CHOREOGRAPHY
Collaborative. Interdisciplinary. Contemporary. Experimental.
I situate my choreographic work in the postmodern/contemporary genre with a focus on process, experimentation and chance, improvisation, and abstraction. I enjoy full-bodied movement filled with momentum, circular energy, off-kilter indulgence, and quick, seamless transitions in and out of the floor. My choreography is highly influenced by my study of Safety Release Technique, somatics, and other contemporary release techniques. I produce both live choreography and screen dance in the pursuit of my creative research agendas.
My choreographic methods are highly collaborative with other artists and disciplines, as well as other dancers. I position my work alongside a community of interdisciplinary, collaborative artists– particularly those working with music, visual art, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, technology, and film.
My live dance work often also incorporates improvisational structures that involve quick problem-solving, quirky humor, and genuine representation of human memory error in performance. I am influenced by Nina Martin's research on Spontaneous Choreography, Anne Bogart's Viewpoints, and Theatre of the Absurd principles, amongst other frameworks in the development of improvisational structures in my live dance work.
My current creative research agenda investigates embodying scientific phenomena in development of movement material, choreographic devices, and improvisational structures. Taking theoretical concepts from cognitive neuroscience and psychology into the dance studio, I am exploring the artistic possibilities for deepened understanding of human experience through physical embodiment of brain mechanisms. Specifically focusing on memory processes, I am investigating how we store and recall memories, what we remember and forget, and how our present experiences are changed by the different ways we conceptualize our memories through recollection, embodiment, and sensory stimulation that engages reflection on/of the past.
SELECTED CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS
*complete list is available upon request
...(CON)FABULATE
MFA Dance Thesis by Allison Beaty
(Greensboro, NC)
March 2022
Developed out of a deep exploration in collaborative, interdisciplinary creative practice, …(con)fabulate investigates the powerful, yet fragile nature of human memory. Through examination of neurological memory mechanisms and psychological principles of remembering and forgetting, this work explores how our present experiences are changed by the different ways we conceptualize our individual and shared memories through recollection and embodiment that engages reflection on/of the past.
OPTIC
A Screen Dance by Allison Beaty
International ScreenDance Festival
(USA & Mexico)
2021 Official Selection
FilmFest by Rogue Dancer
DANCE Class 2022 Edition Official Selection
Hellbender Student Film Festival
(St. Charles, MO)
2022 Official Selection
Our eyes do not function like a camera capturing and presenting a straight-forward image of light. Instead, the neurological processing mechanisms in our brains interpret all of the stimuli in our field of vision and cause immediate abstraction in our perception of the world around us in order to help us function and make sense of our experiences. This screen dance explores this neurological principle of vision as viewers are only privileged to specific perspectives or parts of the whole picture. Viewers are therefore encouraged to follow their brain's natural abstraction instinct to interpret and make sense of what is present and what could be present outside of what is clearly visible on the screen.
SQUAWKY
WALK
A Screen Dance by
Allison Beaty & Allison McCarthy
Wicklow ScreenDance Laboratory
(Wicklow, Ireland)
2022 Official Selection
Jacksonville Dance Film Festival
(Jacksonville, FL)
2021 Official Selection
Squawky Walk is an investigation exploring the manifestation of experiences that are disagreeable to the sense of hearing.
CLN3
Choreography by Allison Beaty
DecaDance
(Firehouse Theatre, Lubbock, TX)
2019
Origin Stories
(Firehouse Theatre, Lubbock, TX)
2018
My late cousin Kristin had Juvenile (CLN3) Batten Disease. According to the Batten DiseaseSupport and Research Association, “Batten disease is one of approximately 50 diseases called lysosomal storagedisorders, meaning that genetic mutations disrupt the cells’ ability to dispose of wastes.” This piece presents thegenetic side of ancestry through consideration of cell communication and interaction, division and replication, andformation of DNA. This work explores these universal processes through the specific lens of my cousin’s uniquegenetic make-up. The dancers represent cells of the body, working to adapt when biological processes are alteredor disrupted. It is an abstract embodiment of the “behind the scenes” work of biology in our family history andlineage; something that greatly impacts our journeys and stories.
DI ELEMENTI (OF ELEMENTS)
Choreography by Allison Beaty in collaboration with dancers & composer, Neemias Santos
16th Annual Modern Dance Festival
(The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX)
2019
First Friday Art Trail
(Firehouse Theatre, Lubbock, TX)
2018
This piece is a reflection on how the individual being relates to what surrounds them. Beginning with small perceptions that evolve into gigantic experiences, the movement and musical compositions explore involvement with and the relationship between the natural world and the mechanical world. The first iteration of this project focused on the process of developing movement and music simultaneously, investigating how each form could enhance and bring out specificities of the other through both connectedness and juxtaposition. Focusing on similar themes, this second experiment includes elements of chance, impulse, and spontaneous choice by means of separately created movement and music. The performers in this piece first heard the new composition during the live performance, and the composer did not see the movement until the live performance either. The process for creating this work and the subsequent performance during the 16th Annual Modern Dance Festival in Fort Worth, TX honoring Merce Cunningham was designed in response to the collaborative relationship between Merce Cunningham and John Cage.
SQUISHY BOXES, REVISITED
Structured Improvisation by Allison Beaty, Allison McCarthy, & Brian Winn
AGSD Showcase
(The University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC)
2022
Graduate Choreography Showcase
(The University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC)
2019
Squishy Boxes, Revisited is a spontaneous choreographic study inspired by an exhibition by visual artist, Alyson Shotz at the Weatherspoon Art Museum. Shotz's work in this exhibition intertwined sculptural and mixed-media art with studies in mathematics, physics, geology, space, and time. Squishy Boxes, Revisited was specifically inspired by Cubes and Laws of Motion. In Laws of Motion, Shotz’s process involved dropping large slabs of clay from different heights with varying forces to allow gravity, speed, and the impact of the ground to shape the work just as much as her artistic intent. Shotz’s series, Cubes, explored the effects of contraction, pressure, and gravity from a hydraulic crushing machine on different metal materials, resulting in unexpected breaking points and shapes. In both series, Shotz used chance as a primary collaborator. Utilizing similar concepts, we asked how these experiments could be translated into movement and choreographic structure on human bodies in space. How could gravity, force, speed, and pressure impact our physical bodies in movement? What outside forces could we create to alter and shape our movement in unexpected ways? How could we form a structure that allowed chance to be a primary collaborator in our work? We decided to explore these research questions through a spontaneous choreographic framework, selecting specific tasks and guidelines inspired by Shotz’s artistic processes to guide our investigation of chance as a primary collaborator in choreography.
Photo: Laws of Motion (I-X), 2014-2015 by Alyson Shotz
