over a six-month collaboration between Equus Projects Artistic and Vermont equestrian equestrian Kate Selby. Kalliope featured a cast of 8 New York City Equus dancers, 6 Vermont dancers, 6 equestrians, 7 horses and 6 children.

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September 2001

In Honor of the Horse, A Tribute: Site Installation in Memory of 9/11

Commissioned by Green Mountain Association for its 75th Anniversary Gala, A Tribute was schedule for September 29th. Woodstock, VT suffered profound losses in the 9/11 attacks so Equus created a series of site installations as a tribute to lost lives that drew audiences through the GMHA grounds and into the performance site. 6 Vermont dancers, 14 Equus Projects dancers, 6 riders and horses.

June 2001

The Equestry

New Haven, VT

The Equestry was a full evening length work for eight dancers and six horses and riders

This the first in depth exploration of dancing with horses in collaboration with equestrian, Kate Selby owner of The Equestry