KELSEY SAULNIER
DANCER / CHOREOGRAPHER / ARTIST
Between Whole and Part
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Between Whole and Part is a contemporary dance solo choreographed and performed by Kelsey Saulnier. It presents a single dancer dressed in jewel tones moving through both performative gestural and quotidian phrase work. This work was most recently performed at Green Space's Fertile Ground works in progress series in Long Island City, NY.
of Her
of Her is a solo contemporary dance choreographed and performed by Kelsey Saulnier. This original work was shown in 2018 at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought in Northampton, as part of their Works in Progress series. of Her uses definitive gesture and hazy text to explore states of consciousness and far away memories.
Small Memory
Small Memory is a contemporary solo dance choreographed and performed by Kelsey Saulnier. This work premiered at Montclair State University in 2018 at the American College Dance Association's (ACDA) Northeast festival. It was later selected for the Northeast conference gala concert, and eventually, one of thirty dances selected from across the country to perform at ACDA's National Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Adjudicators of the Northeast festival, Gerald Casel, Gerri Houlihan, and James Sutton lauded the work as "a delicate movement poem, pure in it's essence and profound in it's performance and simplicity." This work went on to be performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 92nd Street Y, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Small Memory reflects on shared memories, arrival, and departure. Through authentic gesture and poetic nuances, this dance explores a single moment in time, while questioning beginnings inside cyclical cycles.
Things Words Mean
Things Words Mean is an evening length contemporary dance work choreographed by Kelsey Saulnier, and performed by Paulina Schaefer, Adriana Greaves, Ian Spak, Maggie Golder, and Katherine Kain. This original work was created through extensive research and rehearsal over a year's time, and premiered inside the Old Chapel at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2018. Collaborators in sound for this work include Emily Salerno. Collaborators in lighting design for this work include Zachary Molin, and Kieto Mahaniah. This evening length work uses movement and text to explore the distance between our current selves and our memories, whether close or very far, senses that trigger memories, memories of the future, and more. Our experiences influence our choices, whether consciously of subconsciously, and these experiences live on and in our bodies always. How does the way we have chosen to perceive far away memories impact memories of the future, and moving forward as humans, are our lives impacted by what actually happened, or by the memories we have designed to fill the gaps of things forgotten.