Artist Statement
I'm Cal, a queer, multidisciplinary movement artist and dance educator born and raised in California and currently based in Chicago, Illinois.
I see myself as a facilitator of collective composition,
a curator of meaningful movement experiences,
and a cultivator of community spaces.
My creative process is rooted in collaboration and experimentation, melding my own personal movement style with the creative impulses of my dancers/co-collaborators. I favor non-narrative structures, letting ideas evolve naturally through the development of a new work. Dances vary in theme but lean into the playful, absurd, abstract, and avant-garde.
I am interested in what makes us human, what connects us, what isolates and polarizes us. In particular, I like tackling huge cultural phenomena through my work, examining the myriad ways that we experience ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
I also believe that whether bringing creatives to the table, performers to the stage, or audiences to the theater, dance is an act of community, and whether we acknowledge it or not, dance is a political force.
While art can feel like an escape or a welcome distraction from the realities of the world, it is also an important and indispensable mechanism for change. What is steeped in tradition can also hold space for the radical, challenging, and progressive.
I believe that dance, like any other art, is inherently subversive.