Amy, Emily, Leslie and I have done our work to design a path forward for The Quarry Project during this extra year. We will "meet” once a month for an hour, cycling through a series of three “meetings.”

Meanwhile, we are collectively discovering new pathways of learning and interacting while we keep our distance. This Sunday, the ensemble will have its 3rd remote gathering.

Well, here we all are, in the same boat, reliant, entwined, interwoven, vulnerable.
Daily, we learn new skills and remember what we have forgotten. We step carefully, with loving attention for each other.

It may be the dead of winter here in Vermont, but inside, I am thinking about the CHAIR scene of The Quarry Project whose finale is a mere six months away.

A foot of snow fell over two days, then the sun came out. Sparkling, expanse of white.
Flashes of blue as the jay lands, wing prints on the snow.

Throughout the ages, music and dance have had a powerful synergy, each becoming more as a result of the partnership. Having been both a singer and a dancer, I experienced that deep expansion.

Outside, it is another world - snowy, brown, cold, cloudy - but inside, everyone in The Quarry Project has a warm and powerful memory of being on the water in this amazing space.

We have completed our last Development summer; a deeply challenging and rewarding time. Thanks to all those who helped with design, fabrication and site preparation in early August.

We are closing in on our time in the quarry where we will put together what was created in separate rehearsals off-site, choreographing the whole to see The Quarry Project come to life.

Off-site rehearsals for the Quarry Project are complete. Now we look to August to put all components together in the quarry. Until now, we have been working on specific scenes and imagining what they would look like in proximity.

We are nearing the end of our off-site creation and rehearsal period based at Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio in Montpelier, one of our Presenting Partners. Thanks to their generosity, we have had ample time to develop the work and are ready to take it to the quarry.

This newsletter will highlight the two collaborators who create the primary public visuals for the project: Lukas Huffman – film director/editor, and Julia Barstow – photographer.

We are well underway creating and developing scenes and composing music in preparation for the full ensemble rehearsals in the quarry in August. There are 24 dancers, 6 musicians and the infamous "tall, dignified couple".

The Quarry Project has proven to be a truly ambitious and far-reaching creation. Here is what we realized in 2018 and are anticipating for 2019:

Since Labor Day weekend, when we wrapped up our 2018 Development time and left the quarry, we have settled into the tasks of bringing this project to its next level.

August was a full month for The Quarry Project: construction of new stages, expansion of the infrastructure, rehearsals of the scenes created in the studio, and capturing them on film. Our days were deeply satisfying, shimmering with magic and at the same time overwhelming, scary and grinding.

Summer is in full swing as are the plans to bring ideas and scenes into the Wells Lamson quarry for development.

Three big pieces of news that have given all of us affirmation and energy:  

Oh, April is indeed cruel this year. It is snowing. I continue to feed the birds. My lettuce starts are leggy, waiting. We are all waiting.

Here are Sofia and Andric on the stage in August, experimenting with sounds in the quarry. Just to give you some perspective, in the far distant right-hand corner of the photo, you can maybe see me sitting on the rock ledge, listening.