falling, falling

falling, falling is a devised movement theatre piece that delves into the visceral, and perhaps paradoxical experiences of falling—an act we associate with moments as varied as love, failure, grief, surrender, and liberation. Through developing a language of physicality, this work interrogates the sensory unity in what it means to “fall” in English: a shared sensation that transcends the radically different landscapes of our inner lives. Here, to fall is to be at once untethered and bound, to experience release yet embody impact.

falling, falling originated ten years ago as a series of sketches & notes made on various napkins, scratch sheets, and late night chats in the studio at the Moscow Art Theatre, where I studied abroad. At the time, I was immersed in physical movement courses, and I found myself captivated by the endless rhythm of snow falling outside the studio windows, a gentle yet insistent reminder of the complex, and at times paradoxical experience of falling itself. In class, we practiced the delicate balance between holding, releasing, and surrendering to gravity—a process that mirrored my growing fascination with how we use the word "fall" to describe such diverse, often contradictory experiences.

The piece evolved through two intensive workshop phases, before entering a third production culminating in the world premiere at the Shafer Street Laboratory Theatre. The first workshop took place in 2016 shortly after I completed my BFA in acting where I began to experiment with how falling could become a vocabulary of its own, exploring the intersections of loss, release and surrender. Later, I had the opportunity to continue developing falling, falling through a workshop series at Chicago's Prop Thtr, where I collaborated closely with artistic director Olivia Lilley. Together, we deepened the piece’s exploration of embodiment and narrative, allowing each "fall" to carry its own story and sensation.

At the time of finally premiering falling, falling, I was immersed in teaching movement courses that foregrounded the body as both a vessel of knowledge and a site of resistance. This piece emerged as an exploration of embodiment as process: how bodies carry narratives of vulnerability and resilience, the ways in which we physically articulate or resist gravity’s pull. My goal was not merely to depict falling but to inhabit its layered meanings, tracing the body's negotiations with forces beyond our control— a theme deeply resonate with me as a Trans woman navigating reentering my artistry after a hiatus due to my own gendered experiences.

This work became a foundational component of my pitch to allow Virginia Commonwealth University to allow me to develop and subsequently teach a devised theatre course, driven by my interest in guiding students to create from the body’s impulses and stories. falling, falling captures my commitment to an embodied aesthetic practice, where movement serves as both form and content, revealing the nuanced landscapes of human experience as they are inscribed within and expressed through the body; An aesthetic practice that foregrounds embodied knowledge—where movement is both medium and meaning, revealing the intersections of language, sensation, and experience.