This work imagines consequences of glacial melt, the necessities and currencies of a “go bag”, it advocates for land sovereignty, and invokes Latine cultural symbolism. We move through states of viscosity (WATER), tectonic slowness (EARTH), the seriousness of measured breathing (AIR), and frenetic quickness (FIRE), a dark comedy with a surprise ending delivered by a squad of contemporary avatars. You’ll meet Moon, ghost, catastrophe, compost, restoration and diaspora ancestors. We call to action vibrational awareness of ecosystem solidarity, and elemental sovereignty.
Choreographer Taja Will in collaboration with performers Margaret Ogas and Marisol Herling
Live Music Performance and Composition by Eric M.C. Gonzalez
Video by Sequoia Hauck
Scenic Design Jorie Ann Kosel (Red Eye iteration) adapted from design elements instigated by Jess Kiel-Wornson (2023 iteration) which was an elaboration on a foundational design by Taja Will
Design Install Assistant Wini Froelich
Lighting Design by snem deSellier, reinstall director Kat Purcell, board operator Sequoia Hauck
Red Eye’s Invaluable Space Maestro Matt Regan
ASL Interpreters (Thursday): Maria Dively and Bee Valentino
A feature length dance film by choreographer Taja Will and filmmaker Sequoia Hauck
Queer ceremony. Tierra. Fuego, Agua, Viento. Reclaiming connection to bloodlines through the guidance of plant and land ancestors on Dakota and Anishinaabe land, Mni Sota Makoce. We find ourselves right where we are, as we listen deeply to the plantita ancestors near us. This dance film is the biomythology of bodies in Latine diaspora, Boricua, Chicana, Chilean.
We journey with the archetypes which support/guide/mask/empower us, we are LOVER, VIRGIN, SHADOW, SERVANT, SIREN and ALCHEMIST. We are here now, and ancient, elders in training and millennials, we are stress, and meditation, we are tired and we are growing.
Filmed at Belwin Conservancy, our process was held by ancestors of long, tall grasses, bison, raspberries, mullein, yarrow, burr oak, and red pine, ancestral lands of the Dakota and Anishnaabe people.
LÍNEAS was a selected feature at the inaugural North x North International Film Festival. It premiered in December 2021 to 3 sold out screenings at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis.
This work is created with support from the McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Choreographers, the National Center of Choreography Akron, Belwin Conservancy, and the Metropolitan Regional Art Council.
To see, screen or host a screening of this film please contact tajawillconsulting@gmail.com.
To view a trailer of LÍNEAS visit here.
A digital archive/performance work funeral/dead dance: view webpage here
The parts of the process that don't reach the stage are often rich and revealing, the labor that is less visible is still vital, and this archive is a memorial to those materials. The development of Blood Language was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and over a year later morphed into this digital archive as a way to spotlight the materials derived throughout the process; the visual artifacts, and a collection of writings embedded in a virtual journey that captures the aesthetic of ritual.
Featuring the work and contributions of Jaffa Aharonov (site designer), Genevieve Johnson (company administrator/project manager), Brandon Musser (company sound designer), Taja Will (artistic director/choreographer), Marcela Michelle (project rehearsal director), Marisol Herling (artistic collaborator), Marggie Ogas (artistic collaborator) and Julia Gay (artistic collaborator).
Blood Language is a new contemporary dance which creates a ritual of identity personified by archetypes. It centers experiences of otherness and belonging; authored by BIPOC, queer and artists with invisible disabilities. Queer, Chilean choreographer Taja Will and collaborative performers bring audiences an immersive performance meditation on power, privilege, stress, love, wisdom, seduction, servanthood, judgement, detective work, trauma and healing.
Featuring choreographer Taja Will in performance with Marisol Herling, Margaret Ogas, and Julia Gay. Collaborative support includes rehearsal director Marcela Michelle, composer ba musser, songwriters Carlisle Evans Peck and Laura Larson, and selections by Michael Wall (soundFORMovement).
Blood Language has received support from the National Association of Latinos Arts and Culture, the Cowles Center Generating Room program, the Candy Box Dance Festival, New Movement Collaborative, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, National Center for Choreography Akron, the McKnight Foundation, and individual community support from over 100 private donors.
Blood Language premiered at the Cedar Cultural Center in 2021.
To see an excerpt of the Alchemist's solo, visit here.
Photo credit to Isabel Fajardo Photography
‘I want to hold your hand to the end of the world.’ Set in Oblivion, the era immediately before humans become extinct; an in-depth viewing of decaying culture in future times. Gospels is a dazzling swan song, it believes the world is still glamorous. It is a preservation of culture when we are emotionally stripped down and lost in a world where nostalgia is more exciting than reality.
Featuring performers Timmy Rehborg, Kathleen Pender and Taja Will. With words and media by Joe Horton, sound design and composition by ba musser, original songs composed by Carlisle Evans Peck, and scenic design by Justin Madsen.
Presented by ARENA Dances and the Candy Box Dance Festival at the Southern Theater, 2018
Additional support from the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Award 2018, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Award 2016.
To watch Gospels, visit here.
Created for the 40th Anniversary of Choreographer’s Evening at the Walker Art Center. The Third Coast Collective* reimagines past Choreographer’s Evening selections by Shawn McConneloug, Judith Howard, Laurie Van Wieren and the late John Munger. Short splicings woven together include new, post modern interpretations of McConneloug’s full bodied movement, Howard’s gift for costume and surrealism, Van Wieren’s expressive gestural language and Munger’s precise, count-based jazz turned cheerleading by this ensemble.
The Third Coast Collective was a short-lived, collaborative experiment instigated by Will, with members comprised from past works. The ensemble working model was an instigation for Will to start imagining TWE.
To watch an excerpt of 80's Babies, visit here.