reBloom

reBloom was a project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and was directed/choreographed by Jessica Baynes. It was a multimedia project that incorporated an original score from Nicholas Maughan performed by himself and Ruby Chou, a screen dance captured by Keith Fearnow, and was performed live by Cameron Mertz, Ruby Cabbell, Ashely Jian Thomson, and myself. This performance was presented at Primary Children’s Hospital’s “Sophie’s Place” in Salt Lake City. The performance was followed by an interactive, adaptive movement class for young patients that taught translated movement from the performance choreography, instructed by dance therapist, Sara Schmidt.

ReBloom was an incredible gift for me as it was an opportunity to taste a field of work that I’ve been considering pursuing. It was such a treat to collaborate with Sara Schmidt at Primary Children’s Hospital and help facilitate a movement experience for the patients there. I’ve been looking at schools for Dance Movement Therapy and connecting with Sarah through reBloom has been an incredible help to me in how to navigate applying to different programs. 

ReBloom artistically was also very fulfilling and I’m grateful for Jess’ standard of excellence. Her choreography was athletic and dynamic, which captured the attention of all of the patients. The combination of her choreography, the pianists’ live music, and Keith’s film kept the program flowing smoothly and it made me more invested as a performer. 

I also appreciated Jess’ standard of excellence in her logistics for the project. She was incredibly ethical and accommodating as a facilitator of this project and defined how professionalism should look for other projects in Utah. I’m incredibly grateful for this experience and to the National Endowment for the Arts for making this possible.