2023

Based for ten days in Tampa, the Equus Projects company taught workshops at South Florida University, Blake High School for the Performing Arts  and did a 3-day residency at Hillsborough Community College, where the company taught multiple workshops and performed its theater work Interspecies Journey. The company also taught Dancing with Horses workshops with equines in Ocala and Brooksville. 

JoAnna Mendl Shaw, as a guest artist at Sweet Briar College in Lynchburg, VA, brings her interspcies lens into the Dance Department. Sweet Briar is a small private college known for its historic equestrian program. 

In collaboration with Barnard Associte Professor Hana Worthen, Equus Projects brings embodied learning into the Barnard Classroom. Designed by Professor Worthen, this unique course focuses on interspecies studies in investigations ranging from theorical to embodied practice. 

JoAnna Mendl Shaw invites ALL curious movers into the studio to explore Physical Listening in 3-hour movement sessions that include guided somatic investigations, improvisation prompts and choreographic scores. Participants work solo, in duos and in full group investigations. 

2022

The full trio version of Interspecies Jouney is perfomed as part of the Flight Path Dance Projects on December 10, 2022 at Gibney Dance, NYC. 

On November 12th JoAnna Mendl Shaw performed a solo version of Interspecies Journey on site at the converted dairy barn at Middlebrook Arts Residency and Research Center in Jefferson, NY

The fourth in an on-going collaboration with Middlebrook Arts and Research Center in Jefferson, NY. and natural horsemanship trainer Dan McCarthy. 

The Equus Projects teaches a workshop that includes hands on experiences with horses and immersive studio research that focuses on Physical Listening skills and embodied decision-making. 

The Equus Projects maintains an on-going collaboration with Majoda Stables, a therapeutic riding facility in southeastern NJ, where the Equus dancers train in Natural Horsemanship throughout the year. In exchnage for this privilege, the company creates a bi-annual performance in collaboration with Majoda equestrians. 

The FEAST - A celebration of community, harvest and autumn featured five Majoda equestrians ages 9-12,  a cast of six Equus Projects dancers and violinist extraordinaire, Nathan Bishop performing live. 

Goldenrod Field, October 2022 - https://vimeo.com/763954909

The Feast - https://vimeo.com/771640024

JoAnna Mendl Shaw performs a solo version of Interspecies Journey, an evening-length work that merges live dance, film and narrative storytelling.  Interspecies Journey, was created for the National Arts Club in NYC and premiered in its trio version in February 2022. Both solo and trio versions will tour through 2022-23. 

A workshop with hands on interactions with horses and studio research, the two-plus day event is hosted by Middlebrook Arts and Resrach Center in Jefferson, NY. Several hours of contact time with equines and immersive studio investigation focused on the physical listening skills that interspecies dialogues require. Participants discover how this work intersects with and informs choreography, performance and somatic practice .

On July 23, 2022, Equus Projects teamed up with performance artist Heather Lyon and dancer 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. The  vibrant costumes were created with all recycled clothing. The event was produced by ENGINE with productiomn generous support from Sub Circle. 

July 16, 2022: 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. 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. They went on to co-create eight large performance projects between 1999 and 2018.

August 11-13, 2022: Two days of exploration into the Landscape of Interspecies Communication. Hands on equine interactions and studio investigations. Hosted at Middlebrook Arts in Jefferson, NY. 

May 15, 2022: Horsemanship groundskills training is essential for all of the Equus Projects dancers. The dancers have regular monthly horsemanship training at Majoda Stables in Moorestown, NJ. In exchange the company creates performances with Majoda riders.  Every October and May for the past five years, Majoda and Equus present a live performance. May 15, 2022 was the 6th performance Equus and Majoda collaboration and featured six Equus Projects dancers - 5 new company members just experiencing dancing with horses for the first time - and five riders ranging in age from 12 to 50+. 

April 2 & 3, 2022. The Equus Projects presents live demo performamces at this inaugural Happy Horse Happy Life conference. JoAnna Mendl Shaw focused her presentations on explaining, then demonstrating how spatial clarity in the horzontal plane supports and facilitates moving with equines.

March 14-20, 2022

Janis Brenner - Mixed-Media Collage
Christine Jowers - Digital Collage/Painting
JoAnna Mendl Shaw - Doodles

February-March 2022: Equus Artistic Director Shaw (NYC) and former Equus dancer Rachelle (Seattle) team up with LIVE musician Stuart Smith (Albuquerque) to teach a weekly movement workshop for curious movers. Workshops focus on heightened the Physical Listening skills and real-time decision-making, internal rule structures and developing dynamic choreographic trajectories. 8-week session

February & March 2022

Embodied Explorations for Curious Humans

A somatic practice that sharpens our noticing and creative decision-making skills

An unconventional journey into shared creative process in a virtual space 

A LAB for Actors, Dancers, Choreographers, Corporate Leadership Trainers, Educators, Equestrians, Improvisers, Therapists, Writers. 

February 22, 2022 

Three Equus dancers share insights into lessons learned in the process of shooting a full length documentary film that follows  their horsemanship training and movement research with two mares and their young foals. Filmmaker Stefan Morel captures the two foals' births and the ensuing weeks of horsemanship training, choreographic exploration and dance conversations.

Live performance and excerpts from IMPRINTED are woven into a fluid tapestry designed to draw the audience into the profound world of physical listening.

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. Along this journey to create interspecies connection, we witness each person stumbling on their own imprinted history. 

2021

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. 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.

A two-day workshop co-produced by The Equus Projects and Body Stories at choreographer Teresa Fellion's Catskill Artist Retreat in Jefferson, NY. The hands-on equine experiences, co-taught by JoAnna Mendl Shaw and Catskill equine trainer Dan McCarthy of Catskill Natural Horse,  introduced dancers to basic natural horsemanship ground skills - moving with a horse on a lead line and at liberty. The afternoon studio sessions translated the heightened spatial, tactile and weight sensing awareness one uses with an equine partner into evocative somatic explorations and improvisations. 

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 detailed attending makes for a practice that demands patience. The non-verbal communication skills inform dynamic team building, fluid collaboration and effective leadership. The virtual Physical Listening LABs offer a three-hour deep dive ino a sinle subject 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.

A Documentary that captures an extraordinary occurrence: 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 dancers translate human and equine behavior into an evolving shared  language and transform play into choreographic dialogues. The film  is a story about listening, compassion and interspecies communication -  themes that have powerful resonance in 2021, as the world emerges from a  devastating pandemic. IMPRINTED Website: https://www.imprintedthefilm.com/

2020

The Fall 2020 Equus in Action was 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.

JoAnna Mendl Shaw spent three days at Dunrovin Ranch in Missoula, Montana teaching a daily workshop for equestrians. Shaw and Dunrovin owner SuzAnne Miller are working on developing  Physical Listening virtual programming for Dunrovin's on-going webcam series for senior centers nationwide.

A short article on The Equus Projects in the September 2020 issue of Dance Magazine.

Shaw and DeJohnette coached clinic participants on intention and movement strategies for finding connection with horses in the opasture and paddock. Acivities included herd observation, physical listening exercises and experiments in embodied joining with the equines.

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). 

Covid-19, we are still performing

The Mark DeGarmo Dance Summer 2020 Salon Series invited the Equus Projects company to 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.

Beginning in 2018, the Equus Projects has been developing an on-going research project with  The May Center for Learning in Santa Fe, NM. Working with a small nucleus of faculty Equus Artistic Director Shaw and Santa Fe dance educator Melissa Briggs Bransford have been gradually developing  and a Physical Listening curriculum for 1st - through 8th grades. The March 2020 visit was designed to observe some of the faculty's Physical LIstening strategies in action. Taking place on the eve of Covid lockdown, this Physical LIstening research and remains on hold as of November 2021. 

2019

The Equus Projects Pullman Salon Series... departs from intimate performance spaces:

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. 

Exploring Right-Left Brain Integration and Embodied Decision-Making

Dance Differently is a movement-based workshop that meets for nine hours each month. Participoants take a deep dive in to one central question each session: Tactile sensing; Spatial awareness and  architecture of movement; Heightened Noticing: Pattern; Change and Adaptability; Strategic Decision-Making and Creative Decision-Making, how are these minds sets different?

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.

http://alissamayer.com/about/

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 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

The Equus Projects dancers maintain their horsemanship ground skills training via bi-monhtly training sessions  with Carrie Christiansen,  the equestrian director of the youth riding program at Majoda Stables in Moorestown, NY. In exchange for their horsemanship training, each year Equus choreographs and performs two large public performances created with the Majoda riding team who call themselves 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 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.

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

​

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

Milwaukee

Rhinelander

Land O Lakes

Eagle River

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

VIDEO: INSITU Site Specific Dance Festival

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

and an evening performance of The Breaking Ring

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

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

VIDEO: The Equus Projects, Sedona

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)

#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

VIDEO: Poe Classical

VIDEO: Pullman Elementary

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)

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.

The Pullman Project

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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.

VIDEO: This is a Dance

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

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.

VIDEO: (Com)Passion

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.

VIDEO: Elephant Shenanigans 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/

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.

VIDEO: Bright Morning Stars

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)

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.

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

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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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.