The Davis Sisters

June 7th - 21st

The Davis SIster’s Residency has been postponed

We will have more information on The Davis Sisters’ project when we have a definitive date for their postponed residency. The project will shift depending on the residency dates.

Chloe Aligianni

Chloe’s Residency has been postponed to 2021

March 15th - 25th

‘Space Cadet’

A renewed interest in space science and the dawn of commercial spaceflight amidst the backdrop of climate change are stimuli for this project. We are yet to grasp what these new avenues signify on a global scale. Intrigued by the impact of shifting environments on identity and our connection to place, I ask whether the pull to explore serves a deeper human need.

The term space cadet describes both, surprisingly, a trainee astronaut and a person perceived to be out of touch with reality. I am interested in the duality of the term which on one hand points at innovation, exploration, discovery and on the other at an individual not exactly in their right mind. This

solo dance performance takes the audience on a poetic journey alongside an archetypical explorer. Faced with the urge to look into the unknown a genderless figure journeys through landscapes, crisscrossing between earthly and ethereal spheres, reaching out while turning within.The project aims to open up a dialogue between art, science and audience, creating the space to question what technological advancements and an expanding space industry might mean for the human soul. The Rootstock Residency will allow for the development of choreography and sound score, drawing material and inspiration from the surrounding landscapes.  It will kickstart an extensive R&D period towards the creation of a site sensitive performance informed by an international team of space scientists.

Mauriah Donegan Kraker

June 28th - July 8th

Mauriah’s time at The Croft was a walking conversation with the land. She walked short and long distances, both solo and with folks who know local pathways through town and field. The cadence developed as she walked through the land and the conversations shared with other humans/species was catalogued through the development of audio scores for walking. She developed three audio scores for walking during her time at The Croft.

Here is access to the written and audio score for “Score for Walking I”

Here is access to the written and audio score for “Score for walking II”.

Here is access to the written and audio score for “Score for Walking III”

This residency received support from the MCACA and Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network through a minigrant. We are so grateful for their support of this artist’s project.

Jana Harper

July 12th - 26th

Moving with the Land, Listening to the Ancestors

In her 2-week residency Jana researched her ancestral history in Northern Michigan. It was a period of deep listening. She fulfilled her intention of stillness; listening and moving with the flora; and listened, made contact, and moved with her ancestors. During her time at The Croft she made a prayer belt. Each bead is made of rolled paper, containing a family name of the Mackinaw Bay Band Tribe. Th prayer belt contains all of the names of the tribe. She took this prayer belt to Mackinaw to adorn locations on the island with it. There she read the names of the tribe aloud to the trees, the rocks, and those who passed by. Much of what she produced during her time at The Croft is a part of her show, Moving with the Land, Listening to the Ancestors, at the Basile Gallery at Herron School of Art + Design at Indiana University.

This residency received support from the MCACA and Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network through a minigrant. We are so grateful for their support of this artist’s project.

Trina Mannino

August 2nd - 9th

Trina Mannino’s Residency Type has been altered. She will be in residence in person while her collaborators will be in residence virtually.

 “Brutta ma Buona” (Ugly but Good) explores womanhood in relation to the family unit and how past trauma shapes our social fabric. The dance features an intergenerational group of female-identifying artists: Director and Choreographer Trina Mannino and dancers Donna Costello, Jessie Winograd and Joy Douglas and weaver/dancer Carol Chave (ages 24-70). Carol weaves onstage in the vein of Tappeti Ericini, a weaving style still done by female artisans in the Sicilian village Erice where Trina’s father’s family is from. The project was first conceived at The Croft in June 2019. Trina and her collaborators are thrilled to be returning to complete the work at The Croft this summer before its premiere at Triskelion Arts in September in Brooklyn.

During her residency this summer Trina worked on solo’s for the dancers within the work “Brutta ma Buona”. She also worked through COVID related logistics for the upcoming showing of the work. She zoomed with her collaborators during the residency to continue to rehearse together, and discuss potential group rehearsal opportunities upon her return to New York City. She and her collaborators performed a livestream of “Brutta ma Buona” on 5pm of October 17th 2020.

Claire Molla

August 9th - 19th

Claire Molla makes performances supported by duration and endurance. She is interested in presenting performance as non-object, non-product, non-possession. This residency comes at a time of crisis for liveness, connection, and risk-taking. She will be developing a performance that addresses what isolation does to embodiment; and how will and circumstance soothe or stoke our fears.

Claire chose to share two projects while she was in residence at The Croft, Grave and Country Club:

For Grave she and The Croft set up an installation walk through The Croft property. The installation consisted of two graves, a walk through the property, and the video of her digging the grave on her brother’s property. The first grave that people encountered was a space where they could choose to write something that wanted/needed to express, honor, or bury. Their written words were then tied to an object and placed in the grave. The second grave was Claire’s installation. It was dug to her body’s specifications, and was listed with the time that it took to dig. She took a video of herself digging the grave on The Croft property, which will likely be edited into a cut of it at a later date. The graves were followed by a video installation of Claire digging her first grave in Georgia. Each grave and the video had seating for contemplation, and the altering of felt time. Here is a link to Claire’s writing about Grave and the video she shared as a part of the installation. 

For Country Club she shared 4 excerpts from the multi-channel installation version of the piece, which was filmed in Detroit in 2017. We projected the work onto the schoolhouse in Horton Bay for an evening showing. The schoolhouse is visible from the road, so during the showing vehicles moving past were able to see the work, and their lights cast speckled tree shadows across the schoolhouse front. In between some of the clips Charlie Millard, a local musician played, as a way to reground the audience between the excerpts of the film.

This residency received support from the MCACA and Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network through a minigrant. We are so grateful for their support of this artist’s project.

GREYZONE

August 23rd - August 30th

GREYZONE planned to be at The Croft with choreographer Lindy Fines and dance collaborators: Breckyn Drescher, Rachel Gill and Chelsea Hecht. Due to COVID-19, the process and development of our new evening-length production ASSEMBLY was put on pause and we will use this time to pick up where we left off. 

ASSEMBLY is about the conscious and unconscious movement histories we carry within us and the desire to inhabit new ways of being. Melding and reconfiguring phrases from the company’s respective dance backgrounds, ASSEMBLY asks how we might honor our individual and collective pasts while forging rituals not yet imagined. During these uncertain times, as we feel the urge to seek comfort in the familiar; ASSEMBLY offers a vision for what could exist beyond the traditions we already know. 

In the time leading up to their residency Lindy made the choice to drive out with the artists. This allowed for her to bring a larger group of dancers, and a videographer. The dancers were Taylor Boyland and Tim Bendernagel. The photographer/videographer that joined the group was Sanem Gunes. With this larger group they were able to hold in person rehearsals together on the dance deck, which is something that they had been unable to do in New York.

slowdanger’s memory 6, is a multidisciplinary performance work, fusing dance frameworks, live sound/vocalization corporeal mime techniques and original garment design by MAD RECITAL. While traversing a purgatory of their own fragmented memories, two bodies combine to build a new form//being. This work explores historical and mythological creatures that house fluid gender identities, examining how non-binary beings have always existed within society through mythologized divine creatures. memory 6 is the 7th installment in slowdanger’s episodic body of work, the memory series.