A little video detail from the show:

April 14-16 & April 20-22
An Inner Place That Has No Place

DANCE | FILM | PERFORMANCE
Saturday April 14 - Monday April 16
Friday April 20 - Sunday April 22

The Piranha Shop
1022 1st Ave S
Seattle, WA 98134

$12/adv $15/door
April 16 Only: $8/adv $10/door
BUY TICKETS - brownpapertickets.com

(World Premier) An Inner Place That Has No Place is an evening-length performance work created by Shannon Stewart in collaboration with filmmaker Adam Sekuler, composer Jeff Huston, and performers Meredith Horiuchi, Mary Margaret Moore, Aaron Swartzman, Rosa Vissers, and David Wolbrecht, delving into memory and memory loss.

Through dance theater, music and film this piece illustratesering as a process of recreation rather than reproduction. It attempts to retrieve the content of memories lost either because of time or the myriad of reasons we intentionally forget--fear, shame, regret, grief and posit them next to absurd life documentation posing questions about how the recollection of our life is intentionally fictional.

This piece is part of a suite of dance a film works exploring memory and memory loss at the personal, material, and societal levels. An Inner Place That Has No Place was made possible through support from 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and 112 individual Kickstarter donors.

TEN DAYS AND ONE THOUSAND SMACKERS TO GO!
Please consider becoming a patron of a new solo by Deborah Hay that I will learn, adapt and perform in the next 12 months! You can make a pledge here!

2012 Work Sample (solos) from The Real Shannon Stewart on Vimeo.

I've been accepted into Deborah Hay's Solo Performance Commissioning Project in August of 2012 in Findhorn, Scotland and am raising the funds for the program fee and part of the travel expenses to get there. If you have $5, $10, $50 to give, I would so appreciate it. I'm unbelievably excited to embark on this journey and appreciate any level of support!

Some coverage of Make | Believe.


Oregon Arts Watch

"More important is the emotional “state” of each dancer, moment by moment, because their communication of sadness, frustration, humor, anger, aggression or concern is where the real meaning of the piece emerges. The four dancers (Philip Elson, Noel Plemmons, Molly Sides, Shannon Stewart) were perfect vehicles for those emotions throughout the piece. “Commitment” is too soft a word for their immersion in the dance. So, just as the music and movement interlocked, so did the dancers and the movement."

PSU Vanguard

"Make/Believe is a story about the nature of human communication in all its forms, told in the abstract language of contemporary dance. The story lacks characters and a traditional narrative, but the story is made vivid and accessible through the performers’ sharp delivery of gesture and expression.

Hebert made a point not to explain the work in great detail, for the performance is intended to be interpreted by the viewer.

“I don’t want to relay too much,” Hebert said. “Early on, we wanted to focus on fantasy and how we use fantasizing as a way to cope in society.”"

Willamette Week

"We’re expressing ourselves through more channels than ever before, but what are we saying? That might well be the question driving this riveting new contemporary dance work by Portland performance company Teeth, which debuts this week. In it, two men (Philip Elson and Noel Plemmons) and two women (Molly Sides and Shannon Stewart) embody the image manipulation, incessant chatter and selective hearing of the information age. . ."

PDX Pipeline

Make/Believe investigates the limitations of verbal exchange, the psychology of fantasy and the human desire to manipulate the world and the people around us. On a stark stage, tangled in microphone cables, four dancers—Philip Elson, Noel Plemmons, Molly Sides and Shannon Stewart—explore themes of communication, connection, breakdown and physical experience through precise, visceral movement and partnering.

Oregon Live

"Much has been made in the press of Teeth's "oral fixation" with movement ideas; all their works literally probe the interior regions of the mouth, sometimes with live video feed to give the audience a discomfortingly up-close perspective, frequently with the addition of the dancers' guttural vocal expulsions."

Research Club

This show is a particularly good portal to newcomers or outsiders for a few reasons. Superficially, it is a brisk 55 minutes, with uncomplicated costuming and simple props used well -- standard microphones endowed with abnormally long cables. The show is also surprisingly accessable for such a deliberately challenging piece. A few genuinely funny passages emerge from a broader sarcastic tone that dovetails with the surrounding intensity and intimacy in a way that is better seen than described, and the original score is, like the dancers, not afraid to be beautiful and aesthetically rich while it distorts and confronts.

WED 1.18 | 9:30 - 11:15 *

It's my last technique class in Portland!

With live music by drummer John Niekrasz (from Why I Must Be Careful)

I hope you can join me for one more go round at the mOuth THIS wednesday. This class will keep you moving and build one long, juicy phrase.

FIFTEEN BUCKS

* There is no class next week, Jan 25th. . . or any thereafter!
__________________________________________________________

< < tEEth premiers make / believe > >

DATE, TIMES AND INFO ABOUT TICKETS HERE.

WATCH THE VIDEO TRAILER!

Thank you for your support and inspiration Portland! I hope to be back regularly and keeping up with all of you!

many x's and o's,

-shannon




NEXT UP:

Salt Horse - 12 Hour Play
FEB 4th | 6pm - 6M
Washington Hall, Seattle

memory (loss) bank
Seattle Storefront Residency
Feb - April

An Inner Place
(new work by myself and filmmaker Adam Sekuler)
March 30 - April 1 & April 5 - 7
8pm

Deborah Hay Solo Performance Commissioning Project
August 2012
Scotland

Left behind at WTF

Appreciation of Movement Practice

flow comes easily
authentic
variation
rhythm
hip rotation and gyration
hands & arms

Also, left behind: detritus of critiques that can be let go of.

January 6-8, 2012 | 3-6pm

WHAT THE F*CK

Three-hour classes for three days in a row

With Choreographer and tEEth Company Member Shannon Stewart

What keeps the love of dance training alive? What keeps it novel, what keeps it fulfilling?

I'm on a quest to create opportunities to explore the highly PHYSICAL part of dancing that dives deep into sensation, imagination and intellect. I want to both soften and sharpen my inner dialogue in order to move without inhibition and with precision. I have a picture of a bridge going between my brain and my body that I’m making stronger and more responsive with wide open lanes for many layers of information to travel through. I want to trust this bridge and continually take care of it. I want to let go of self-sabotage and experience CLASS as the place to take the most risks, to fall, to fail even. And also, not get hurt.

WHAT THE F*CK is an exercise in making a mini-commitment to yourself. It’s three hour classes, three days in a row to explore informed and uninhibited physicality.

INFORMED – Expanding the spine, articulating the joints, and harnessing the breath through GYROKINESIS®.

UNINHIBITED – Letting go of the mirror, the steps, the obedience to “what it should look like,” to see what unfolds.

What will we do?

Gyrokinesis® - Cultivating awareness, joint articulation and expansive strength through a set Gyrokinesis class, repeated everyday. More about Gyrokinesis is here.

Break & Breakdown – We will pause and study a Gyrokinesis practice in detail or have a short discussion while allowing our bodies to regenerate energy.

Improvisation - We will practice a one-hour continual improvisation, being guided through imagery, texture, and possibly stumbling upon some more technical aspect of dance, partnering, and spontaneous composition.

WHAT THE F*CK is motivated by a few key things:


WTF #1

Demystifying GYROKINESIS® - What is it? what does it do? what is it for? Learning the system well enough to make it really work for you.


WTF #2

Taking Risks. Being Challenged. Surprising yourself with what is possible.

WTF #3

Kicking our overactive self-critics out the door.

NINETY BUCKS FOR THE WHOLE THING

$75 IF REGISTERED BY 12/24

If you have schedule conflicts or economic restrictions, please get in touch to discuss dropping in. Repetitive practice is part of WTF, but access is equally important!

shannonkstewart(at)gmail.com

Portland Classes this Winter

Contemporary Modern Technique
Wednesdays | 9:30-11:15
(Through January 25th, 2012)

Gyrokinesis
Tuesdays | 5-6:15pm
(Through Dec 20th, 2011)

the mOuth studio
810 SE Belmont, Studio 2
PDX

Occupation - Dance Artist
Occupation - The act or process of taking hold of a place or an area

The cop at Westlake Center approached us quizzically. "I just have to ask, what are you guys doing?"

"we're rehearsing."

Occupy Fall from Adam Sekuler on Vimeo.

d a n c e f o r t h e 9 9 p e r c e n t

For the month of October, I'm taking $10 off class cards.

It works like this:

1) Buy a card in October for $10 off
2) Use it to take 5 classes sometime before the end of 2011
3) Dance your butt off

If you aren't camping out downtown, or you need a little break, I hope to see you in class!

TUESDAYS - Gyrokinesis
5-6:15pm
$30 - 5 Class Card

WEDNESDAYS - Contemporary Technique
9:30-11:15
$40 - 5 Class Card

the mOuth Studio
810 SE Belmont | Studio 2
PDX

The Third Floor | Inside this phosphoresent premiers at Conduit in less than two weeks on a joint bill with Lucy Yim and Allie Hankins!

SEA/PORT: dance by Seattle & Portland artists
October 7-8, 2011, 8 PM
BrownPaperTickets: $12-$15 sliding scale

Conduit presents works by Seattle and Portland dance artists:

Allie Hankins | Seattle
Like A Sun That Pours Forth Light but Never Warmth

Lucy Yim | Portland
Song&Dance (work in progress)

Shannon Stewart & Adam Sekuler | Seattle
The Third Floor

Choreographer Shannon Stewart and filmmaker Adam Sekuler’s The Third Floor paces through the remains of a six-story historic Seattle hotel exploring the notion that memory loss, as it is in people, is an essential part of dissociating identities in buildings and neighborhoods. A cascade of characters introduce themselves to create a false history of the hotel while carefully constructing a diorama of an unsettled mind.

Every level of the Publix Hotel ascended unfolds a more desperate tale. The curling edges of paint unglue stories from the wall—over time this two-dimensional surface reveals that it is three. A small square hole cut out of a door signifies a private death--that a hand reached through the opening to turn the doorknob and let themselves in.

In The Third Floor, footsteps echo on ground untouched for years. The contact of feet on ground punctures time, refracts stories encoded in small medicine cabinet mirrors and smoke stains outlining absent picture frames on a wall.

The memory (loss) bank is made possible with support from Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 4Culture, and the mOuth Studio (Portland).

******************

c / l / a / s / s / e / s
(Starting September 20th - December 21st)

Int/Adv Contemporary Technique
Wed 9:30 - 11:15am (no class Wed Oct 5th)
$12 Drop-In | $50 Five Class Card

GYROKINESIS®
Tues 5:00 - 6:15pm
$10 Drop-In

The mOuth Studio
810 SE Belmont, Studio 2
PDX.

i / n / f / o

Int/Adv Contemporary Technique
My technique classes are focused on maintaining and strengthening technical fundamentals of contemporary dance while providing space and opportunity to unleash each person’s informed and uninhibited potential.

Warm-ups focus first and foremost on generating heat, turning on the core and expanding the spine with principles and exercises sourced from GYROKINESIS®, Countertechnique, release techniqe and Qi Gong. Class shifts to focus on the building blocks of dance technique from plies to swings to floorwork before moving across the floor and into phrasework. While focusing on the fundamentals, this class calls on your imagination and willingness to take risk in order to deepen your experience of full-bodied movement and push yourself into a new physical realm. Weaving together codified technique with risk taking and imaginative improvisation, this class will give you the strength and tools to follow your desire and understand your body's own movement system.

GYROKINESIS®
Developed by a professional dancer for dancers seeking long and healthy careers, Gyrokinesis deepens our understanding of core strength to include qualities of suppleness, length and expansion. We will move through the fundamental exercises of Gyrokinesis--including the seven natural elements of spinal movement while also addressing all other joint articulations and ongoing deep abdominal engagement. It is helpful to bring a mat or something soft to use as padding for work on the floor.

b / i / o

With degrees in Urban Planning and Dance, Shannon Stewart has a rich history as a contemporary dancer, music organizer, and activist on the West Coast. Since 2001, Shannon has been performing professionally as a dancer locally, nationally and internationally for stage and film and began making her own work in 2008.

Having cross-trained in ballet, contemporary, release, breakdancing, yoga, capoiera, qigong, improvisation, GYROTONIC® system and somatic awareness, Shannon currently dances with tEEth and Salt Horse (2010-2011), and has danced for Dayna Hanson (2010), zoe | juniper (2005, 2008-2010), Ricki Mason (2003-2006), Kathleen Hermesdorf (2006-2008) and many others. She is certified in Gyrokinesis®, teaches contemporary technique, improvisation,, and Dance for Parkinson’s with the Mark Morris Dance For Parkinson’s program.

Shannon co-founded the Vera Project, the All-ages Movement Project, and wrote and released a history and how-two guide for all-ages music organizations in 2010, and acted as Velocity Dance Center's Development and Interim Executive Director from 2008-2011 . Her deep connection to the PNW music and dance scene and activist background impacts her approach to making contemporary performance work, finding unique ways to open up the creative process, choosing collaborators, and feeding the desire to deepen the exchange between performer and audience.

AUDTION NOTICE

FOR NEW DANCE AND FILM WORKS BY

SHANNON STEWART & ADAM SEKULER

SATURDAY AUGUST 27^TH 12-2PM

VELOCITY DANCE CENTER – FOUNDERS STUDIO

1621 12^TH AVE

SEATTLE, WA 98122

Shannon Stewart is seeking up to five dancer/performers for an evening length work building off of the past year of developing works related to memory and memory loss. This new work will be performed this fall as part of a three-month residency in a downtown Seattle Storefront.

DATES | October 1 – Dec 18

REHEARSALS | Friday – Tuesday (with Sat or Sun off). 7-10 hrs/wk

All-ages, genders, body types, and abilities are welcome. Professional performing experience preferred.

An Inner Place that Has No Place (working title), is a multi-media dance piece that Shannon Stewart will be choreographing and directing with filmmaker Adam Sekuler. The cast will be in residence in a Seattle Storefront called the Memory (Loss) Bank this fall and will perform both set and improvisational work.

The work will culminate in two weekends of performances in Seattle, one weekend in Portland, and possibly more in the future.

The budget is small, but all performers will be paid for performances and for special associated events.

Please RSVP by emailing shannonkstewart@gmail.com

PDX Class Update

There are two more Thursday intensives! 9-11:30 on 8/18 and 8/25.

I'm adding a Gyrokinesis® class on Tuesday Nights at the mOuth from 5:30 -6:30. Only $8!

810 SE Belmont
Studio 2

GETTING PHYSICAL (8.4 – 8.25)
A mini-dance intensive
With tEEth company member SHANNON STEWART

Four Thursdays in August @ mOuth
9-9:50am GYROKINESIS®
10-11:30 Int/Adv Contemporary Technique

For four weeks (Aug4-25th), Shannon Stewart will teach a special class series focused on conditioning the body and mind to create an expansive physical practice.

REGISTRATION
Class Series - $65
Gyrokinesis® or Technique Only - $40
Drop In - $12

Register by emailing shannonkstewart@gmail.com by Jul 29, 2011.

Getting Physical is aimed at strengthening our #1 resource – our bodies. The goal is to unleash each person’s informed and uninhibited potential through a series of morning-long immersions.

A Gyrokinesis warm up will help to shape our understanding of core strength to include qualities of suppleness, length and expansion. We will begin by moving through the fundamental exercises of Gyrokinesis--including the seven natural elements of spinal movement while also addressing all other joint articulations and deep abdominal engagement.

From this integrated place we will move into contemporary technique. While focusing on the fundamentals, this class calls on your imagination and willingness to take risk in order to deepen your experience of full-bodied movement and push yourself into a new physical realm. Weaving together codified technique and imaginative improvisation, this class will give you the strength and tools to follow your desire and understand your own signature and system.

B I o

With degrees in Urban Planning and Dance, Shannon Stewart has a rich history as a contemporary dancer, music organizer, and activist on the West Coast. Since 2001, Shannon has been performing professionally as a dancer locally, nationally and internationally for stage and film and began making her own work in 2008.

Having cross-trained in ballet, contemporary, release, breakdancing, yoga, capoiera, qigong, improvisation, GYROTONIC® system and somatic awareness, Shannon currently dances with tEEth and Salt Horse (2010-2011), and has danced for Dayna Hanson (2010), zoe | juniper (2005, 2008-2010), Ricki Mason (2003-2006), Kathleen Hermesdorf (2006-2008) and many others. She is certified in Gyrokinesis®, teaches contemporary technique, improvisation,, and Dance for Parkinson’s with the Mark Morris Dance For Parkinson’s program.

Shannon co-founded the Vera Project, the All-ages Movement Project, and wrote and released a history and how-two guide for all-ages music organizations in 2010. Her deep connection to the PNW music scene and activist background impacts her approach to making work, finding unique ways to open up the creative process, choosing collaborators, and feeding the desire to deepen the exchange between performer and audience.

Images from A Better Container excerpt at the Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards.

A Better Container from Adam Sekuler on Vimeo.

Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards | Mainstage June 18th & 19th, 8pm

TITLE: A BETTER CONTAINER
Direction: Shannon Stewart & Adam Sekuler
Movement Creation and Performance: Mary Margaret Moore, Marissa Niederhauser, Shannon Stewart
Guest Performer: Lenore Waldron
Composer/Performer: Sam Mickens
Video: Adam Sekuler
Lighting: Jessica Trundy
Costumes: Jenine Fisher



I'm honored to share a showcase on the mainstage June 18th & 19th with aluminum siding & mattisonthemove (Dance), Haruko Nishimura (Dance), The Blank Department (Music), and to participate in this festival with many amazing artists.

NW New Works Festival 2011 Jun 10-Jun 19

http://ontheboards.org/performances/nw-new-works-festival-2011

$14 • On the Boards 8:00PM • Mainstage & Studio Theater

Call the to get discounts on multiple tickets:
$14 for 1 showcase | $20 for 2 showcases
$24 for 3 showcases | $30 for all 4 showcase

Photos by Adam Sekuler