Action is Primary (2015-2016) is an exhibition of a daily practice and choreographic score of dance improvisation: action is primary. During the project, every day at 3:15pm myself and the collaborators created a dance and then attempted to capture that moment through video, text, and image. In addition to collectively performing daily dances, we practiced action is primary intensively for six months, individually re-configuring the practice and related score for the series of live performances that premiered in the gallery. This work brings the body and its sensory potential into focus, offering the opportunity to examine the ways in which quality of attention and one's lived experience of duration can be composed.
The exhibition featured live performances framed by documents of the daily dances created by myself and three collaborating performers: Kristel Baldoz, Marysia Stokłosa, and Annie Wilson. The exhibition was curated by Marissa Perel, facilitated by Jeanine Durning, and presented at the Icebox Project Space at Crane Arts in April 2016. The visual exhibition framed and was in dialogue with long form, improvisational performances of the practice, performed by myself and the collaborating performers.
The project also featured alternate points of access to the practice: intimate dinner parties and salons, poetic responses available for attendees to take home, and the invitation to participate in the 3:15dances and submit your own documentation online.
Read the curatorial essay by Marissa Perel here.
Read a poetic response to Kristel Baldoz's performance by Jai Arun Ravine here.
Creation and direction Meg Foley
Exhibition curator Marissa Perel
Choreography and performance Kristel Baldoz, Meg Foley, Marysia Stokłosa, and Annie Wilson
Project facilitator Jeanine Durning
Sound design, lighting design, and costumes all created by the performers
Production design Carmichael Jones
Project management Thomas Choinacky
Technical lighting consultant David Todaro
Poetic responses Laura Neuman, Jai Arun Ravine
Dinner party hosts Simon Dove, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, and Michele Steinwald
Thank you to: Rebecca Fedele, Lily Kind, Eero Hagen, Rhiannon Laymon, Mira Treatman
Major support for Action is Primary was provided by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Polish Cultural Institute and Instytut Adam Mickiewicz.
The exhibition featured live performances framed by documents of the daily dances created by myself and three collaborating performers: Kristel Baldoz, Marysia Stokłosa, and Annie Wilson. The exhibition was curated by Marissa Perel, facilitated by Jeanine Durning, and presented at the Icebox Project Space at Crane Arts in April 2016. The visual exhibition framed and was in dialogue with long form, improvisational performances of the practice, performed by myself and the collaborating performers.
The project also featured alternate points of access to the practice: intimate dinner parties and salons, poetic responses available for attendees to take home, and the invitation to participate in the 3:15dances and submit your own documentation online.
Read the curatorial essay by Marissa Perel here.
Read a poetic response to Kristel Baldoz's performance by Jai Arun Ravine here.
Creation and direction Meg Foley
Exhibition curator Marissa Perel
Choreography and performance Kristel Baldoz, Meg Foley, Marysia Stokłosa, and Annie Wilson
Project facilitator Jeanine Durning
Sound design, lighting design, and costumes all created by the performers
Production design Carmichael Jones
Project management Thomas Choinacky
Technical lighting consultant David Todaro
Poetic responses Laura Neuman, Jai Arun Ravine
Dinner party hosts Simon Dove, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, and Michele Steinwald
Thank you to: Rebecca Fedele, Lily Kind, Eero Hagen, Rhiannon Laymon, Mira Treatman
Major support for Action is Primary was provided by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Polish Cultural Institute and Instytut Adam Mickiewicz.
Click on any image below to open photo gallery. Photos by Jeffery Stockbridge and Ryan McCartney
