Nora Alami

The Eros Project

JUNE 9-11, 2022

The Eros Project triangulates desire, teases edges, and manipulates vantage points. What are the edges of ourselves and the edges of our desire? How is desire an othering of the self? The Eros Project blends readings on the eros and the erotic, the curation of desire through colonialism, and somatic investigations into longing and loving. The Eros Project is an embodied collection of choreographic scores, fragments, musings, portraits, and conversations.

By creating fragmented narrative and choreographic vignette studies of The Lover, The Beloved, and The Third (the vantage point between) as three separate characters in the mind - The Eros Project proposes intimate tracings, psychological fragments, and poetic reframes about ways of loving the self and losing the self. The Eros Project is an exploration of the effusive, evasive, and ephemeral ways of knowing the self.

This project has been supported by the collaborations of Jasmine Hearn, Magda San Millan, Lena Engelstein, Kimiko Tanabe, and Jadd Tank. With research into the texts and recordings on eros and the erotic by Audre Lorde, Anne Carson, Sappho, Laura E. Pérez, Emily Nagoski, Esther Perez, adrienne maree brown, Gloria Anzaldúa, Clarissa Pikola Estes, Che Che Luna, Saidiya Hartman, and Frida Kahlo amongst many others.

Created and Choreographed by Nora Alami

Performer
Nora Alami

Sound Collaborator
Jasmine Hearn

Process Mother
Magda San Millan

Creative Consultant
Jadd Tank
Jazmyne Geis

Dramaturg
Lena Engelstein

Lighting Design
Conor Mulligan

Audio Engineer
Pam Dols

Sound Credits
What soil lines my vessel - Jasmine Hearn with additional sound by Jo Stewart and Lily Gelfand
Love Me More - Mitski
Amal - Acid Arab Remix
Featuring text from Uses of The Erotic, written and recited by Audre Lorde.

Nora Alami is a Moroccan-American dance artist currently on the unceded lands of the Lenape-Hoking and Canarsie people, known as Brooklyn. Her choreography has been presented at the Center for Performance Research, New York Live Arts, International Center of Photography, pOnderosa, Colorado College, and Movement Research at Judson Church. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, River to River Festival, and toured internationally at the 2018 Focus on Mediterranean Choreography platform in Castiglioncello and Spoleto, Italy.

She has been awarded the Alliance for Artist Communities’ Diversity + Leadership Fellowship, New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Choreographic Residency, and Miguel Gutierrez’s Landing 2.0. Nora is a 2021 JACK Resident Artist, a 2021 BRIClab: Performing Arts Resident Artist, and a recipient of the 2021 Rest and Restore Residency at The Petronio Center. She collaborates with Jasmine Hearn as a project manager and creative producer and is on the steering committee for FAILSPACE. She is joyously creating 3rd Body with collaborator Jadd Tank, most recently supported by the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. She is thrilled to be developing The Eros Project as the 2022 Resident Artist at Triskelion Arts. IG: @noralami

Jasmine Hearn was born and raised on occupied lands now known as Houston, TX. Jasmine gives gratitude to Spirit, their mothers, and all the mothering black folks who have supported their dreaming dancing moving body. They are an internationally touring interdisciplinary artist, director, choreographer, organizer, doula, performer and recipient of a 2022 Creative Capital grant, a 2022 Rome Prize in Design with Athena Kokoronis of Domestic Performance Agency, and three Bessie Awards (2017 + 2021). Their commitment to dance is an expansive practice that includes performance, collaboration, and memory-keeping. The Eros Project features tracks from Jasmine's most recent album What soil lines my vessel with Additional sound by Jo Stewart and Lily Gelfand. We invite you to purchase the album on Bandcamp or to preview on Spotify.  jasminehearn.com IG: @jasminehearncollaborates

Magda San Millan is a performing artist who makes psychedelic comedy. She teaches writing workshops for artists who want to use their life as the raw material for new projects. You can follow her on instagram @magdafying or go to her website: www.magdasanmillan.com to see what she's up to.

Jadd Tank is a creative consultant and producer within the movement and dance industry. His 10+ years of work spans from evening length productions, immersive theatre and stage productions, while also working as a movement consultant on feature films and television series. www.jaddtank.com

Lena Engelstein is a Brooklyn based choreographer and performer. She has performed at New York Live Arts, Judson Memorial Church, Target Margin Theater, Danspace Project, PS 122, Center for Performance Research, HERE Arts, Gibney, The Brick, Vital Joint and Triskelion Arts, and has taught at SUNY Brockport, Bard College, and The Field Center. She collaborates with Lisa Fagan; is a member of Falcon Dance; and is a former member of Brendan Drake Choreography and Third Rail Projects.

Conor Mulligan is an artist and lighting designer. His design work represents an ongoing exploration of light in live performance. Conor lives in New York with his fiancé Joseph and his cat Moe. He designs lighting for stage productions in New York City as well as regionally throughout the United States. Internationally his work has been featured in the Despertaresimpulsa 2019 arts festival (Guadalajara Mexico) in collaboration with the Criro Collective, a Boston-based dance company. Conor is a proud member of United Scenic Artists 829, a labor union and professional association of Designers, Artists, Craftspeople, and Department Coordinators. Visit www.conormulliganld.com for more information.

Pamela Dols is a professional audio engineer and live production technician with five years of experience in live production. They are certified in Sound Recording Technology, and have used her credentials to build her career from the ground up. She began with unpaid internships at small recording studios and is now a choice technician for events all around the tri-state area. From small theaters to network sponsored events, they have worked with a wide range of diverse performers and artists. She continues to take strides in her career, and aspires to be a role model for fellow queer non-binary POC women in a caucasian male-dominated trade. On her off days you’ll find Pamela playing video games, biking, touching grass, visiting museums, and going to concerts.

While The Eros Project is premiering this weekend as a solo performance - the creation and development of this project has been scaffolded, supported, and nurtured by a plurality of collaborations in many shapes and forms. The Eros Project aims to expand to make the alchemy of collaboration visible. Thank you to each of you for tending to this dream, these questions, and being with these feelings to embody eros. Below is a short and not complete list of folks that are part of the creation of The Eros Project.

Nick Welna - For the thoughtful and generous ways that you effortlessly dramaturg, spark creative insights, and partner - thank you.

Jasmine Hearn - Thank you for the ways we care for each other in our collaborations. We embody a practice that centers how we are together above all else. I am thankful.

Lena Engelstein - THANK YOU for sharing countless hours in the studio, reading alongside me, and jumping into the creative process with me fully. Your vigor and artistic energy inspire me to play, shed, and commit.

Jadd Tank - Our collaboration on 3rd Body is alive in my body and integral to the ways I am creating The Eros Project. Thank you for shapeshifting our collaboration, for your trust, and insight.

Magda San Millan - As Process Mother you support me in unearthing a practice of writing that has been yearning to come alive. Thank you for helping me lean into vulnerability and braid writing with performance.

Kimiko Tanabe - Your creative presence in the studio came felt grounding and wise. Thank you for collaborating alongside our solos together and generously sharing your practice with me. https://www.kimikotanabe.com/

Rachel Mckinstry, Hannah Wendel, Conor Mulligan, and Pam Dols - Thank you for all of the work that each of you do behind the scenes. You have made my time at Triskelion Arts feel generative and supported. Thank you for jumping in as collaborators to nourish this premiere.

Che Che Luna - Thank you for your offering of InPleasure workshop towards sensual embodiment. https://checheluna.com/

A special thanks to Jazmyne Geis, Lia Bentley, and Hillie Teller for your counsel.

Thank you to each of you that contributed to the altar on the stage tonight.

The Eros Project is created with ongoing research into themes on eros and the erotic. The following is a partial list of reading materials that have been integral to this creation. If you have any recommendations to continue this research, please email me at thenoralami@gmail.com.

Uses of The Erotic - Audre Lorde (Sister Outsider)
Eros the Bittersweet - Anne Carson + Sappho
Eros Ideologies - Laura E. Pérez
Pleasure Activism - adrienne maree brown
Women Who Run with the Wolves - Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments - Saidiya Hartman
Race and the Education of Desire - Anne Stohler
The History of Sexuality - Michel Foucault
Mating in Captivity - Esther Perel
Come as You Are - Emily Nagoski
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color - feminist anthology edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa
The Principles of Pleasure - A Netflix Documentary, check it out!

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