First Dance

A new series of video dances.  I am collecting my first dance of the day in a variety of settings allowing me to interact in the environment, play with scale, and simply see where my body is on each and every day.

I am not editing these clips -they are from one camera and published as is.  This is a documentation and process based experience.  I will learn more about dance for camera and will eventually edit the videos but at this time I am just interested in sharing a dance no matter what it is and whatever length I choose to dance.

I am interested in where my body is at the moment and dancing wherever the edge of curiosity and discovery lay.  Inspirations from the location, the music, my mood, the themes I am working on currently in my choreographic research.

I have envisioned a platform to collect and share my daily dances and finally through some great talks with friends and peers, who have also created their own dance a day series I will embark on this journey.

Please check out these inspirational artists and their sites:

Neighborhood Dances – Victoria Bradford  http://neighborhooddances.com

Day A Day – Boris Willis – http://danceaday.

365  Toby Billowitz   https://tobys365.wordpress.com and https://twozerofifteen.wordpress.com

 

Kristina Isabelle

Kristina Isabelle is a dancer, choreographer and teacher who is passionate about exploring the physicality of the body and its story-telling potential. She creates multi-media dance productions that sometimes integrate articulate dancing on stilts. She is the artistic director of Kristina Isabelle Dance Company and director of HighJinks Productions.

Kristina Isabelle Dance has performed nationally and internationally, most recently performing her work stilt dance work The Moving Target at Deventer Op Stelten Festival in The Netherlands.  Isabelle earned her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and an MFA in dance and choreography from The Ohio State University.  She has performed with Bebe Miller, Stephen Petronio, Jordan Fuchs, Bob Eisen, Earth Circus Productions, and John Jasperse, She is working on her second project with visual artist Claudia Hart.

She is currently a resident artist at High Concept Laboratories Institutional Incubation program for the 2015-2016. She was one of the Chicago DanceMakers Forum Lab Artist for 2012-2013 and a Pentacle Help Desk / Chicago artist 2013.  Since moving to Chicago in 2011 she has shown her work at Links Hall, the MCA, Athenaeum, Biograph, the Art Institute and the Ruth Page Dance Center. Her work has also been produced in New York, San Francisco, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Fort Worth, England, Ireland and Poland at the Bytom International Dance Festival.

Alongside her professional work, Isabelle has also spent the last decade teaching dance, composing works, and constructing dance-related events for various universities, studios, and organizations.  She has taught at Dovetail Studios, Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street, Visceral, OuterSpace and Aloft Circus Arts, where she continues to explore articulate dancing on stilts.  She has also taught for After School Matters through Chicago Ballet.  She is currently the Program Manager for the Chicago Teen Dance Festival that premiered at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in August 2015.

She was a finalist in the BalletMet choreographers project in 2004, 2006 and 2008 and was a resident choreographer for Columbus Dance Theatre for both the company and the Intensive Training Program.  Most recently she created a work on The Thodos Dance Company for their New Dances Project in 2014 and Chicago Repertory Ballet in 2015.

She has served as a guest artist and adjunct professor for The Ohio State University, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wittenberg University, Alfred University in New York, and The College of Lake County.  She set new works at Columbia College and St. Mary’s College in 2014.

HighJinks Productions combines a wider variety of dance forms with traditional and contemporary circus arts to produce a unique type of entertainment that merges the best of both art forms.  HighJinks has been seen at events throughout Chicago, Columbus, New York and nationally on MTV and in the Nuclear Cowboyz tour 2010 for Feld Entertainment.   She is a featured performer at Angela Eve’s Unbridled at Untitled in Chicago.