Laura Neese
Laura Neese is a contemporary dance artist and educator from Staten Island, NY. She currently performs with Darrah Carr Dance, presents independent work, and collaborates with artists in other media.. She has performed work by Darrah Carr, Sean Curran, Melissa West, Maho Suiso Ogawa, Christopher Caines, Chia Ying Kao, and KitchenSink Collective among others. She is a dance faculty member at Hofstra University and Irish Arts Center, and has extensive experience teaching in studio, school, and community settings throughout NYC and New Jersey.
Performing credits include Jacob’s Pillow, Signature Theatre, New Victory Theater, Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Center for Performance Research, LUMEN Festival, Symphony Space, NYC Irish Arts Center, Triskelion Arts, College of Staten Island, Snug Harbor, DUMBO Dance Festival, NBC Today Show, & Good Morning America.
Interview
Two performance pieces are particularly special to me, They Danced (2013), by Darrah Carr and badwoods (2016) by Melissa West.
They Danced was a collaborative piece between Darrah and the company members. It was the first time I had worked with Darrah generating new material - rather than repertory- and a first for Darrah in deriving movement specifically and directly from her dancers. Groups created separate thematic sections each related to the poem “They Danced” by Gearoid Mac Lochlainn. I contributed swinging, momentum filled, off centered movements- which we contrasted with vertical “Irish inflections.” The separate sections culminated in swirling group figures of the full cast to particularly lush neo-traditional music. I frequently teach phrasework from this piece, and the more I re-visit it the more I consider the play of characterization in body carriage, as well as the mechanics of weight shift and alignment that make such changes possible.
Melissa West’s badwoods (2016), though it had begun in a previous iteration in 2014, was special in several ways. The version tapped into some borough specific creativity: the choreographer, musicians, costume designer, and two cast members were all Staten Islanders. It was satisfying to be reminded of and connect with your peers - especially when it is easy to feel isolated as an artist from the “outer borough.” The piece was performed in different spaces, first in the Newhouse Center at Snug Harbor - which gave it a rich historic and somewhat eerie atmosphere, then on a large proscenium stage at CSI. We experienced the thematic arc in different environments with unique relationships to our audiences. Despite all of the logistics, The piece seemed to stretch time - and Melissa trusted me to stretch it for quite some time on my own. I was challenged to step outside myself, to play - to explore character, power, (and pink hair.)
