My work involves nostalgia, much of which is determined by the physical objects that interest me (record players, slide reels, comb & paper kazoos), but is also determined by the medium of dance, something that by its nature passes without appropriate documentation for the experience. Nostalgia generates interest in the concept of physically inserting myself into the history of people I don’t know. In my work this has meant dancing to their workout records, dancing inside their family vacation slideshows, replicating their childhood songs and fracturing their narratives through a combination of physical momentum and precise visual design.

I was trained for concert dance. I was taught that choreography was meant to happen on a stage before a large audience but learned later that this scenario was frequently impossible even for established artists. I search for new contexts to share performance – and not those mediated by new technologies. Rather, I imagine returning to live performance as a gathering not dissimilar from a family slide show. Something that is intimate yet intricately visual. New venues for performance, like the Finch Lane gallery space, enable these new modes of viewing.

vimeo.com/ashleyandersondances

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