‘healing hearts’ is a part of a greater anthology of my creative research since 2023 that explores the journey of the heart.
For a heart to be in the process of healing - it must be broken, open.
This work explores injury, rupture, and pain as a catalyst for the brilliance of being.
The wound as a portal.
I believe that no one is ever fully healed- for that indicates a finality that one can no longer go beyond.
A sort of arrival point- that doesn’t exist.
Every person, situation, and experience in our lives leaves some remnant of a stain on our hearts.
In ‘healing hearts’ the dancers and I explore the state of a healing heart as a constant process. What you will see tonight is a representation of that experience.
I invite you to see the dance through your own painful experiences in an effort to surrender to becoming “healing hearts” along with us.
‘haunted hearts’ stems from a larger body of physical artistic research, beginning with the creation of ‘hungry hearts’. Overall, this creative inquiry chronicles the intimate, complex, nuanced, and ineffable journey of the heart.
what haunts your heart?
hungry hearts was created for the NEW Residency program in June 2023.
This work started as one about healing a broken heart through the love of art making:
“Its a way of life, a daily thing… the love of the effort of it. The love of the sacrifice for it. The love of the community it elicits. The love of what happens- the product. The love of the audience. The act of showing up for something is an act of love. In this piece we are hungry hearts. We have a desure to put in the work, the effort, and share our love for this thing we do with everyone else.”
the beast that blooms was created by Sara Parker between 2020 and 2022 in collaboration with Mako Barmon (original lighting and sound design) and Skye Stouber Richter (film).
It premiered in May 2022 at BodyVox Dance Center and was performed again in March 2023 at Open Space Dance in Portland, OR.
This work is a 5 section evening length work. Each section or ‘chapter’ explores varying stages of personal transformation.
bones of beasts (opening film and live dance section)
shadow human
summoning
the void
in bloom
Performance by: Sara Parker, Amelia Carroll (May 2022), Simone Cedar (March 2023), Christina Chelette, Anna Hooper, Ariel Russell.
the reckoning was created for Darvejon Jones Dance Ensemble (DJDE) in February 2020 at BodyVox Dance Center. This work utilized tarot and other divining tools in relationship to phrase material as a part of the creative process.
Originally performed by Jenelle Gaerlan, Darvejon Jones, and Sara Parker.
Illume (originally Better an ignis fattus/than no illume at all) is a collective build of the energies of the dancers involved. It is an in depth exploration of transformation through form, with the overarching theme of the yogic perspective of tapas: the heat or resistance required for transformation. While exploring the esoteric anatomy of the chakras in the context of ritual, the dancers and I created a process of choreography that elicited an experience of embracing the unknown, ultimately lending to a transformative experience.
“at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moments comes the light ”
— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Performances:
November 2014: Ladies Literary Club, Salt Lake City, UT.
Performed by Sara Parker, Caroline Eskew, Sarah Stott, and Natalie Border.
April 2018: TedXPCC, Portland, OR.
Performed by Elizabeth Bressler, Mahina Moon, Sara Parker and Rachel Slater.
In collaboration with Portland, OR dance artist, Rachel Slater, Watchers of the Wild Sky is the beginning of a larger work which we to continue to develop and to perform over time. This work was originally presented as a part of Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival in July 2017.
In this process we were interested in the energy that the space offered us as we moved through physical material in the space exploring themes of soft subtlety, hysteria, shadowing and strength.
the beast that blooms was created for BodyVox Junior Artist Generator Company in the 2020/2021 season at BodyVox Dance Center.
on the verge is a group work for the BodyVox Junior Artist Generator company. In it we explore the liminal space of what it means to physically embody being “on the verge”. This work treads along this ambiguous continuum with a sense of fierce-ness and bravery.
Performed December 2018 and May 2019 at BodyVox Dance Center.
