What Can I Expect?

Athleticism, the brink of emotional zaniness, humor, & a truckload of integrity.

Who Are You?

Come to the show and we'll talk about it - or - visit www.sonneblauma.com. For those who want more convention I've a bio posted below.

 What About the Art?

Intense passion compels navigation through genetic, spirit, and soul impressions toward inward infinite expansive space. Dogma sits in the back seat. The internal and external critics; leave. The desire to fill a moment with integrity burns. The muse becomes metaphor fueling humanities universal myths relevant to the true self's present incarnation. Images are either plowed under or left as initial marks. Entry into the “no”, the taboos, letting the form define itself in the making. Embracing the scribble of the child and all of the wrong marks in all of the unexpected places. The work is done if I am hungry for more, underdone, al dente preferred; leaves room for dialog, imagination, imperfection. My contribution to the betterment of humanity via expansion into the boundless frontier of consciousness. It is not only the action of the soul's code, but also an act of survival.

More Info:

Misa Kelly is the Artistic Director of SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre (since 1996) & is a co-founder of its non-profit The Future Traditions Foundation (since 1998.)

International commendations of her work include “you have what the rest of hope to find,” “your performance riveted me from the beginning to the end.”  Critics have described her as “astonishingly gifted,” and her works as “surprisingly subtle choreography alongside feats of athleticism,” “gusty…searching,” “worth the risk,” and as “increasing everyone's quotient of joy.”  Audience members have described the work as “profound,” “epic,” “majestic,” & “fresh, wild, & authentic.” 

Kelly has performed in the choreography of Christine Loizeaux, Christina McCarthy, Christopher Pilafian, and Tonia Shimin. She has worked with the Mark Parisian Mime Troupe, James Donlon, Motion Dance Theatre, Smudges Performance Group, & Santa Barbara Dance Theatre. Awards affiliated with Kelly's work include: the Golden Eagle Award, the Corwin Award - honorable mention, Indy Award, and the Profant Scholarship.

Misa has been invited twice to perform at the Monterey Dance Festival and will be travelling with her contemporary dance company (SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre) to Istanbul to teach and perform in September of 2008. In addition to performance and choreography she is an avid poet and visual artist. CLICK HERE to view some of her latest drawings.

For 3 Cities 3 Choreographers Misa will be sharing with the audience 3 works from my repertory. Nadar Sabe Mi Llama El Agua Fria (2000), Gypsy Dreams (2002), and Le Jardin Rouge (2008). Kelly states "I wish I could make it easy for you and tell you that such and such a dance is about this or that but I can't because the work is so abstract. Dance is a language of the heart and exists, in part, to express that which words cannot.

However, with that said, there are certain images, thoughts, and interests that seem to pervade in my life during the course of making a new work which undoubtedly informs the process. For instance, while making Nadar, the singular image of the journey of the chrysalis from worm to butterfly seemed to skirt about the forefront of my consciousness. That along with the dance of shadows that appeared mysteriously in unexpected places at unexpected times. Seizing some ephemeral nuance of what that through line might be I reflected on my own life and remembered my own journey from the dregs of insanity upward and beyond into a realm of relative calm, blissfulness, and balance.

The through line for the body of work is an awareness that the greatest work of art of all is creation itself which is a thing of great truth and honesty. In that I am a part of this great work of art, in order to let my work reflect this, I commit to being as present, honest, and truthful with the process as I can. It is a rudder which guides my every moment in the studio."