About the Work

Euphonic Connection presents an exploration of relations through musicality as a “gripping” and “visceral” aura of motion that transcends our elusive consciousness. What could movement look like if our interactions were solely controlled by musical influence? What if music had the authority to diminish physical limitation and detachment?

Featuring an all female-identifying cast, Mikaela Morisato and dancers Liana Kleinman and Ragin Smith are challenging predictive interpretations of rhythm and physicality of the human body with a complex score by Travis Lake. We invite you to support and experience the premiere of Euphonic Connection on April 26th and 27th at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.

What Your Funds Will Support

Euphonic Connection is developing with support of Mare Nostrum Elements (MNE) Emerging Choreographer Series (ECS) 2022, which provides an intense performance and production residency. MNE ECS currently grants emerging choreographers an essential amount to assist in developing a new work, however, we are seeking additional funding to ensure higher compensation to our dancers and to invest in the continuation of this installment with MORISATO. www.morisato.co

Outside financial costs include but are not limited to:

Artist remuneration
Travel reimbursement
Costume commission
Composer commission
Audio editor commission
Post-production services

About the Choreographer, Mikaela Morisato

Mikaela Morisato is a dance artist and creator of MORISATO. Her artistic experience extends through live performance, digital media, and film production within the art industry. In 2018-2019 Mikaela studied with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and has performed works by artists from Batsheva Dance Company, Tanztheater Wuppertal, Cullberg, and more. Based in New York since 2019, she has danced for Peter & Co, Mignolo, Nathaniel’s Dance Collective, and freelance projects while having her personal choreography commissioned through SMUSH Gallery, Metuchen Arts Council, and others. Mikaela’s upcoming works are premiering this spring through Hidden X Soul, Mare Nostrum Elements, and MORISATO. “advocating for racial inclusivity, body positivity, and more diversity within the arts.”

Meet Dancer Liana Kleinman

Liana Kleinman is an interdisciplinary artist and dancer from Los Angeles, CA. In 2018, she received her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College, and subsequently worked with GALLIM, Hivewild, Soluq Dance Theater, and The Nash Conspiracy. In 2019, she was invited to The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity's residency, Preparing the Ground, under the direction of Medhi Walerski and Pierre Pontvianne, and curated by Emily Molnar. She has been commissioned to create work for Opera Notre Dame, The Angel’s Share at Green-Wood Cemetery, No-Distance Festival, and Futile Gestures Dance. As a filmmaker, she was honored to work as a video documentation intern at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2016. Liana is currently pursuing her Master’s at London Contemporary Dance School researching postures of melancholia in the ecological body. Melding practices of live performance with video work, she strives to curate ecosystems for audience members to find safety, indulge in absurdity, and take space to be precious with themselves.

Meet Dancer Ragin Smith

Ragin Smith is a dance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She works to develop deconstructed narratives by stringing together contexts of movement, poetry, visual art, and music — plugging into the interest sparked by pecking at dormant places. Her recent projects examine the implausibility of innocence, dynamics of the subconscious, overlapping memories, and the dissonance between isolation and affection. She has performed works by Kyle Abraham, Brendan Fernandes, Valeria Gonzalez, Andrea Miller, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, Loni Landon, Troy Ogilvie, La Intrusa Company, and others. She is also a creative director and co-producer of the ongoing Fabled Narcissism arts events. Ragin has a BFA in dance with concentrations in composition and modern dance, as well as a minor in business management from Marymount Manhattan College. She is a member of the Wet Hairy Women collective, Hivewild, Pacing Bodies Dance Company, and Alison Chase Performance Group.

A NOTE FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER, MIKAELA MORISATO

“When distancing from repetitive cycles of stagnant allowance I extend attraction to the synthesization of a reality where my body, this human entity, can mimic what I assume sound waves visually portray. My intimate relationship with movement inconsistently evolves with every trial, but music… music is a magical treatment! I am elated to have the opportunity to present my passion of correlating musicality and physicality with ECS 2022, and aspire to positively impact others with this project. Even if only for a moment, I desire a space for you to enter a consoling void within the intense chaos of Euphonic Connection. Your support of my work and creation of MORISATO means everything, thank you.”

ABOUT ECS

The Emerging Choreographer Series is an intensive crash-course in self-producing; offering rehearsal space, dancer and choreographer pay, career development consultations, and professional mentorship to selected choreographers. During the course of the program, choreographers will create, develop, and premiere a new work at CUNY’s LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) in Long Island City.

Mare Nostrum Elements, Inc. is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Euphonic Connection by MORISATO

New Work for Emerging Choreographer Series 2022