July 14 - December 22, 2025

Composing Emergence with Nita Little - 6-month Mentorship

Flyer for composing emergence, purple image with pink text N/A


Begins July 14, 2025 *We meet the second Monday of each month for 6 months. July - December
8:30 –11:30 PST, 17:30 - 20:30 CET
A 6 month composition mentorship with Nita Little where performance meets composition: the integration of somatic action & art making for improvisational performance in dance and other forms of artistic practice. 

We meet once a month, second Mondays for 6 months: 
July 14
August 11
September 8
October 13
November 10
December 8.
With a showing on:

Meetings are taped and are available in a dropbox folder for participants so if a meeting is missed, you may still view it prior to the next meeting. 

“I received more from Nita during Composing Emergence than I did in a two years Master's program in Choreography. Forever grateful!” JC

Limited places available 

In mentorship we explore how embodying attention and intention can be the roots from which content is generated through relational practices which are generative of emergent forms. The quality of our relations within ourselves and with our worlds are key to this creative investigation. We study actions of co-composing, the embodiment of attention, and scoring. We examine creative thinking and seek to understand how content and form relate and may be refined. We get personal, to understand what you are bringing into this process, how you think, how you attend to your own personal creative processes and how you are in communicative practice with your world.  We do this work through meeting for 3 hours every other week, and through two private one-on-one sessions with Nita (more are possible with additional reduced fee). You may also meet with your cohorts. 

We anchor our work in the questions: “What is this art here to accomplish? What is this piece doing, rather than what is it about? How are embodiment and relational practices the anchor of our work?" 
To do this work we begin with the notion that the world is always generative and that that exists on the level of the very small and close at hand, as well as on the level of the universe. Our relations with those things, beings, thoughts or conditions that are present to us are important in terms of our co-creative practice. Are we speaking through our bodies to be in-touch? Are we listening? It is in engaging inter and intra-actively with immediacy that we will find those conditions that excite the creative emergence we seek. 
Also, my work is to help you investigate your relationships to art making, help you understand such things as the stages of making a piece, score building and how the form of the art relates to its material content, the scores, the movement, the relationships, space etc. It is also to help you come to recognize the difference between making a piece about a subject – the subject becomes passive, or or engaging with your subject so that the outcome is that which you seek in its operative form, doing something. All artists are unique and so their projects are unique. It is an honor to help you become even more engaged in your individual “vision” and production. 
Bridging philosophy and practice, we will discern the parts of the self that can “show up” to participate in the creative process. We study presence, attention, and communication, as well as investigate the relationships that make emergence possible. Score building for improvisational performance is a key training. We look at art-making as a practice in taking personal responsibility for intention and impact. Our 12 weeks will culminate in a final sharing day where artists can join, witness and/or speak to their creative efforts as well as give feedback and uplift one another’s work. Performance is not mandatory but is encouraged. People take this workshop with many different creative practices from dance making, storytelling, to teaching varied subjects.

Dance Magazine Awards. Monday, December 2, 2024 at 7pm. Baryshnikov Arts, Jerome Robbins Theater 450 W 37th St, New York. Established in 1954, the Dance Magazine Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations in the dance industry and are one of the most prestigious honors in dance.

 

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Dance Magazine Awards. Monday, December 2, 2024 at 7pm. Baryshnikov Arts, Jerome Robbins Theater 450 W 37th St, New York. Established in 1954, the Dance Magazine Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations in the dance industry and are one of the most prestigious honors in dance.

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