REMEMBERING BIRD | SeattleDances

Editors Note:

Originally from the Portland OR space, Bird was a part of an influential cohort of dancers that graduated from Cornish College of the Arts within the early 2010s. While most of that group finally landed exterior Seattle, together with Bird shifting to Philadelphia in 2018, the work popping out of that period continues to affect the Seattle scene.

Even as a younger artist, Bird had a whole aesthetic standpoint that was not solely motion, however entire worlds. The work I noticed of theirs left a deep poetic impression on me—of softness giving solution to rawness. Of pastels and feathers and glitter. Of magnificence as a method into darkness and again once more. Those that knew Bird knew that their creativity was not contained to the dance area however infused their life—wherever they went Bird created unusual and marvelous magnificence.

This article comprises a group of images and reflections submitted by current and former members of the Seattle dance neighborhood that had been collected within the week following Bird’s passing. We want on this time of loss to acknowledge and have a good time their artwork and artistry, however please know that is solely a small glimpse into the work they accomplished of their time in Seattle and certainly not a whole archive.

For these in a position to contribute there’s a GoFundMe to assist with Bird’s afterlife care. Additionally, be looking out for a day of remembrance to be scheduled at Cornish College of the Arts.

“Bird’s Remedies for Aching Bones kicked off the second act with an eerie and lavish world of sequins, painted horse figurines, knickknacks, and kimono-like robes. Three women lounged in front of a mirrored vanity table, dressed in outlandish getups (think fur and lingerie covered in large pom-poms) and overdone make-up, gold legs, and platinum blonde bobs. Each dancer took her turn at the front of the stage, displaying sultry strength in mesmerizing and creepily unnatural movements, emphasized by Andrew Powell’s sound design. Remedies was like Mean Girls with washed-up alien divas…Bird’s exploration of the feminine seemed to point toward unease with objectification and the feminine capacity for destruction.”

– Excerpt from “Humor and Horror at Next Fest NW 2014” by Ciara McCormack, SeattleDances

“I held a great deal of admiration and respect for their spirit and unapologetic performance energy. the world lost a great artist.” -Nikolai Lesnikov

Above: Photos from Cornish college students’ efficiency in Seattle Center on November 3, 2013. Submitted by Nikolai Lesnikov. Below: Process images submitted by Makenzie Stone.

Trigger 2012. Jazzy Photo.

“Bird never knew I had to fight two other dance students to get them in my thesis dance piece at Cornish. I was impressed by their fierce presence when they took up space in the studio as a first year student. I am thankful to have gotten to share so much during this transitioning stage of each others lives. I think during the making of this piece we each grew more comfortable in our identities.” –Carla Negrete Martinez

Pictured left: Performing in Negrete Martinez’s work.
Below: Rehearsal images from Babette McGeady’s 9andOne. 2012. Submitted by Makenzie Stone.

Performing with Pendleton House. 2013. Jazzy Photo.

“I really feel so grateful to have been a instructor and mentor to Bird whereas they had been at Cornish. This period at Cornish was memorable and filled with gifted younger artists dedicated to bringing their artistic concepts to life.

Bird was a visionary, making floor breaking work whereas at Cornish after which creating provocative, impactful works as they transitioned into the Seattle dance neighborhood. They pushed boundaries, they labored throughout disciplines creating collaborative relationships with visible, movie, theater, and sound artists.

Bird was an genuine, brave artist who was dedicated to the transformative prospects of efficiency follow and world constructing. Bird created an evening-length immersive multi-media efficiency for his or her BFA capstone thesis that went past something I’ve seen throughout the a few years on school there. They had been defiant in one of the best of the way, inhabiting an elaborate, expansive imaginative and prescient. Bird discovered their method into a brand new Cornish constructing pre-renovation that started as a tough and ragged area. They reworked that vacant area right into a multi-part set up and efficiency referred to as, Effigies of My Own Mortality.  Walls had been deliberately designed with shade and textual content, dancers had been painted, phrases written and recited, and performers dropped into states of being that had been mesmerizing. The viewers adopted performers by way of the broken-down halls and rooms that had been collaged in textiles of pinks and sequins.

I weep occupied with it. When artwork has an affect, it issues, it transforms.
Thank you, Bird, in your fierce unapologetic being and making.

Part of Bird’s senior BFA mission was additionally a solo I made on them referred to as, you by no means look me within the eyes, I by no means look you within the eyes. I spent many hours within the studio witnessing Bird transfer, freeze, resist, battle, notice, change, and proceed to come back into themselves. These sorts of collaborations are what enliven me as an artist – the alternate is deep, intimate, scary, and transformative. As a part of this solo, Bird spoke in fast repetition the textual content of the title, “You never look me in the eyes, I never look you in the eyes.” Over the years the intonation of their voice talking it’s one thing I replay in my thoughts typically. 

And at this second of grief and loss, Bird’s fierce delicate voice is with me once more.
Thank you, Bird, for Staying With.

Lastly, I can converse to a site-specific piece I made referred to as, Beneath Our Own Immensity.

In this work, Bird traversed down a dusty path, rolling, falling, rising, throwing mud clouds of dust into the air. This work continues to the touch me due to the ferocity, abandonment, realness, and vulnerability of working in such a uncooked web site with Bird and this group of dancers. We went rogue, we stepped out of the confines of cut-off dates, dance areas, and institutional tidiness and made work that mattered to all of us.

Thank you, Bird, for main with such abandon.
Thank you, Bird, for defying all expectations of the “right ways” to make artwork, and as an alternative getting into being precisely YOU.”

-Alia Swersky

Performing in Alice Gosti’s Bodies of Water. 2016. Submitted by Alice Gosti.

“I remember them as someone whose mind was so quick, so deep, and so intricate. I met them when I was shy and naive and they always spoke their mind into whatever process we were doing. I always admired that, they inspired me to speak up and to stand up. They once made these beautiful aura cards for the cast of Bodies of Water. They captured us so well. To this day it is the best gift I have ever received.” –Sabina Moe

Below: Photos from Alice Gosti and Nikolai Lesnikov

Trigger. 2016. Jazzy Photo.