Muse Series ~ Marissa Brown
For our Muse series we'll be taking time to catch up with women who inspire us daily through their artwork, music, entrepreneurship, activism, design, etc. They are the movers and shakers of our time and are setting the bar high with their unique voices and visions.
This month we caught up with the incredibly talented Marissa Brown, a dancer and choreographer based in Brooklyn, NY, and founder of Lone King Projects, A non-profit organization that utilizes the body and movement to create work that reminds us of life and the present moment. Striving to make audiences come alive, live in the moment, and leave feeling human and be open to the unknown.
She recently participated in a residency program at Keshet Dance and Center for the Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While creating new work at the residency she wore pieces from our new SS18 collection, beautifully showing the movement and form of each piece. We are thrilled to share her documentation of these pieces in the form of video and photography.
"At this point in my life dance and choreography is not only a love but also a necessity. It’s how I process emotional energy from life’s challenges and triumphs and I share it with others so that they too may make the best of their everyday circumstances by ways of human connection and understanding."
How did you become interested in dance and choreography? Is it something you've always loved or a recent discovery?
I would say I always had an interest in dance growing up and then became very involved in training and performing when I was 14. At this point in my life dance and choreography is not only a love but also a necessity. It’s how I process emotional energy from life's challenges and triumphs. I share it with others so they too may make the best of their everyday circumstances by ways of human connection and understanding.
How would you say you approach choreographing a dance or a series of movements? Is it intuition based? Do you work with prompts such as written pieces or visual imagery?
I choreograph movement using improvisation, visual imagery, listening to emotional energies, asking questions, and reading from collected research.
An example of a collection of words and images that I put together in a phrase over the summer is: Roses, cha cha, weak knees, volcano, up-stretched arms, rupture of promise and loss…
Can you tell us some of your favorite authors or books?
The writings of Alain de Botton have come up in my work a lot. I’ve read his book On Seeing and Noticing many times now. My sister introduced me to Motel Chronicles by Sam Shepard when I started talking about my desire to go to the desert and it has some great short pieces inside of it.
Does living in New York inspire your work? If yes how so?
Living in New York inspires my work in the way that much of my work comes from a personal place. I’m interested in sharing my truth and New York is a part of that right now.
You attended a residency program in New Mexico, what was that like?
I recently participated in a residency at Keshet Dance and Center for the Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I was able to work in the studio for hours everyday and experience incredibly vast blue skies and mountains! I’ve been feeling drawn to the desert since last year so it was a beautiful experience to get out there and focus on moving and creating.
Does clothing inform your movement or dance? What do you look for in clothing and how can it inspire you?
I love clothing that I’m able to move in! I have a thing for solid colors and classic patterns and I love finding new ways to highlight the body through different clothing styles.
A lot of my clothing inspiration with movement comes into play in my film work. I like to look at how clothing and the environment relate to each other and how a piece of clothing can change the way you move simply by how it feels on the skin or what color it is.
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Lived In Series ~ Ilana Glazer
Like many of us, I was introduced to Ilana Glazer through the genius of Broad City, a show that she and pal Abbi Jacobson created and starred in. So when Ilana came to our Fort Greene shop last fall, we just about lost it! We shared that this year is Kordal's ten year anniversary and it would be such an honor to feature her in our Lived in Series to mark the occasion. Fast forward a few months later and Ilana is rolling up to set in Crown Heights on her bike, and yes, she's just as cool and kind as you'd expect. She's generous with her time, has everyone cracking up and looks incredible in our knits - even on a humid 90 degree day. We got a chance to talk about pregnancy and healthcare, how styling informs her characters, and finding levity amidst existential challenges.
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