The month in residence at ComPeung offered me the opportunity to deepen the research into my current dance – theater performance work, and extend it into the realm of still images and character development. I continued experimenting with the idea of being bound or tethered on one level, and blissfully free or oblivious on another level. These two states of being could occur simultaneously during the performance and in the photographic images. The roundness of the space called upon me to develop and build a set design consisting of a chaotic web made of stretchy white threads. Attaching sections of my hair to the web, it responded to my movements around the space and resonated outwards. I continued my fascination with white fabric / thread / patterns by working with chalk patterns on the floor, chalk painting on my body, and suspending myself from white aerial circus fabric. These elements will be layered into the live performance, the dance-for-camera video, and the photographs – as markers of a complex and dynamically interconnected state of being.
My residency at ComPeung will be devoted to the creation of the second half of my current performance work, titled It Will All Make Sense Shortly, and its companion installation piece, 41 Imaginary Endings. I will synthesize visual elements and apply choreographic ideas in selected outdoor and indoor environments. Working with a series of pendulums and objects to create different rhythmic landscapes, I am observing the resulting relationships between momentum, time, objects, space, and the human body.
A combination of chaos and order, the swinging objects create shifting landscapes and shifting emotional states. I am interested in challenging the illusion of stability, and seeing what happens when we observe our impulses in an unpredictable, temporary environment. The solo portion of the dance-theater performance contemplates the range of human responses to a constantly changing environment, and integrates these responses into a layered portrait.
It Will All Make Sense Shortly and 41 Imaginary Endings proposes that we are continually changing and adapting to visible and invisible forces. This work is an outgrowth of my artistic goal, which is to create opportunities to experience moments of transformation through altered states of being.
As an interdisciplinary performing artist, I will experiment with new approaches to combining dance-theatre, improvisation, aerial dance, and photographic/video imagery for this performance, scheduled to premiere in 2014.
It Will All Make Sense Shortly. A Flipbook. from Nehara Kalev.
Nehara Kalev is a choreographer and movement-based artist dedicated to exploring states of being through interdisciplinary performance. Combining experimental dance-theatre, improvisation, and aerial imagery, she has created and performed works with major support from private foundations, artistic residencies, and public institutions. Recent engagements include a Bogliasco Fellowship to develop new choreography in Italy, a solo premiere at White Wave Dance Festival in New York City, and a full-length commissioned production at San Francisco’s deYoung Museum. Supported by The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Scripps Foundation, The Center For Cultural Innovation’s ARC Grant, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Nehara collaborated to create a multisite-specific work for the de Young Museum in 2012. As co-founder and co-director of Catch Me Bird, she transformed the passage of time into performances chronicling of the evolving reality of a marital partnership. Catch Me Bird’s works have been presented by Center for the Arts, Escondido, The Ford Amphitheatre, REDCAT, The Alex Theatre’s Celebrate Dance, LA County’s 50th Annual Celebration at the Chandler Pavilion, California Institute of The Arts, New York’s Solar One Festival and The White Wave Festival. Educational programs include Segerstrom Center For The Arts, Skirball Family Performances, UCLA Dance-Theater Intensive, and The Heart Project serving at-risk youth. Catch Me Bird won the Horton award for Outstanding Achievement In Performance for IRON, and has been nominated for three additional Horton Awards. CMB is a three-time recipient of the Artist-In-Residence grant from the city of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs. CMB has also received support from The Durfee Foundation, The Flourish Foundation, and Cirque Du Soleil. CMB has been part of APAP’s Emerging Leaders Institute in New York, Pentacle’s Help Desk/LA. Nehara holds a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA, and has been a guest artist at universities including CalArts, UCLA, Cal State LA, and The University of Winchester, U.K. She has performed featured roles with Diavolo Dance Theater throughout the US, toured with David Rousseve/Reality, performed with Airealistic. She has worked with The Los Angeles Opera and the legendary Rachel Rosenthal Company. She values the process of collaboration as a springboard for human growth.