RECENT PROJECT LISTINGS

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Theater Eclectic (Spring 2021)

Writer, Director - one act play - Time Out

"Mrs. Blanchard" in Ever Young

 

HHII Virtual Festival (Spring 2021)

Interview and screening of Cheating at Checkers

 

Free Range Productions (2020)

Cheating at Checkers - a One Act Fairy Tale

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Theater Eclectic (2020)

Role of Peaseblossom in Midsummer Nights Dream

 

Glen Dallas Gallery - Group Show (2019)

Stone and Clay Sculptural Forms

God is a Woman

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Earthdance E|MERGE Creative Residency (2019)

 

The Van Gogh Project (2017, 2018, 2019)

• Los Angeles - Creative Research, Artvocacy, Peer Support

• Brooklyn - Performance Installation

• Santa Barbara - Intentional Inner Body Performance Ritual

 

Alma.Sama. (2017)

Santa Barbara, Gail Towbes Center for Dance, and ARC Pasadena.

International Cross-Cultural Collaboration focusing on extraordinary female adventurers.

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TURF (2016)

Santa Barbara, Brooklyn

Focus on Sustainable Collaborative Arts Production Design.

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The HIVE Series (2014, 2016)

Santa Barbara, Brooklyn

Focus on Sustainable Collaborative Arts Production Design.

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The Alma Karlin Project (2012-2015)

USA: Santa Barbara, Brooklyn, Connecticut, EUROPE: Celje, Ljubjlana

 

The ADaPT Festival Series (2011-2013)

USA: Santa Barbara, Brooklyn, Goleta, Santa Monica, Pasadena

EUROPE: Vienna

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The Affinity Project (2012)

USA: Santa Barbara, Pasadena

EUROPE: Paris

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RESIDENCIES

USA: Dragon's Egg (2013, 2014, 2016)

Ledyard, CT

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EUROPE: Alma.Sama Creative Residency (2015)

Celje & Ljubjlana, Slovenia

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USA: La Combadura Residency (2014)

Santa Barbara

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Press & Audience Quotes

P R E S S

"She has a wonderful sense of composition and comedic timing, combined with a clarity of statement. Her work has the feel of performance art, but it is more than that. If I had to put a label on Kelly’s work, it would be dance/performance art."

        Jeff Slayton, SEE Dance

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“Perfect dance poetics with sophisticated movement vocabulary”

         Parada Plesa, Slovenia’s dance magazine

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“Kelly, a woman slight in stature, proved an overwhelming and formidable presence on stage in her work which used her own vocalizations in a psychological journey.”

Steven Woodruff- Dance Plug

 

“Kelly’s pieces – especially Nadar Sabe Mi Llama el Agua Fria – explored the coexistence of athletic genius and disability in the same body, while maintaining an insistence on aesthetic appeal.”

                        Rebecca Joley - L.A. Yoga Magazine

 

            “Under No Certain Circumstance” by SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre of Santa Barbara, danced by Misa Kelly and Weslie Ching, was an audience favorite. There was no accompanying music and the   grunts and sounds of the two dancers offered a comedic air to a dance that expressed anger, frustration, and cooperation.”

                  Barbara Ransom – Life in L.A.

 

         “At once tragic and heroic, innocent and all-knowing, the persona Kelly presented here was as    fascinating as the piece was gorgeously multilayered”                        

                        Justine Sutton - Noozhawk

 

“The work “stood out for” for its “deep & honest exploration of what it is to be human…a gutsy searching solo”

         Elizabeth Schwyzer - Santa Barbara Independent

 

“surprisingly subtle choreography against feats of athleticism”

            Elizabeth Schwyzer - Santa Barbara Independent

  

“Striking and surreal in most places, it was as playful as the fun of its cut-up music… The evening was like a good mixed tape made by a friend who wants to turn you on to the newest in new. Consider that mission accomplished."

                        Ted Mills - Santa Barbara News Press

 

“astonishingly gifted”

            Santa Barbara News Press

 

            “the result was electric”  

                        Elizabeth Schwyzer - Santa Barbara Independent

 

“a witty piece by Kelly set on a larger group that involved dancers of all ages. Against a dramatic         soundscape created by the choreographer, dancers interacted playfully with chairs, the audience,      and each other, filling the black-box space with teasing humor and a sense of freedom.”                                  Charles Donelan - Santa Barbara Independent

 

A U D I E N C E

“You have what the rest of us are hoping to find.”  Peggy Baker, Choreographer

“Your performance was riveting. It held me from the beginning until the end” BeBe Miller, Choreographer

"Profound” – Delila Mosley, Director UCSB Student Company, Owner Montecito School of Ballet

“Epic” – Valerie Huston, Ballet Faculty, UCSB

“Cathartic” – Karsen Gould, Artistic Director, Arts for Humanity

"fresh, authentic & wild" – Elaine Nakashima, Massage Therapist & Dancer

"Crazy Wicked Genius" - Stephen Soria, Make Smith Leather Company

 

Listing of Performance Work

Dreamscape - quartet

After Birth - duet

Harvest Moon – solo

Splice - trio

My Cat Thomas - duet

Dancing on My Daddies Grave: evening length work, 2 actresses, 6 dancers

A Bao A Qu - solo

Hot Ice: evening length work, 3 musicians, 4 dancers

Nadar Sabe Mi Llama el Agua Fria: solo

Gypsy Dreams: solo

Fragile Wings: duet in collaboration with Kirsten Stuart

Etch-a-Retro-Sketch: solo

The Travelling Brick Show: in collaboration with the Open Spaces Project

Cachao – a galvanized trash receptacle: directed by Stephen Kelly

Twang - quartet

Lion’s Fire - quintet

Le Jardin Rouge - duet

Something Sweet – trio

Grit I - duet

Under No Certain Circumstances - duet

Elegy for a Clown (in collaboration with Stephen Kelly and Ray Tischer) - trio

Whisk - solo

Ranunculus - solo

X=Y – duet in collaboration with Stephen Lovelace

Flint – 8 dancers

Wallflower – 10 dancers

Grit II - duet

Unzipped – duet co-created with Joanna Nobbe

Moki’s Wedding - solo

A Bao A Qu II - solo

Paint My Wrinkles Red: photography/video, storytelling

One World is Never Enough (in collaboration with Stephen Kelly and the performers)

Patchwork Chameleon - solo

Two Ways All Ways (in collaboration with Stephen Kelly and Cecily Stewart) -duet

Flip Side of Each Other (in collaboration with Mojca Majcen and Stephen Kelly) - duet

Alma Karlin – travel - quintet

Alma Karlin – wild - quintet

Alma Karlin – en pointe – duet, co-created with Stephen Kelly

DID – Multiple Me – trio, concept, Misa Kelly, co-created with Trina Mannino and Joana Nobbe

Manatee: Ode to My Beloved - solo

Alma.Sama – evening length work co-created with ArtBark International Collaborators - quartet

??? (excerpt for What’s the Solution) - solo

What’s the SoLOVETion – co-created with Hannah Ruth Brothers - duet

My Story – storytelling

??? – II - duet

Ghost Duet - duet, choreogapher, Trina Mannio - in collaboration with MD Kelly

QUENCH - quintet

The Van Gogh Project 

Cheating at Checkers - one act play

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RECENT VISUAL ART HAPPENINGS

2019

Glen Dallas Gallery, When God Was a Woman, Group Show

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2018

The Van Gogh Project

Installation - Brooklyn New York

 

2017

NECTAR: Rise

Leilani & Miele: Sisters

Shared show

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2015

Solo Exhibition YOGA SOUP

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2013

Solo Exhibition: Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn

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2012

Solo Exhibition: ContraMASS, Vienna

The Museum Project: Vienna, Paris, Pasadena

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WHERE I'VE PERFORMED and/OR PRESENTED CHOREOGRAPHY

 

INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES

Istanbul - 2008, AFL Kültür Merkezi

Paris - 2012, Le Regard Du Cygne

Vienna -2012, Kablewerks, ContraMASS Galerie

Ljublana - 2015, Cankarjev Dom

 

LOCAL PERFORMANCES

Center Stage Theater, Yoga Soup, Lobero Theater, Montecito School of Ballet, UCSB, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Forum

 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Miles Memorial Playhouse, Electric Lodge, ARC Pasadena, Miles Memorial Playhouse, Diavolo Theatre

 

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

SpectorDance, Project 418, Shall We Dance

 

CONNECTICUT
Dragons Egg

 

MASSACHUSETTS

Earth Dance

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NEW YORK

White Wave, Green Space Studios, Center for Perferformance Research, BAAD

 

PRODUCTIONS and CO-PRODUCTIONS

SonneBlauma Studio Showing Series

SonneBlauma Master Class Series

ArtBark Studio Showing Series

3 Cities: 3 Choreographers

2 Cities: 2 Choreographers

ADaPT Festival Series: Goleta, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Pasadena, New York, Vienna

ADaPT Fest Sprouts 

Affinity Festival and project - Santa Barbara, Paris

Minty

1st Thursdays - ArtBark at Canon Perdido and State

Alma.Sama - co-produced with the Cankarjev Dom and Celje House of Culture

HIVE Series - Santa Barbara, New York

 

FESTIVALS and PRODUCTIONS PRODUCED BY OTHERS

New Works, Kinesis, MAX10, MixMatch Festival, Monterey Dance Festival, SpectorDance Choreographer's Showcase, Cool New York Dance Festival, Green Space Take Root and Fertile Ground, Boogie Down Dance Series, Dragon's Egg at Triskelion Arts, 5x5, NECTAR series, Awakenings and Beginnings Festival, F/F/Dance Festival, Santa Barbara Dance Alliance, Dance Day

 

RECENT AWARDS

Santa Barbara Independent, indy Award for Artistic Direction of the SB-ADaPT Festival - first dancer in our community to receive this award in the 20 years of awards.

 

Santa Barbara Independent, indy Award for the collaborative project, Alma.Sama.

 

CHOREOGRAPHERS I HAVE WORKED WITH

ArtBark: Stephen Kelly, Trina Mannino

DANCEWorks Community Projects: Doug Elkins, Larry Keigwin, Brian Brooks

UCSB: Tonia Shimin, Christopher Pilafian, Alice Condodina, Santa Barbara Dance Theatre - Jerry Pearson

Local: Maria Rendina Frantz, Christine Loizeaux

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