SKELETON ENCOUNTER

As part of my movement practice, I have been working on improvising to various music. I had the idea of working with a Halloween skeleton as a symbol for people who have passed on or are otherwise absent from my life. Inspired by a Facebook joke post recommending that dance students “encounter their skeleton”, I explored movement with my external skeleton. My guiding question for this experiment was, "How can I collaborate with an inanimate dance partner?". While improvising, the theme of depression in the music led me to consider the skeleton as a surrogate for my late sister Alice, whose piano compositions I once improvised to. I was surprised at the resulting choreography and level of intimacy I experienced with the skeleton.

Dancer Improvisation by D. K. Wiley
Music: Colorblind by Counting Crows
​Only Son by Jump Little Children
​Video edited by Kyle Pierce

Presented virtually in Spring 2021 as part of​
SEED: Students Exhibiting Experimental Dance
The University of Texas at Austin
Producing Organization: Dance Action

 I do not own the rights to this music.