Cover photo credits: Photographer Liliana Mora; Dancers Dale Andree, Jade Scott, Mary Spring, & Alondra Balbuena.
As dancers we are intrigued by the physical demands of different environments, both natural and human-made. Working with improvisation and set choreography, the nature of the space and the space of nature challenges our ever-developing consciousness of change, preservation, and adaptability.
National Water Dance Miami 2024 – April, 20
Collaborating with Live Arts Miami and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center a capacity audience was guided through the trails and onto the beach, discovering the vibrant artistry of Miami’s dancers, musicians, and singers along the way.
- Video by Claudio Marcotulli
Video by Claudio Marcotulli
Videographer: Jay Azze
June 2024 World Ocean Day Celebration presented by ArtSail
Weaving with Water, choreographed by Dale Andree, in collaboration with the dancers and musicians, pays homage to Biscayne Bay, celebrating its beauty and the vital connections it represents within the vast tapestry of water bodies, conveying a story of resilience and symbiosis.
- Dancers – Sunyoung Park, Natalie Rodriguez, Mary Spring, Barbie Freeman, TJ Anderson
- Musicians – Ray Robinson, Pedro Ortiz
- Video – Jay Azze
Southeast Florida Climate Conference // 2023
In collaboration with ArtSail Miami and Deborah Mitchell, NWD Projects created Within the Tapestry, a piece that draws inspiration from the concept of “sentipensar” – liberally translated as “thinking and feeling with the Earth”. Rooted in the wisdom of indigenous peoples it asks us to see existence as a living weaving symbiosis, to change our thinking from the I to the we.
- Dancers – Maria Burt, Mary Spring, Sunyoung Park, Barbie Freeman
- Musicians – Molly Gawler, Samuel Tommie, Ray Robinson
Dance Film Festival // 2023
Rehearsal photos for the collaboration created with Miami Sound Choir for the screening of Dancing Out of Time: An Environmental Dance Film Festival
- Dancers – Mary Spring, Reshma Anway, Maria Burt, Barbie Freeman
- Photo by Mateo Serna Zapata
As One // 2022
“as one”, was commissioned by Women Mind the Water and created in Maine in collaboration with Halcyon string quartet and artist Pam Ferris. Based on the global crisis of “ghost gear”, lost fishing gear that litters the ocean bottom and continues to catch sea creatures in its web, “as one” reflects on the price we pay as a result of our complicity.
- Dancers: Allegra Preuss, Reshma Anwar, Mary Springs
- Photo credit: Miana Jun
National Water Dance // 2022
NWD Projects collaborated with Dimensions Dance Theater, Ife-Ile Afro Cuban Dance & Music, Jubilation Dance Ensemble, MDC Kendall Campus, Karen Peterson & Dancers, Olujimi Dance Theater, Miami Bloco, Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts, and Miami Sound Choir. Afrobeta created the music for all of the dances.
- Dancers: National Water Dance Miami
- Photo credit: Teekay Kountry
Aspen Climate Ideas Conference // 2022
NWD Projects collaborated with Afrobeta at the Aspen Climate Ideas Conference. Thank you Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and Miami Beach Arts and Culture for the opportunity to participate in this exciting event. Read Review.
- Dancers: Mary Spring with NWD Projects at Aspen Ideas: Climate MB 2022
- Photo credit: Mateo Serna Zapata
Water Made Her // 2021
Water Made Her is about the deep womb energy that connects mother and child. Intersecting cycles of evolving independence circulate the dancers through the space from beginning to the end.
- Dancers: Dale Andree & Thryn Saxon
- Photo credit: Liliana Mora
Such Rooted Things // 2021
Such Rooted Things was conceived in the mangroves at Matheson Hammock, birthed through the physical imaginations of the dancers, inspired by the personal gestures and stories of the 10 women who worked with us and finally found its home in the middle of Miami at the Maurice Ferré Park on Biscayne Bay.
- Dancers: NWD Projects Dancers
- Photo credit: Karime Arabia
Miami National Water Dance // 2020
Dancers in Miami joined with hundreds from around the United States, including Puerto Rico to dance together via live stream, celebrating the gift of water that we all share. Salvaging the many cancellations due to the coronavirus NWD Projects joined digital hands across the country to bring attention to our responsibility for clean and accessible water.
Waterway // 2020
An improvisational dance activation of the “Waterway” installation created by Jenna Efrein and Christin Paige Minnotte. A spatially transformable immersive architectural and sculptural experience informed by the glut of single-use plastic polluting our oceans. The piece is composed of thousands of collected suspended plastic bottles.
- Dancers: Katie Brennan, Sara Franco, Sun Young Park, and Enrique Villacreses.
Where Earth Meets Sky // 2020
Commissioned by Artist In Residence In Everglades (AIRIE), Where Earth Meets Sky activated the shores of Long Pine Key. The work focuses on tempo and the flow of movement that comes with congregating and separating, the way the waters of the Everglades, both below and above, merge and mingle in constant transformation.
- Dancers: Katie Brennan, Barbie Freeman, Becca Pelham and Sun Young Park
- Musicians: Ray Robinson, Luis Gonzalez Pedro, and Samuel Tommie
- Costume design: Camille Haith
- Photo credit: Mateo Serna Zapata
Everglades Imprint // 2019
Everglades Imprint extended into a monthlong exhibit at the HistoryMiami Museum of photographs by Miana Jun, Dale Andree’s collaborator in the Everglades, and featured a courtyard performance of a portion of Everglades Imprint.
- Photo credit: Miana Jun
Everglades Imprint Premiere // 2019
Dale Andree’s Everglades Imprint was inspired by her month long AIRIE residency in Everglades National Park. Andree invited storytellers to enhance the experience of walking to the dance performance site. Among them was Samuel Tommie of the Seminole Tribe of Florida whose story of growing up on a pine island in the Everglades lead the audience into the space of the sawgrass with a new sense of reverence.
- Directed by Dale Andree
- Dancers: Katie Brennan, Barbara Freeman, Amanda Rodriguez, Rebecca Pelham, and Oscar Trujillo
- Musician: Samuel Tommie
- Photo credit: Mateo Serna Zapata
Everglades Imprint SMDCAC // 2019
The wild beauty and fragile ecosystem of the Everglades came alive in this multimedia dance performance. The performance included a sound installation by Gustavo Matamoros, overlaid by Samuel Tommie’s flute and Ray Robinson’s percussion, while Miana Jun’s photographs suspended from the ceiling presented the multi-layered magic of the Everglades.
- Directed by Dale Andree
- Dancers: Katie Brennan, Barbara Freeman, Rebecca Pelham, Oscar Trujillo, and Dale Andree
- Photo credit: Karime Arabia
“Dance—a physical voice for environmental activism, taking it out of the margins and placing it in the center of the conversation.” ~Dr. Andrea Seidel