Meet Paige Krause
Meet Choreographer, Paige Krause.
Paige’s dance looks at how the five senses inspire both food and movement.
Choreographer, Paige Krause will premiere her new dance work, sea of senses, this week at STIR. Her cast includes dancers, Jasmine Bertrand, Whitney Willis Hebert, and Leah Twilley, featuring music by Kind Cousin, illustrations by Kelli Foret Richard, projection design by Jonathan Armentor, and costumes by Chad Trahan. She is collaborating with Chef Manny Augello of Bread and Circus.
Read along to find out more about Paige’s process of developing ‘sea of senses’ with her diverse roster of collaborators!
Tell us about your process with Manny Augello, chef and owner of Bread & Circus.
The piece I’ve developed for STIR has been a rich and interesting collaboration. We originally began by discussing the way that individuals document and capture the food they eat. By documenting so much of what we eat, do we begin to dull down our senses? Are we drawn to eat certain food just by the way it looks in a photograph and less on how it tastes and smells?
From there I began exploring the individual senses and how they respond to food when they stand alone. I was inspired by Manny’s memories of childhood while living in Sicily. He shared his clear memories of the sea and how the food always echoed that element. I began to take his words and create choreography, focusing on the senses of sound, touch and sight, knowing that the audience would experience smell and taste in the dish that he would create for the performance.
How has collaboration influenced other aspects of your piece’s development?
I’m very driven by collaborations. I love what other artists bring to the process, it’s such a rich experience when you let their choices mix with your own. I’m so grateful to share the music of Kind Cousin and the work of Allison Bohl DeHart. She created an original mix of her work for this project and it’s just been a natural fit for the choreography and for the dancers.
I also worked with Kelli Foret Richard for the illustrations. Her drawing are so lovely. I shared with her words that I had collected from rehearsals and from conversations with Manny and she ran with the ideas creating some beautiful drawings. By weaving her images into the performance I think it naturally ties in the visual sensory connection.
Jonathan Armentor is the projection designer for the project. He has a great eye for design and has really married the music and images together to offer a rich background for the piece. Chad Trahan and I have worked together for years. He understands my approach to choreography and often styles the dancers individually, which I enjoy seeing on stage.
As a choreographer, what is your rehearsal process like and how do you utilize the dancers?
As a choreographer, I love working with dancers that take risks by stepping out of their own comfort zones. Jasmine, Leah and Whitney have just been a pleasure to work with and I’m so happy to have them performing this piece. I like to create a shell of work and then give dancers space to try on the choreography and make adjustments, changes, decisions, and suggestions. All of their input really shapes the movement and by allowing dancers to make individual choices, I think it makes the performance that much richer. These three have given me the space to really enjoy the process and as a choreographer that’s what makes the process so much fun!
PAIGE KRAUSE has always gravitated to the collaborative nature that surrounds her while choreographing new work. During the process she always begins with a collection of items, drawing inspiration from photographs, fashion, art and text. When asked to be involved with STIR she was instantly intrigued by the challenge and collaboration of working with a chef to create a unique approach to merging food and dance. Krause received her BFA from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and has performed and presented work at Acadiana Center for the Arts, American College Dance Festival, Conduit Dance Space, Festival International de Louisiane, Manship Theater, Montreal Fringe Festival and New York Fringe Festival. In 2002 she completed an internship at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival where she developed a deeper appreciation and interest in arts administration. As an administrator, she has worked with Reed College, Northwest Arts Academy, New Orleans Ballet Association, Performing Arts Society of Acadiana, Acting Up (in Acadiana) and Acadiana Center for the Arts. Krause is currently the Outreach Director at Acadiana Center for the Arts where she works passionately to provide assistance and opportunities to school programs, organizations and individual artists throughout Acadiana.
Don’t miss out on seeing the premiere of Paige Krause’s new dance work alongside new dance works by Frances Barker, Clare Cook, Gina Hanchey and an original dance film by Sharon Leahy at STIR!
STIR, a food and dance performance event
Thursday August 3, OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION Benefit, 7:00pm
Friday August 4, 7:30pm
Friday August 4, 9:30pm
Saturday August 5, 7:30pm
Tickets
$40 General Admission
$35 AcA Members, Students, Seniors
$125 Opening Night Celebration tickets (Thursday Aug. 3rd only)*