About this project
---About This Project On October 30th, The Equus Projects will from 11:00am until 3pm The Equus Projects will be presenting their work on The Nethermead in Prospect Park, Brooklyn (http://www.prospectpark.org/nethermead). The performance will include a section with children from GallopNYC. Process and choreography are woven together seamlessly in this four hour event that is a celebration of the partnership between horses and humans.
In preparation, The Equus Projects will do movement sessions with Gallop kids focusing on rhythm, coordination, and moving to music. We will be laying out the choreographic vocabulary and structures in the studio and then we will rehearse with our six riders and their horses in CT. Some of the performance will also include dancing with a horse at liberty (rider-less). Some of our equine rehearsals are in upstate NY. We will travel be traveling up to 150 miles to rehearse with our horses for this performance .
Your support helps us pay dancers for rehearsal, working with Gallop, and performance. This project's production costs will extend beyond $5,000; but since this is our first project, we're trying a modest amount for this for Kickstarter campaign.
--- How We Work At each venue or site, The Equus Projects makes a new work created for that site and for a specific cast of horses. Unlike the use of horses in circus, where the animals perform set routines, The Equus Projects' mission is to challenge dancers to perform with the ever-present element of unpredictability. The Equus Projects performances frame a (reverse-) hierarchy between human and animal. The human remains responsive to the movement of the horse, eliciting playful interaction rather than dutiful obedience. The element of risk is always present in this work and the dancer must alternate between listening and asserting firm leadership
The Equus Projects dancers have developed a finely tuned ability to sense and respond to physical cues - a skill set we call Physical Listening. Equus dancers also have dexterous horsemanship skills making it possible for audience to witness a dynamically porous relationship between human and equine.
Working with horses - creatures of flight - instills an absolute element of unpredictability. The choreography explores, at its most extreme, the practice of dancing in real time.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 7, 2010.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
Fill up a tank of gas for travel to our equine rehearsals in Clinton, CT, and Rhinebeck, NY.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
Dress a company member in one of the amazing costumes from the Juilliard Costume Shop. Fee includes renting and cleaning. In return, we'll offer you an Equus Projects T-shirt or a copy of our Brain Gym DVD for Equestrians.
Pledge $85 or more Pledge $85 or more
Pay one dancer's fee for teaching a class for the GallopNYC children. We'll thank you with an invitation to an open rehearsal of your choice. When you join us, we will share lots of information on our training with horses and how we're building our work.
Pledge $150 or more Pledge $150 or more
Help pay to trailer one of our horses to and from our Prospect Park performance site. We'll offer you an invitation to an open rehearsal PLUS a 2-piece original ceramic mug set handmade by Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw.
Pledge $225 or more Pledge $225 or more
Pay for 50% of one company dancer's rehearsal pay for the creation of this project. We'll give you a $50 voucher toward any one of our clinics nationwide, and an original ceramic bowl or 2-piece set handmade by Artistic Director JoAnna Mendl Shaw.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Pay for one of our guest dancer's performance fee for the project. We'll thank you by offering you 50% off the fee for any one of our clinics held nationwide.
Project By
Connected as JoAnna Mendl Shaw (1800 friends)
I am the Artistic Director of The Equus Projects, a NYC based dance company that creates performance works for dancers and horses. We have been transforming equestrian arenas and hillsides into performance spaces since 1998, touring to arts and equestrian venues throughout the country.
