Laura Ann Samuelson is a choreographer, dancer, teacher of performance. She was the DAM’s creative-in-residence in July and August, 2017.
Watch & Participate
During Samuelson’s time at the DAM she is building a new solo dance performance, and inviting visitors to watch—and take part in—her process during open rehearsals. Samuelson is hoping to help visitors at the DAM perceive and interact with the art around them in a new way.
For Samuelson, rehearsals at the DAM are high intensity—there is no telling what will happen on any given day, how visitors will perceive what she’s doing, or how they will react. She says that she has been learning how to best incorporate this unpredictability into her practice.
Audience Impact
Rather than trying to tune out the world around her to focus only on her work, Samuelson is trying to be sure to tune into the audience and use them as a part of her creative process by paying attention to their reactions and listening to their responses and opinions.
After many of her rehearsals Samuelson has discussions with audience members about how they were reacting to her performance. The talks visitors have with Samuelson, and their reactions to her rehearsals, have direct impacts on the dance she is choreographing.
As her time at the DAM continues, Samuelson is hoping to create tasks for visitors to keep in mind while wandering throughout the museum to try to enable new ways of thinking about and experiencing art. One example she gives is imagining the paintings in a gallery looking back at you the way you look at them and thinking about how that makes you feel as you walk through the museum.
Schedule
No two days at the DAM are the same for Samuelson, who says her piece is cumulative, and that repeat visitors can watch her performance build, change, and grow.
Stop into the Hamilton Building on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, or Saturdays to witness her process first hand.
Laura Ann will give two full performances at 2 pm on August 12 and 13, 2017.
