My relationship to movement began when I was just two years old, when my mother signed me up for an introductory ballet class. During rehearsals, I would watch the older dancers perform, and do my best to imitate their intricate moves. I participated in competitive dance throughout my first 18 years of life, and while I feel deeply in discord with much of the competition dance world, I do believe that it aided in my longest standing relationship - with movement.
Now, I focus less on traditionally 'choreographed' movement, and more on intuitive, improvisational movement—and it's my medicine. Part of my self-care routine if you will. And furthermore, I'm curious about how movement can become a part of community-care practices as well. One way I explore this is through writing performance scores. I am excited about how anyone can pick up one of my scores and determine how their movements and actions develop throughout the process. I hope people feel guided by my score, but ultimately still feel agency over their body and movements. I deeply commit myself to prioritize humanity over materiality throughout my work, and score writing aligns with this value of mine.
In 2017, I was an artist in residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) in New Smyrna Beach, where I worked alongside 7 movement artists and 7 sound makers under the guidance of Zeena Parkins and Jennifer Monson. In this experience, we all participated in movement and sound making throughout the process. I learned that movers can be sound makers, and sound makers can be movers, and by the end of our time at the residency, the lines were beautifully blurred. With that being said, I have various relationships with sound artists around the world that I have collaborated with, including an ever-flowing collab with Kevin Allen Schwenkler, who I originally met at ACA in 2017. In the summer of 2019, I attended SOMA Summer Program, where I collaborated with Daniel Melo Morales on In the pocket. Out of pocket, a publication excerpt and a short performance. I'm thrilled every time I meet a new collaborator, and I work best with other people rather than alone. If you're interested in collaborating, please email me at lindsayparnellstudio@gmail.com.