Kickstarter

Starting in August of 2011, a group of 9 people started working on a dance together. Throughout the following months this group of dancers researched and explored the compelling human need to be significant to others.

The company of dancers Kristen Barrett, Jessica Bartholomew, Allison Edwards, Gabriel Gastelo, Lela Groom, Felicia Levin, Juan Rodriguez, Denise Stein, and choreographer Britta Joy Peterson dove into multiple forms of information and inspiration. These included the poetry of Mary Oliver, scientific research and Native American folk lore about hummingbirds and geese, and the water color paintings of Joyce Webster Peterson. These sources allowed the company to generate movement and develop a work that expresses how our complicated human nature drives us to find pathways through our existence… to weave through and seek out one another to experience the emotional fulfillment of being significant. The result is Violet Flight: Pursuit of Significance, which premiered at the Graduate Project Presentations at Arizona State University, which is the video that you see above.

Currently the dancers and choreographer are taking a break o enjoy the holidays with family and friends, but come January we will be diving back into the rehearsal process to prepare for CONDER/dance’s Breaking Ground dance festival. We’re going to work towards creating greater clarity in focus and develop the intimate moments between dancers. Therefore the piece will be able to continue to grow within and beyond itself to find a deeper balance between depth and simplicity.  

The work has been selected to represent ASU's School of Dance at the American College Dance Festival in March, and this is where we need your help! ACDFA serves as a community forum through which colleges and universities can share the research and artistic practices they are exploring. Dancers get to take classes from faculty from across the nation, see work from other schools, and experience performances by national companies. This conference will expose the company of Violet Flight to the greater dance community, while allowing us to share what we are working on in Arizona. The dancers in the cast are seeking grants to help fund travel costs and registration fees, but they are few and far between. Your donations will help the entire cast to travel to CSU: Dominguez Hills to share their work with the Baja region of the United States.