Clarity

I've been focusing on doing what I WANT to do. In my mind, with my time, with my energy, with who I see and where I go... I've found myself going back to karate again. I've found myself WANTING to be there. I don't have a goal in mind; I just want to be there. Training does something special for me. There is clarity of movement in karate: a particular place and pathway for every part of my body. And in a moment where I find myself clearly achieving the positioning of my hips and pathway of my strike, I feel so accomplished, so excited, and so proud. Those moments of alignment are so rewarding for me.

I have such respect for everyone I train with. Both the students and the Senseis. I love how much we bow in karate. Every time I bow towards an opponent, I feel such respect for them and feel as though I am thanking them for training with me. They are teaching me during every moment that they train with me and bowing has reminded me how thankful I am for each person. When I bow toward my Senseis, I feel such respect for them - for how much time they give to training and instructing. Bowing is an action that happens repeatedly and I appreciate the humility it brings me. And I love that it is an action. Expression through doing. I love movement. I love the expression it holds and I love the understandings and connections I create through it. 

Coqui

This piece is my first child as an artist. Haha I'll explain. In 2009, I was exposed to an important body of information and experiences as I was enrolled n 4 different academic dance classes. I was discovering my opinions about dance, movement, and choreography as I watched video after video of historic pieces and experienced taking classes with live accompaniment for the first time. Everything was crossing over and connecting. I was excited, blown away and driven. Idea after idea came together and I couldn't hold it in anymore! I started choreographing this piece in the spring of 2010 after all of these ideas were bursting out of my soul.

I created the whistling and choreography at the same time for the first section. It became the foundation of the piece and really, the foundation of my artistry. For the piece, this foundation made it clear that it felt right to have unexpected changes and surprises in the music and that Trevor and I needed to work along side each other to create the movement and the music together. The more we could work together, the more the piece became a whole work. This is part of the foundations of me wanting to truly blend and blur the lines of music and dance together to create a unified entity.

The piece premiered to entirely live music in July 2013.

Title: Coqui // Composers: Trevor Woolley & Nathalie Neiva // Dancers: Marisa Prolo, Brianna Waite // Musicians: Trevor Woolley, Nathalie Neiva, Priscilla Nickel, Alicia Madsen