"A Wagner Matinee" is an abstract rendering of Willa Cather's short story of the same name, which chronicles a homesteader's journey from the isolation of the Nebraska plains back to her urban birthplace, Boston.

At a concert, she is engulfed by the fullness of an orchestra for the first time in 30 years. As the music swells, so do her memories: a black pond, a vast expanse, and her abandoned dream of becoming a concert pianist. When the crowd clears, she is forced to ask the question: "How do I go back?"

The piece includes recordings of Clara Schumann and Richard Wagner, as well as live, original music by Matt McBane. The dance also includes video by Drew Blattman and Jessica Lacombe, and photographs by Nebraska artist Michael Farrell. Performed by musicians McBane and Michael Cassedy, and dancers Laurie Berg, Sevin Ceviker, Maya Krishnasastry, Josh Rowe and Alicia Weill.

Merce Cunningham Studio
April 3, 10. 11, 2010

Set to music by Nina Simone, "I Would've Been a Killer" is—as Simone has described her infamous protest song "Mississippi Goddam"—a segment of a musical for which “the show hasn’t been written…yet.” A chorus of pregnant dancers, a cabaret singer, and a living room lamp assemble in a series of increasingly chaotic dances that literally attempt to bring down the house.

Food For Thought
Danspace Project
10th Street and Second Ave, NYC
December 19, 2008 8:30PM

Lives/Leaves
October 12, 2007
A section of the work in progress 'A Wagner Matinee'
created in collaboration with Megan Nicely
Running Time: 10 minutes
92nd St Y, Buttenwieser Hall

"...profound work...communicate[s] a world of information."
--Catherine Tharin, Fridays At Noon Curator

Trying To Remain Upright
April 20-29, 2006 IRT Space (154 Christopher Street, NYC) Running time: 29:34 minutes

Combining movement, critical theory, and popular music from the 1960s, Trying to Remain Upright emerged from a passage included in the program for Yvonne Rainer’s seminal Trio A.

I watched the coverage of the Vietnam War on television as a little girl and this is exactly what it felt like. Thank you.
--Maryan Newbury, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Silence, Corn and the Fading Memory of My Life as a Pianist
April 23, 2005
Contemporary Arts Center, North Adams, MA
Running Time: 45 Minute Performance Installation

Produced as part of the NEW.MASS.ART gallery show curated by Sandy Garcia, in the piece a woman performs a series of meditations in which she attempts to become Clara Wieck Schumann.

The Menstrual Show
December, 2001; March 2003; April 2005 (solo version)
Running time: 10 minutes

The Menstrual Show is a dance for seven women inspired by Iris Marion Young’s feminist essay “Throwing Like a Girl”.

Next to Fall
November, 2000
Running Time: 7 minutes

Arranged like snapshots from a family album, the dance offers a glimpse into the lives of five individuals at crutial points in their personal histories. Set to "Summer" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons".