the soloist

premiered Spring 2023

Dancer: Mae Hill

Music: Nobody by Bert Williams, Various selections of Historical Reading of Poetry from Voices of Black America

The Soloist | A Study on the Nature of Solitude in Performance

This is an investigation into the complexities of “solo” performance, questioning the very nature of dancing alone. This work explores the interplay between solitude and spectatorship, examining how the act of being witnessed shapes the experience of a solo. Through movement and masking, the piece interrogates the boundaries between the private and the performative, the concealed and the revealed—what remains solely for the dancer and what is offered to the audience.

This work contributes to ongoing discourse in dance studies and performance theory, engaging with ideas of embodiment, agency, and the relational dynamics of witnessing.