Biography
Deirdre Morris, MFA, is an international performing artist, producer, dramaturge, activist, and educator. Her practice spans theatrical forms that focus on spectacle based physical theatre, contemplative movement based performance and site specific installations. Inspired by her study of Butoh dance in rural Japan, her interest is in uncovering artistic material in the performer’s/witnesses bodily states, emotions and sensations, creating physical encounters in wild and constructed spaces. Her collaborative projects, draw diverse communities into a creative process that is socially reflective and ecologically aware. Being affective, generous and sustainable, is the essence of her education and performance work. With content ranging inter/disciplinarily, her work spans a variety of performance sites, bodies, ecologies, media and social issues. Her current research is looking at feminism and somatic affect as well as site specific and site particular presentations. Working with artists and public, in particular sites, to create reflective textual, visual and somatic documentation of local culture and history, to produce ‘momentary communities’. These communities are built in specific times, places and sites, between the performers, commmunity, and site of the project. With lasting effects continuing to be seen via presentations of video in local galleries and libraries, and textual archives.
Deirdre has worked as a director/choreographer/designer for See/Saw, Flexion, Bust! and numerous Wise Fool New Mexico productions (wisefoolnm.org) since 1999. She was a founding member of High Mayhem Emerging Arts (highmayhem.org) where she helped produce an internationally recognized annual music, visual and performing arts festival between 2001-2009. Her solo and choreographic work has been most recently presented at the ODA Theatre, Prishtina, Kosovo, TAM Performance Space, Tarnovo, Bulgaria, Muszi, Budapest, Hungary and at Art Basel’s Volta! Basel, Switzerland, The Santa Fe Opera, Jacob’s Pillow, The Bioneer’s Conference, The Mondavi Center, and La Fabrika Karabinova, Etienne, France.
Deirdre has been the recipient of grants from the US Embassy, the McCune Foundation, the NEA, the Astraea Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, The Santa Fe Community Foundation and the Rhode Island Council for the Arts. Her work has been produced by the Houston Council for the Arts, Tokyo Art and Cultural Exchange, Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center (Miami, FL), The Place (London, England) and Bumbershoot (Seattle,WA). Deirdre holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Dramatic Arts with concentrations in Composition and Directing from the University of California Davis.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
University Education
MFA, Interdisciplinary Dramatic Arts, focuses in Choreography, Directing and Performance, University of California, Davis, CA 2014
Bachelor of Arts, Theater, Communications and Dance Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 1994
Other Education Highlights
Aerial Teacher Training, Elsie Smith of New England Center of Circus Arts, Santa Fe NM 2015
Advanced Forsythe Work, Nicole Pisel, Impulstanz Vienna Austria, August 2015
Voice & Rhythm, Voice and our Identity, Angelique Willkie and Charmaine LeBlanc, Impulstanz Vienna Austria, July 2015
Composition Keith Hennessey, Fresh Festival, San Francisco CA January 2014
Master Certification in Somatic Archaeology, Ruby Gibson Santa Fe, NM, June-November 2011
Physical Theater Training, Theater Grottesco, Santa Fe NM 2011 & 2012
Unlearning Oppression Training, Wise Fool New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004-2008
Butoh Ritual Mexicano Theatre Trainings, Michoacan, Mexico 1999, 2002, 2007, 2013
Action Theater Training, Ruth Zapora Santa Fe New Mexico 2004/5
Viewpoints, Anne Bogart and SITI, NYC 2002
10 week residency in Aerial and Acrobatic Stilts, Stalker Theater, Sydney Australia. 2001
CPR and First Aid Training, 1999-present (re-certified every two years as a requirement for Massage License)
Massage Therapy Training, Santa Fe School of Massage, Santa Fe NM 1998-99
Butoh Training, Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno, Yokohama, Japan May to September 1998
Summer Dance Program, concentration in Contemporary Choreography and Aerial Dance, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 1996
Choreography, Modern, Ballet and Contemporary Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1995
Choreography, Ballet & Laban Movement Analysis, The Place, London, UK 1995
Authentic Movement Training and Physical Theater with Carriage House Theater Providence RI 1993-96
Contact Improvisation Training, Earthdance Massachusetts 1992-94
Teaching
University Teaching
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA December 2012 – June 2014
Instructor of Record
Drama, Dance and Movement Studio: Fundamentals of Aerial Dance
(Winter 2014)
Associate Instructor
Site Specific Performance, Death Star Migration (Fall 2013)
Introduction to Acting, (Winter 2014) Summer Intensive (Summer 2013)
Teaching Assistant
Understanding Performance: Appreciation of Modern Theatre, Dance, Film and Performance Art, Relevance of theatre and performance to modern culture and society. (Fall 2012)
Introduction to Acting, (Fall 2013)
Acting for Film, Techno Cultural Studies, (Spring 2014)
Film Production, Lecture and intensive workshop teaching narrative documentary film production (Spring 2013)
Performance and Culture ( Winter 2013)
Introductory investigation of the nature of performance, moving from performance theory to consideration of various manifestations of performance including theatre, film and media, performance art, dance, sports, rituals, political and religious events, and other “occasions.”
University Guest Teaching
Santa Fe Community College Instructor, Physical Theatre, Scoring and Scripting, Composition 2016
University of Fine Arts Prishtina, Prishtina, Kosovo, Guest Instructor, October 2015
Physical Theater, Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation and Acro/Balance Partnering
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, Guest Instructor, Introduction to Contemporary Dance/History, Beginning Modern Dance, Choreography/Composition 2012-2014
Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Instructor, Physical Theater
Fort Lewis College, Fort Lewis Colorado, Butoh, Laban Composition
Brown University, Providence, RI, Guest Instructor, Butoh Dance
Providence College, Providence, RI, Guest Instructor, Modern Dance, Choreography
High School Teaching
Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre, Berkeley, CA June/July 2014 Voice (Linklater Method) and Movement for the Actor (Laban, Viewpoints)
Monte Del Sol Charter School, Santa Fe, NM, Mentored six students over three years in aerial Farbic, Choreography, Clowning and Trapeze 2004- 2007
Providence High School, Providence RI, Guest Instructor, Modern and Contemporary Dance Practices, 1996
Professional Teaching
Muszi, Art Center, Budapest, Hungary Acrobatics for Team Building, Shadow Puppets, Movement. 2015
Synchronicity Project, Muszi Art Center/Bjahla Luiza Square, taught a series of scores to compose an outdoor site specific performance, Butoh, Physical Theater, Contact Improvisational Partnering. 2015
Wise Fool New Mexico Aerial Fabric, Trapeze and Hoop, Movement, Stilt Acrobatics, Acrobatic Partnering, Santa Fe NM 1999-2016
Cirq Aspire, Performance Skills, Physical Theatre, Composition and Choreography, 2016
Aerial Dance Festival, Boulder, CO Acrobatic Stilt and Double Trapeze Instructor, 2010, 2011 a national aerial arts festival. stilt acrobatics, aerial stilts, choreography in the air
Dancing Earth, Aerial and Dance Choreographer. 2008-2012
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Aerial Fabric, Trapeze, Partnering Acrobatics, Stilts, Clowning, Puppet Making, Contact Improvisation, Physical Theater 2004 to 2007
Tsunami on the Square, Performing arts festival, Prescott, Arizona, Stilt Acrobatics, Contact Improvisation
Miami Contemproary Dance Festival, Miami, FL, Butoh, Contact Improvisation, Contemporary Choreography. 2004
Pojoaque Pueblo, Pojoaque, NM, Guest Instructor, Clowning, Acrobatics, Stiltwalking, Contact Improvisation 2003, 2004
Inside/Out, Santa Fe Juvienille Detention Center teaching circus arts and visual arts to incarcerated youth. 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Vulcana Women’s Circus, Brisbane Australia, Aerial Fabric, Stilts, Acrobatics. 2001
Monoxcide Circus, Sydney Australia, Aerial Fabric, Acrobatics, Stilts 2001
Jacob’s Pillow, Western MA, Modern, Contact Improvisational Partnering, Choreogrpahing with Voice. 1995
Other Work Experience
Directing, Performing and Choreography
Director, Elevate! 2 week Circus Arts Intensive for adults, Created curriculum and budget, hired instructors, taught stilts, trapeze, conditioning, composition 2016
Technical Director, Circus Luminous, Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM, Created rigging and set plot, consulted with lighting and sound designers and technicians, Installed rigging, flooring and set pieces, show TD 2015
Production Director, BUST! Woman’s Circus Arts Intensive, Armory for the Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Cultivated relationship with all participants, hired instructors, created budget, schedule, wrote all press materials, stage managed final performance, taught aerial fabric, trapeze, hoop, stilts, acrobatics, performance classes, movement for the untrained dancer, composition/choreography. 2015, 2012, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004,
Artistic Director, Circus Luminous, Lensic Performing Arts Center, Developed script, auditioned performers, choreographed acts, directed characters, consulted on lighting, sound and rigging design, hired all technical and artistic crews, wrote all promotional material, created and implemented budget. 2014
Director, Elevate! Adult Circus Arts Intensive. 2011
Director/Designer/Stage Manager, The Edge Festival, UC Davis Wright Hall, a dance and theater festival of original works by graduates and undergraduates @ Wright Hall UC Davis. 2013
Director/Designer/Choreographer, Empyrean Ensemble, The Mondavi’s Vanderhoof Studio, Davis CA. An operetta presentation of Monteverdi and Parodia by Pablo Ortiz, Matilda Hoffman conducting. 2013
Co-Director/Choreographer/C0-Designer, See/Saw: Bodies in Migration, Aire Puro International Street Theater Festival, Bogota Columbia, A 30 minute outdoor theatrical performance, on two aerial and acrobatic apparatus. 2013
Assistant Director/Choreographer, The Bacchae by Euripides, Barry McGovern Directing, Wright Hall Main Stage UC Davis, (Fall 2012)
Choreographer, Dancing Earth, USA Aerial Hoop Aerial Fabric January 2009-2012
Choreographer, The Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM. Billy Budd, Hired, trained and choreographed performers on an aerial net designed as part of a ship’s rigging. 2008
Producer, Curator, Collaborator, High Mayhem Emerging Arts, Santa Fe, NM. Curated and developed performance, music and art events geared towards the fringe edges of improvisational performance, new media and avant grade electronic music. Curated music and visual art shows in our gallery/performance space as well as an annual Fall Festival, with over 50 artists participating. 2000-2009
Choreographer/Apparatus Design Consultant, The Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM. The Tempest, Choreographed a solo performer on a large tree. Consulted on tree design. 2006
Choreographer/Ladder Design Consultant, The Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM. Barber of Seville, Choreographed two duets on 30 foot tall ladder. Consulted on building of apparatus. 2005
Performer/Choreographer/Manager/Instructor, Sally Mayo Dance, 1996-1998
Dancer/Instructor/Choreographer/Business Manager, Fusionworks Women Dancing, Providence, RI 1993-1996.
Performer/Co-choreographer, Sean Curran Dance, Folk Dance for The Future. 1996
Performer/Co-choreographer, Molissa Finley 1995
Performer/Co-choreographer, Elizabeth Streb 1995
Theatrical Technician
Wise Fool New Mexico, Multiple Shows in Multiple Venues; Lighting Design, Sound Design, Aerial Rigging, Set Design. 1999-2012
Dancing Earth, Contemporary Native American Dance Company, Technical Director, Touring and Production Director. 2009-2012
High Mayhem Emerging Arts, Sound Design/Engineering. 2000-2010
International Festival of the Arts, Valencia, Venezuela, Technical Director
Circus Oz, Brisbane Australia, Aerial Rigging with Helen Clifford, 2001
The Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM, Technician; Aerial Rigging, Light Rigging, 2001-2010
PS122/NYC, Jacobs Pillow/MA, Carriage House Theatre/RI, Ashamu Theatre/Brown University/RI, Providence Repertory Theatre/RI; Theatrical Technician, Light Rigging, Set Painitng, Set Construction. 1994-1998
Dance Theatre Workshop/NYC, Lighting Consultant, Deb Meunier Directing, 1996
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, Aerial Dance Rigging. 1995
Rhode Island College, Main Stage Theater, Technician; Light Rigging, Sound Design, Set Construction. 1990-1994
Massage Therapist
2015 Impulstanz, Vienna, Austria Neuromuscular Treatments to students and instructors
2014 Ponderosa, Angermunde, Germany Neruomuscular Treatements to resident dancers and staff
1999 to Present, Private Massage Practice, scheduling, bookkeeping, management, licensure
2010 to Present, Ten Thousand Waves, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2000-2008 La Posada Avanyu Spa, Santa Fe, NM
Research/Creative Activity
Selected Productions
2016
Spring/Summer 2016:
‘Meraki’, FemArt Festival, Prishtina, Kosovo, four week residency working with local professional artists mentoring youth in visual, performing and circus arts. Final presentation performance at ODA Theatre for opening night of the festival.
‘Bringing in the Sheets’, dance/theatre performance, thematics in contemporary feminism and identity. Creator, Performer. Santa Fe, NM, Sofia, Bulgaria, Istanbul, Turkey and western european tour to Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam, possible other sites are still in negotiation.
2015
‘Circus Luminous’, The Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM, Choreographic Consultant.
“the cracks are how the light gets in’, Muszi, Budapest Hungary, Creator, Performer, solo dance/theater
‘Bringing in the Sheets’, TAM Performance Space, Tarnovo, Bulgaria, excerpts from ‘the cracks are how the light gets in’ Creator, Performer, solo dance/theater
‘the cracks are how the light gets in’, ODA Theater, Prishtina, Kosovo, Creator, Performer, solo dance/theater
‘Bringing in the Sheets’ and ‘The Cracks Are How The Light Gets In’, Penasco Theater Collective, Penasco NM, Creative explorations for dance film
2014
‘memory is this, this is memory’, High Mayhem Emerging Arts Fall Series Santa Fe, NM, Video/Sound/Body Site Specific performance
‘We Do Not Live In Splendid Isolation’, thesis performance, Director, Designer, Choreographer
2013
Death Star Migration, Collboartive Site Specific Stilt Performance, UC Davis Campus, Director/Instructor
‘Like A Daydream or A Fever’, Penasco Theater, Penasco N.M. three new works, rope & harness duet with Serena Rascone, and solo dance on chair and floor, dance/theatre
‘Echoes & Ghosts’ University of California Davis, Wright Hall Main Stage, Spring Dance Concert, solo dance with video
2012
‘And Then We Were Home’, Penasco Theater, Penasco, NM, Director, Designer, Performer, solo dance/theatre
2011
‘Rocks and Stone’, solo movement study presented informally at, Red Rocks National Park, Las Vegas, Nevada and Pecos Wilderness Area, Pecos, NM
2010
‘Echoes & Ghosts’ @ High Mayhem 9th Annual Festival of Emerging Art, Santa Fe, NM, Solo Butoh based performance with photography collage and live composition, in collaboration with Alex Neville and Molly Wagoner
2006
‘The Grey Lady’ High Mayhem Emerging Arts Fesitval, Creator/Performer solo butoh
1999
‘Red as seen through the eyes of Canaries at Dusk’ @ the Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Creator/Performer, solo butoh
1998
‘Yellow’, The Carriage House Theater, Providence, RI, solo butoh exploration of mining technologies
1997
‘Flying Doesn’t Come Easy’, AS220, Providence, RI, Sculptural Installation and Performance, Creator, Performer
1996
‘Red’, The Carriage House Theater, solo dance performance, created through explorations into women and the Balkan War.
Selected Collaborations and Performances
2016
Render Bender: A Collision of Artistic Wonderment, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Performance on Aerial Ladder
The Amarillo Museum of Modern Art, Amarillo, TX, The Chicano Collection of Cheech Marin, Opening Gala Event, Stilt Acrobatics, Dance Solo
2015
‘Synchronicity’ Blaha Lujza Plaza, Budapest, Hungary Site Specific Performance, Director, Videographer, Performer
‘Glitchbody’ UC Davis, Davis, CA, Guillermo Gomez-Pena led project, Performer, Collaborator
UC Davis Vibrant Matter with Brandon Gonzalez, Davis, CA Dramaturg
‘Serendipity’ Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA Choreographer, Performer
Christine Germaine and Dancers, Mission Street Theatre, San Francisco, CA Choreographer
2014
‘Circus Luminous’, Lensic Performing Arts Santa Fe, NM Director, Writer, Designer
‘Implicit Fragments’, Basement Gallery Arts Building, UC Davis Campus Dramaturg, Designer
Survival Festival with Open Space Berlin, Germany Production Staff, Performer
La Fabrika Ka, Saint Etienne, France Performer, Dramaturg, Designer, Site Specific Collaboration with Ephia Grubek
‘Memory Loops’ @ UC Davis CA, Video, Sound and Movement Collaboration with Brandon Gonzalez
‘Hidden Sites’ @ UC Davis CA, Site Specific Movement and Sound Collaboration with Brandon Gonzalez
‘Isabella’s Dream’, Henry Daniel Director, Performer/Collaborator, University of California Davis
2013
‘Echoes and Ghosts/Corps Etranger’ , solo and collaborative performance with Christine Germaine, The Garage, San Francisco CA and The Penasco Theater, Penasco NM Choreographer, Collaborator, Performer
‘Transmutation’ @ the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, a contemporary movement trio with clay and car tires, relating to the impact of trauma on the corporeal tissue
‘The Death Star Migration’, UCDavis Campus, Davis, CA, Director, Original Site specific stilt walking/acrobatic, dance performance, on UC Davis Campus and the Death Star or Social Sciences Building, I used live stream video on the death star, to extend the performance beyond the audience walking with us during the performance, across the campus.
2011
‘Flexion’, Danse Encore, Trois Riveres, Canada, Performer
2010
‘Sensitivity Training’, Volta 6, Art Basel, Basel Switzerland, Commissioned to create and perform Butoh based duet with Audrey Rubinstein
2009
‘Flexion’, Performer, Technical Driector, Bumbershoot, Seattle, WA
‘Persephone’ @ the High Mayhem 8th Annual Emerging Arts Festival, in collaboration with Peter Breslin
2008
‘Ashes: the alchemy of Hope’ North Fourth Theatre, Albuquerque, NM, Director/Conception, in collaboration with Jeremy Bleich, Yozo Suzuki, Corinna MacNeice, Consuelo Marie Gambana, Kayo Mueller, Jasmine Quinsier, Cynthia Ruffin, Tamara Bertucci
‘Flexion’, Co-Director, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Arts, Miami Florida
2005
‘Flexion’ Work in Progress showing, Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM, Co-Designer, Co-Choreographer, Performer
2004
‘H2O’ Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe, NM Co-Writer/director and Performer
2003
‘HAHA Monkey Flower’ Cell Space and In the Street, San Francisco, CA Co-Director/Writer and Performer
2001
‘Vaudeville Hoolihan’ East Coast tour from Providence to New Oreleans, in collaboration with The Dolly Ranchers
2000
‘The Curtain’ Flame Chen Performance Space, Tucson, Arizona Co-Director, Choreographer, Performer
1999 ‘The One Railroad Circus’, Cerrillos, NM Co-Director, Performer, Choreographer, Writer, Publicist, an annual summer circus, created by 25 women coming together from all parts of the USA, to create an original circus production based on a relevant social or political theme. each year was something different, ranging form GMOS to why folks are so fascinated with twins, to magical realism as live performance to trans marriage and queer moms. 1999-2004
1998
New Choreographer’s Showcase, The Carriage House Theater, Providence, RI, Co-Producer with Deb T Larsen
1997
New Choreographer’s Showcase, AS220, Providence, RI, Co-Producer with Deb T Larsen
1996
New Choreographer’s Showcase, AS220, Providence, RI, Co-Producer with Deb T Larsen
Dance Films
2014
‘Portals’, Edited by Flame Schon, Flame filmed my performance ‘Echoes and Ghosts’ at the Penasco Theater in 2014 and utilized that footage to create her project, Portals. Shown at Currents New Media Fesitval, Santa Fe NM 2014
2012
‘Acequia Madre/Mother Ditch’, filmed over two seasons in a series of arroyos and acequias around santa fe county, exploring the ritual of agricultural based communities relationship with acequias, the source of water for farming in a large portion of New Mexico.
2005
‘Godessess’ Directed by Raoul Trujillo, Performer, Choreographer; a live dance performance filmed at the Paramount Theater, Santa Fe NM. Filmed and Edited by Wilhem Moten. Presented at the Santa Fe Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.
Conferences
2016
Fem Art, Prishtina Kosovo, a six day conference with performance and visual art reflections on what it is to be a feminist? 1) Facilitated a discussion on movement based practices and how they change how we see bodies. 2) Presented a symposium on building content driven theater.
2014
Methodology and Materials of Performance Studies, Class Conference, UC Davis, Davis CA Presented on acrobatics and body image.
2013
PFS Stanford, Stanford, CA, Presented on using live stream technology to create embodied community when not in the same physical location.
2013
Annual Fall Performance Studies Conference at UC Davis, presented on the break down of physical and psychological barriers through stilt walking.
Commissions & Residencies
2015 Muszi, Budapest, Hungary, Residency; movement, film and writing research
2015 Penasco Theatre, Penasco, NM, Residency; movement, film and writing research
2015 The Garage, San Francisco, CA, Residency: movement, film and writing research
2014 Ponderosa, Angermunde, Germany, Residency; movement, aerial arts, film and writing
2014 La Fab Ka, Saint Etienne, France, Residency; movment, site and writing research
2013 The Garage, San Francisco CA, Choreographic Residency with Christine Germaine
2013 The Penasco Theater, Penasco NM Choreogrpahic Residency with Christine Germaine
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Penasco Theater Residencies each summer, Penasco, NM
2010 Sensitivity Training @ Volta 6, Art Basel, Basel Switzerland. Commissioned to create and perform Butoh based duet.
2009-2010 Project in Motion, Las Cruces, NM. Commissioned to create new aerial dance piece.
2010-Aerial Dance Festival, Boulder, CO. Aerial Stilt residency with 15 students creating a new work to be showcased in festival performance.
2002 Santa Fe Playhouse, Santa Fe, NM Residency for development of Gabriel Garcia Lorca’s, “Blood Wedding” with director Valli Riviera
2001 Stalker Theatre, Sydney, Australia, Stilt Residency, show development
2001 Vulcana Women’s Circus, Brisbane, Australia Residency and Performance
1998, 1999 Carriage House Theater, Providence, RI Residency and Performance
1998 Kazuo Ohno Studio, Yokohama, Japan, Residency
1998 Dance Theatre Workshop, New York City, NY Choreographer’s Showcase, Residency and Performance
1997 Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA Residency and Performance
Grants, Fellowships, Awards
Grants
The US Embassy Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria 2015
The US Embassy Pristina, Kosovo 2015
McCune Foundation 2001 to 2015
NEA 2009,10,12, 15
Kindle Foundation, 2008,09,10
Astraea Foundation 2004
Puffin Foundation 2003,04
The Santa Fe Community Foundation 2001, 02,03,04,05,06,07,08
Rhode Island Council for the Arts 1994,95,96,97,98
Fellowships
Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Davis 2012-2014
Rhode Island College Movement and Theater Fellowship 1992
Awards
Geronima Cruz Montoya “Pinon” Award for Humanities, Santa Fe Community Foundation, 2008
Best Local Performing Arts Group, Wise Fool New Mexico, by the readers of the Santa Fe Reporter, 2009-2013
Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, 2005
New Choreographer Award, The Place, London, UK 1996