2024
The Fable , Majoda Stables - November 24, 2024
The Fable will span the full acreage of Majoda Stables beginnning with an opening scene in the pasture amid ambient horses. A serpentine that exits the field and draws the audience into a covered round pen. With the audience seated in the round, the choreography shifts into a series of solos performed with rider-less (liberty) horses, featuring intimate duets, trios and choreography with the full cast.The Round Pen section begins with a story about aging and wisdom shared with Skippy, a miniature donkey.
Physical Listening LABs, NYC
The Equus Projects teaches weekly embodied research LABs throughout the 2024 summer. These Wednesday morniong LABs will continue throughout the year. For more information: https://www.equus-onsite.org/physicallisteninglab
Interspecies Research Workshops in Jefferson, NY.
For three days participants explore deepening multi-sensory awareness and inhabiting an embodied language that builds trust, inspires curiosity and creates communication. Basic horsemanship ground skills are coached by natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy. Nudging aside human-centric thinking in the studio, pasture and paddocks these workshops guide participants into rich creative territory.
May 19, 2024 - Celebrating the Majoda Community
Tthe Equus Projects continued its long-standing collaboration with Majoda Stables with a new performance work, Celebrating the Majoda Community. The audience becomes active participants in the performance, via a series of immersive choreographic devices. Four Equus dancers, violinist Nathan Bishop and his Philadelphia-based string trio, Midnight on Water entice the entire audience into a communal celebration for the Finale of the piece.
Stanford University - January-March 2024
JoAnna Mendl Shaw was a Visiting Adjunct Professor at Stanford University during Winter Quarter, teaching Physical Listening for Physicians in the School of Medicine and Choreography in the Theater/Dance Departmen. Physical Listening for Physicians will be taught again in the School of Medicine in 2025.
2023
Kairos Produtctions, Seattle - Film Shoot
The Equus Projects company of 7 dancers spent July 2023 in Snohomish County, WA shooting a full length film that captures the complexity of the human-equine dialogue and the dance and horsemanship training embedded in making dances with horses.
Florida Tour, March 2023
Based for ten days in Ocala and then Tampa, the Equus Projects company taught workshops at South Florida University, Blake High School for the Performing Arts and conducted a 3-day residency at Hillsborough Community College. The company performed its evening-length dance theater work Interspecies Journey in the HCC Theater. The company also taught Dancing with Horses workshops with equines in Ocala and Brooksville.
ACDA Adjudication & Residency, Sweet Briar College, Lynchburg, VA
JoAnna Mendl Shaw was an adjudicator for the American College Dance Festival conference hosted at Sweet Briar College. The ACDA Festival was followed by a short residency in which Shaw focused on Physical Listening and Choreographic Scoring.
In collaboration with Barnard Associte Professor Hana Worthen, The Equus Projects brings embodied learning into the movements Labs for a Barnard course titled Translating the Animal. Designed by Professor Worthen, this unique course focuses on interspecies studies in investigations ranging from theorical to embodied practice.
Temple University, Interspecies Journey Performance
The Equus Projects brought its dance theater work, Interspecies Journey to Temple University as part of a day-long teaching and performance residency.
Physical Listening LABs in New York City
JoAnna Mendl Shaw invites curious movers to explore heightened sensory awareness, spatial intention, creative and strategic decision-making in 3-hour sessions where participants vrnture into unexpected creative territory while also gaining insight into their own preferences.
For more information: https://www.equus-onsite.org/physicallisteninglab
2022
Performance at Gibney, NYC
Interspecies Jouney is a full length dance theater work merging dance, narrative storytelling and film. The Equus Projects perfomed the work for the students in the Flight Path program, a ground-breaking dance program for high school dancers. The performance was produced at Gibney Dance, New York City
Interspecies Journey, Solo
JoAnna Mendl Shaw performed a solo version of Interspecies Journey at the converted dairy barn at Middlebrook Arts Residency and Research Center in Jefferson, NY
Interspecies Research Workshop
The fourth in an on-going collaboration with Middlebrook Arts and Research Center in Jefferson, NY. and natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy, this workshop that included hands on experiences with horses and immersive studio research that focuses on Physical Listening skills and embodied decision-making.
The FEAST, Majoda Stables
Majoda Stables, Moorestown, NJ
A full length performance featuring five Majoda equestrians ages 9-12, a cast of six Equus Projects dancers and violinist, Nathan Bishop present a full-length performance that merged dance choreography with horsemanship.
VIDEO: The Feast - https://vimeo.com/771640024
Prologue to Performance: Goldenrod Field, October 2022 - https://vimeo.com/763954909
Interspecies Journey, Solo - Wellfleet MA
JoAnna Mendl Shaw performs a solo version of Interspecies Journey, merging live dance, film and narrative storytelling at Preservation Hall in Wellfleet, MA.
Interspecies Research Workshop
The third in an on-going collaboration with Middlebrook Arts and Research Center in Jefferson, NY. and natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy, this workshop included hands on experiences with horses and immersive studio research that focuses on Physical Listening skills and embodied decision-making.
The ENGINE, Biddeford, ME.
Equus Projects teamed up with visual performance artist Heather Lyon and dancer, choreographer Liz Mulkey to create a performance installation for Biddefords' Main Street. The performers staged a durational event that drew audiences along the Main thoroughfare of Biddeford in an event produced by ENGINE with production support from Sub Circle. The costumes were created with recycled clothing.
Dancing with Horses Clinic
Master Dressage coach, equine trainer and equestrian Patricia Norica, teams up with JoAnna Mendl Shaw to co-teach a clinic for advanced riders in Clinton CT. Clinic Focus: Spatial clarity in the saddle and riding with a dancer in tandem. Norcia and Shaw began developing performances partnering dancers with ridden horses in 1999. To date, they have co-created eight performance projects.
August 11-13, 2022:
The second in an on-going collaboration with Middlebrook Arts and Research Center in Jefferson, NY and natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy, the workshop includes hands on experiences with horses and immersive studio research that focuses on Physical Listening skills and embodied decision-making.
RED
RED was the 6th performance The Equus Projects created in collaboration with Majoda Stables. The work featured six Equus Projects dancers and five riders ranging in age from 12 to 50+. Equus Projects dancers train year-round in horsemanship groundskills at Majoda. In exchange for training time, each November and May the Equus Projects creates performances with Majoda riders and horses.
Linda Parelli - 1st Conference for Happy Horse Happy Life
The Equus Projects presented demo performances at Linda Parelli's inaugural Happy Horse Happy Life Conference: Shaw focused how spatial clarity in the horzontal plane supports and facilitates moving with equines.
March 14-20, 2022
An exhibition of art works created by three choreographers at NYC Gallery
Janis Brenner - Mixed-Media Collage
Christine Jowers - Digital Collage/Painting
JoAnna Mendl Shaw - Doodles
Equus Artistic Director Shaw (NYC) and former Equus dancer Audrey Rachelle (Seattle) team up with LIVE musician Stuart Smith (Albuquerque) to teach an 8-week session of weekly virtual movement workshop for all curious movers. The workshops focused on heightened the Physical Listening skills and real-time decision-making. Classes included improvising inside scored rule structures and developing dynamic choreographic trajectories.
February & March 2022
Embodied Explorations for Curious Humans
A somatic practice that sharpens our noticing and creative decision-making skills
An journey into shared creative process in a virtual space
February 22, 2022: National Arts Club, NYC Commissioned Performance
Dance interludes, narrative storytelling and film are woven into a fluid tapestry designed to draw the audience into the profound world of physical listening.Three Equus dancers share insights into lessons learned in the process of shooting a IMPRINTED, a full length documentary film that follows their horsemanship training and movement research with two mares and their young foals. Film footage shot by Candian filmmaker Stefan Morel.
A full-length documentary film that follows the co-creation of a choreographic language between three dancers, two mares and their newborn foals. We witness the dancers inside a research process that merges horsemanship skills with improvisation and leadership with consummate listening. Their triumphs and failures reveal ego and passion, the desire to control nature and the humbling realization that we cannot. Due for release, Summer 2024. .
2021
Master Dressage coach, equine trainer and equestrian Patricia Norica, teamed up with JoAnna Mendl Shaw to co-teach a clinic for advanced riders in Clinton CT. The focus of the clinic will be working with spatial clarity in the saddle and then riding with a dancer in tandem. Longtime collaborators, Norcia and Shaw began developing a performance form partnering danceres and ridden horses in 1999 and went on to co-create eight large performance projects between 1999 and 2018.
November 6-7, 2020:
The first collaboration between The Equus Projects, Middlebrook Arts and Research Center in Jefferson, NY and natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy, theworkshop included hands on experiences with horses and immersive studio research that focuses on Physical Listening skills and embodied decision-making.
November 1 -December 20, 2021
Virtual Physical Listening LABs. Physical Listening is a somatic practice that evolved out of the Equus Projects' horsemanship training. The physical training forcuses on heightened noticing and developing nuanced movement choices. The the investigation of learning styles and equine personalities is re-purposed into task-based choreographic strategies and rich material for improvisational scoring. The non-verbal communication skills inform dynamic team building, fluid collaboration and effective leadership. During Covid, the virtual Physical Listening LABs offered three-hour deep dives ino Physical Listening with active participant engagment in movement experiences, journal writing, drawing and doodling and interactive dialogue. https://vimeo.com/629389825.
Horse and Human Conference, University of Montana West
JoAnna Mendl Shaw is a panelist at the Horse and Human Conference at the University of Montana West (UMW) in Dillon, MT. The Sizzle Reel for IMPRINTED is screened. The completed film IMPRINTED will be screened in the 2022 Equus International Film Festival in Dillon and Missoula.
IMPRINTED: A documentary film that captures the co-creation of a choreographic language between three dancers, two mares and their newborn foals.Three Equus Projects dancers merge improvisation with natural horsemanship to bond with to mares and their foals. The film is a story about listening, compassion and interspecies communication - themes with powerful resonance in 2021, as the world emerges from a devastating pandemic. IMPRINTED Website: https://www.imprintedthefilm.com/
2020
September-November 2020
A virtual workshop series that featured collabrations with eight seasoned dance professionals who shared with the Equus Projects company pedagogy, choreographic strategies and insights about dance and beyond. Choreograpghers: 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 2020.
September 8-11, 2020: JoAnna Mendl Shaw visits Dunrovin Ranch in Missoula, Montana to teach a series of workshops for equestrians. .
The September 2020 issue of Dance Magazine included an article on The Equus Projects.
September 5-6, 2020: Pasture Dances
Shaw and Equine trainer Farrah DeJohnette coach clinic participants on intention and movement strategies for finding connection with horses in the opasture and paddock. The clinic included herd observation, physical listening exercises and experiments in embodied joining up with the equines.
July 7 - August 8th
EQUUS in ACTION Summer ZOOM Series: A virtual workshop series for curious movers. Each session was taught in collaboration with an equestrian and focused on concepts ranging from SPACE to Defining the ASK. guided emboied experiences were augmented by footage of paddock training sessions, the Equus company workinh in the studio and in performance. The series attracted attendees nationwide and in Great Britain and Italy. Equestrian Collaborators: Carrie Christiansen (NJ), Alissa Mayer (OR), Taby & jessica Ealy (OR), David Lichman (CA) and Machel Jordan (NM).
June 25, 2020: Covid-19 and we are still performing
The Mark DeGarmo Dance Summer 2020 Salon Series and the Equus Projects company present a full evening of virtual and LIVE narrated performance. Video excerpts from past performances and recent training sessions with horses was accompanied by LIVE narration. The evening offered the large virtul audience a comprehensive overview of the work of the company.
March 9-13, 2020
In 2018 The Equus Projects and Santa Fe dance educator Melissa Briggs Bransford began developing an on-going research project with The May Center for Learning in Santa Fe, NM. The May Center is a private school, K-8th grade offering innovative education for children with learning disabilities. Equus Artistic Director Shaw and Bransford developed a Physical Listening curriculum in collaboration with a nucleus of May Center faculty. The March 2020 residency was designed to observe May Center faculty's Physical LIstening strategies in action. The May Center project was abruptly interrupted by the onset of Covid 19.
2019
December 7, 2019
The Equus Projects, in collaboration with Pullman choral directors and Luther Mason, Pastor of the Greenstone Church in Historic Pullman, orchestrate a mutli-sensory performance featuring two choruses, soprano soloist, musicians and dancers. Envisioned as part communal meditation, part sonic landscape, part choral celebration Straight From The Heart: A Choral Convening brought together communities from North Pullman, South Pullman and beyond. The staging filled the entire santuary of Greenstone Church.
November 2019, March 2020, August 2020: The May Center for Learning: Research Residencies
The Equus Projects in collaboration with Santa Fe dancer, educator and choreographer Melissa Bransford Briggs initiated a project with The May Center in 2017, with the goal of gradually building a Physical Listening curriculum to be embedded in the school teaching methods,.
The Equus Projects returned to Lane Community College for a second residency, teaching classes ranging from Improvisation to Ballet to Hip Hop!! Equus Artistic Director Shaw and LCC Dance Chair Bonnie Simoa explore possibilities for a Physical Listening Independent Study at LCC to include studio practice and hands on equine experiences with equestrian collabirator Alissa Mayer at her horse farm in Oakridge, Oregon.
A second Inter-Species Research LAB convening, the two-day workshop brought together somatics practitioners, equine trainers, Contact Improvisers and choreographers. The LAB goal was to further define how our multi-sensory presence with equines informs human discourse, education practice, performance presence and choreographic forms.
Dance Differently is a movement-based workshop that meets for nine hours each month to take a deep dive into embodied explorations of: Spatial awareness, the architecture of movement, heightened tactile sensing and communication, adaptability and strategic decision-making. Sessions include improvisational scores and compositional assignments.
Physical Listening for Poe 3rd Graders: The Equus Projects returned 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 was Physical Listening: The multi-sensory skills that lie at the foundation of Executive Function and building compassionate humans. Mid week, students traveled to Hannaberry Farm where all the Physical Listening concepts were re-experienced through hands on experiences with horses.
Co-Presentation with David Gaines, Equine Trainer for the New Orleans Mounted Police:
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.
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.
Equus dancer Kat Reese and Shaw had an extrao=rdinary opportunity to experience moving with two wild mustangs. The mjustangs' trainer, Jessica Ealy is a dancer and equine trainer in La Pine Oregon. She trains wild mustangs for the Bureau of Land Management. Jessica has gone through the rigorous TIP training for the BLM. As of 2021 she has relocated to a small horse farm near Bronzeville, OR and continues to train BLM mustangs.
PHOTO: Laura Holbrook
A convening of dancers, somatics practitioners, educators and equestrians researchand creatively brainstorm in the equine arena in a collaboration with dancer, dance scholar, educator and equestrian Karima Borni, Dance Faculty at Middlebury College.
JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Sarah Rose Graber present the third in an on-going series of Pullman Salons, sited works created for intimate spaces in the historic Pullman District iof far south Chicago. Salon Vol. III is a collaboration with North Pullman resident Educator, Artist and Activist, Deborah Jackson:
Ithaca-bvased NYS Dance Force presenter Jim Self brought The Equus Projects to Ithaca NY to explore the intersection of horsemanship and choreographic chance operations in a week-long residency. The residency inluded master classes, live presentations with horses on the farm of Ithaca College Emeritus Professor of Theater Norm Johnson, a clinic for equestrians, shooting the site-specific film Dusting Trees, performance of a site work with dancers and horse on the grounds of the Cherry Theater in Ithaca and presentation of the score-based performance work The Breaking Ring in the Cherry Theater.
Film shot with Equus & Friends in Ithaca
Dusting Trees, Ithaca: https://vimeo.com/339422356
April 27th- Demo at Liberty: with live accompaniment by the Ethel String Quartet
April 28th - PerformanceA collaboration with world renowned equestrian Bettina Drummond, riding her Lusitano, Macho with music composed by Todd Reynolds.
Sarah Rose Graber and JoAnna Mendl Shaw return to Pullman for a Creation Residency with collaborator, visual artist and educator, Deborah Jackson. The team prepared for their June 2019 Pullman Salon, Vol III that celebrates Deborah Jackson's art and life in Pullman.
2018
Collaborators Shaw and Graber return to Pullman to produce Pullman Salon Vol II, part installation, part interactive theater work. Salon Vol. II invited audiences to interact with a collection of memorabilia and Pullman Factory articfacts - part of the massive collection assembled by Pullman resident Alfonso Quiroz. The stories of the artifacts were experienced in recordings and written displays and collectively told the story of Al and Marilyn Quriroz's life in Pullman. Volume II was staged for the ground floor of the Monsart Art Space, a quintessential historic Pullman row house.
Pullman Salon, Vol. ll Full Performance): https://vimeo.com/318677682
October 28, 2018
The Equus Projects and Majoda Hipsters: An afternoon-length performance at Majoda Stables. The Equus Projects dancers maintain their horsemanship ground skills training via monhtly training sessions with Carrie Christiansen, the equestrian director of the youth riding program at Majoda Stables in Moorestown, NY. In exchange for horsemanship training, Equus choreographs and performs two large public performances created with the Majoda riding team,The Majoda Hipsters.
The Equus Projects taught a workshop for dancers that brought together the disciplines of horsemanship and dance improvisation in a workshop hosted by C&K Farm in East Aurora, NY.
The Equus Projects taught its 5th residency at Poe Classical Elementary School bringing text devising and Physical Listening into 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. The Physical Listening week concluded with an Equine Day at Hannaberry Farm in Crete, Illinois where the children re-experienced Physical Listening via hands on work with horses. Funded in part by Beverly Arts and the NEA Community Engagement.
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. The project goal is to design Physical Listenbing training for May Center teachers and an equine assisted learning experience for May Center 6th-8th graders. The equine component is a collabiration with Santa Fe horse owner and equine assisted learning specialist Machel Jordan.
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 performance with community dancers and horses for an audience of Jackson locals and visiting company, Hubbard Street Dance.
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.
PHOTO: Taken on an epic drive from Fort Collins , Colorado to Jackson Hole, Wyoming
The Equus Projects in rural Western New York with New York State Dance Force
A collaboration with Ithaca Producer Jim Self and 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 a lecture demonstration performance with horses.
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 whimsical interpretation of early Pullman District history: The Pullman Project team of JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Sarah Rose Graber collaborated with Pullman historian Andy Bullen and Pullman graffiti artist Ian Lantz, to create the first in a series of Pullman Salons created for intimate spaces in Pullman. Salon Vol. I, staged in the historic Florence Lowden Miller Historic Pullman Center was part historic accounting, part community meeting. Funded in part by Interdisciplinary grants from the NEA, the Pullman Salons co nitnued bi-annually through December 2019.
Celebrating the 2018 Laban Conference, NYC
Site works are presented in Washington Square Park on June 1st from 6 - 7:30 pm
The Equus Projects perform an excerpt from The Breaking Ring
Red Ascending, Zurich Tanz 2018
Red Ascending, a site-specific dance work created for the Landes Museum, Zurich
The Equus Projects dancers joined a team of exuberant hipsters to celebrate horses in a performance and to raise money for Majoda Stables' riding and community outreach programs.
Majoda Stables
620 Garwood Road, Moorestown, NJ 08057
(856) 231-7552
Shaw and Graber in residence at Poe Classical Elementary April 22-26, 2018 where they created a performance piece with the Poe 3rd graders that celebrated the historic and current leaders in the Pullman community. The project was co-produced by Poe Classical and Beverly Arts as part of the school-wide Celebrate Historic Pullman event presented in June.
A tour of the Northwoods of Wisconsin included the following:
ArtStart, Rhinelander - Creation of a new performance work for ArtStart galleries.
The Warehouse, Eagle River - Master Class
Trees for Tomorrow, Eagle River - Physical Listening Workshop for Trees Faculty
The Conserve School, Land O Lakes - Creation Residency and master classes
Film: Dogged Persistence - Shot on frozen Lake Elliot at The Conserve School
Dogged Persistence: https://vimeo.com/326066024
The tour concluded with a week-long residency at UW Milwaukee with master classes and performance ofn a reminaged version of The Breaking Ring.
Equine Training
Collaboration with Youth Program
May 19, 2018 Performance Event
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In 2015 the Equus Projects began an on-going community engagement project in the historic Pullman District in far south Chicago. In order to get to know Pullman residents, project collaborators JoAnna Mendl Shaw anmd Sarah Rose Graber initiated a process of One-on-One interviews, conducted with 60 Pullman residents between November 2017 and June 2018.
2017
The Equus Projects dancers maintain their horsemanship skills via on-going ground skills training. In early 2017 the company traveled down to Philadelphia to work with dancer and equestrian Susan Deutsch and her horse, Caetano and to Majoda Stables in Moorestown, NJ to work with trainer Carrie Christiansen.
Bringing the Arts to Rural America
The Equus Projects on a 3-week tour in the rural communities of Northern Wisconsin:Rhinelander
Land O Lakes and Eagle Riverending with a teacxhing residency at the Univ ersity of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and performances of a new staging ofThe Breaking Ring.
Staged for the large indoor arena at the historic Northwestern Stables, in Philadelphia, this version of The Breaking Ring incorporated a live horse with expansive choreography created for horse and equine handler, Philadelphia dancer and equestrian Susan Deutsch. Equus dancers wove their move ment phases inside the the equine landscape craeted by Susan and her horse Caetano.
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.
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
Workshop with Horses for Santa Fe dancers
Santa FE, NM
Co-taught with Equine Assisted kLearning Specialist, ith Machel Jordan
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.
Commissioned BY INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival, this intricate score for 24 dancers was created for the Circular Playing Field at Hunters Point, LIC
Horses and dancers performed in the PullmanDistrict on June 10th in a choreographic work for two dancers and two ridden horses. SXet to a dynamic orchestral work of Steve Reich, the work was created with the historic Pullman Railroad Mural as its back drop. Dressed in Vikctorian travek garb, perflrmers Graber and Shaw seem to emerge from the historic mural, beckoning two animated horses to join them in a demonstration of masterful riding with dancers in c,lose tanmdem.
Residency: The Dance Complex, Cambridge
Master Class: Boston Conservatory
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Premiuered in Boston in March, The Breaking Ring waas then performned in NYC at the Agnes Varis Center for the Performing Arts in the Gibney Dance Center
2016
A collaboration with Gainesville visual Artist Erin Curry, After Image transforms the simple task of drawing onto huge swatches of paper in a choreographic work that captures the intersection of movement making and drawn image. The inspiration for this second straging 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
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
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.
#IsThisDance was a performance event that merged performance with social research in a choreographed event that ecplored 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.
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
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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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
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.
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.
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/
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.
Created by choreographer, David Norsworthy for OnSite NYC, Elephant Shenanigans was a traveling choreographic installation for four dancers and inflatable elephant that traveled through the streets of New York City for durations of 3-6 hours.
The May 2015 version of Elephant Shenanigans was performed for a total of 8 hours and traveled 50 city blocks.
This version of Elephant Shenanigans was funded by The Harkness Foundation.
VIDEO: Elephant, 2015: https://vimeo.com/133190716
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​
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
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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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.
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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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.
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.
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.
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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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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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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
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.
American College Dance Festival at Connecticut College, New London CT
Commissioned by ACDFA and created for the Great Lawn at Connecticut College.
Score for Dancers & Rider-less Horses
Ocala, FL
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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
Dancing with Horses clinic for equestrian co-taught with 5-Star Pareeli Instructor, David Lichman
2006
Week-long exploration lab at Hayfolk Farm in the Shasta Mountains, CA with equestrians and their horses directed by David Lichman
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Connecticut Dressage Association
Oxridge Equestrian Center
Equestrian, Bettina Drummond
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.
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
Commission for Marion Country Therapeutic Riding Gala, Symphony of Horses,
Performed with live symphony orchestra
Equestrian, Karen Rohlf
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
2000
An Afternoon of Performance Works for Dancers and Horses
Bronxville, NY
Patterson, NJ
1998-1999
Mount Holyoke College commission for site specific performances on three sites on the Mount Holyoke campus.
The Dancing with Horses Trilogy featured over 50 human performers - dancers from the Five College and MHC staff - and a total of 12 horses and riders.
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