Just Love | October 2024 + Just Love Again | March 2025
Just Love performed at NOD Theater in October of 2024, photos by Michelle Smith-Lewis
Making a return in 2025, Just Love Again performed at YAW Theater, with photographs taken by Jim Coleman.
Artistic Director & Choreographer - Karin Stevens*
Dancers - Sara Caplan, Anja Kellner-Rogers, Ellie van Bever, Michael Walton
*Thank you to the dancers for their rich collaborative moments throughout the creation of this work!
Music -
Prelude - A Sea of Love, by Huerco S.
Ensemble Section 1 - Beat, by Tingvall Trio
Solo for Ellie - Screaming Quietly, by Kerry Hart
Ensemble Section 2 - Love, by Adam Baldych & Helge Lien Trio
Solo for Sara - Holm, by Emel
Intermission 10’
Ensemble Section 3 - Lovely Sky Boat, by Alice Coltrane
Solo for Mikey - Birds In Warped Time II, by Somei Satoh, Anne Akiko Meyers, Li Jian
Solo for Anja - Journey to the Stars, by Tom Harrell
Ensemble Section 4 - Passacaglia, by Adam Baldych, Leszek Możdżer
Lighting Design & Stage Manager - Locke Landis
Just What I Love: The creative process for "Just Love"
A year ago, summer 2023, I was preparing to embark on a new project with two returning dancers and two new dancers to the company. For the first time in my creative life I had no idea what to do next! In my morning spiritual practice, I heard the words to “just do what you love.” What? No grand idea to capture the attention of an elusive big audience or media authority? No original, newly commissioned local music to elevate my choreographic intentions? Just do what I love?!? Just follow my heart. And that is just what I began to do. The creative process transformed me. And I am now quite proud of the work and excited to share it with the audiences in October. See the Press Release below to hear how the director of the Seattle International Dance Festival responded to an excerpt of the work we presented in June.
Stayed tuned for more reflections on the creative process…—Karin, July 2024
In 2023, I began training and working toward full certification in Hakomi, a psycho-somatic therapy for self-discovery and transformation. The most essential part of Hakomi is Loving Presence. It is a practice and a way of being with another. When we are with a client, or practicing with someone, we aim to be in Loving Presence with them. From this state, we seek to be with what is nourishing and inspiring about the other person. As I began the rehearsal process in September 2023, with only the words, “just what I love,” to follow along the unfolding creative process, I was curious to begin with a Loving Presence practice with the dancers.
The practice is verbal. One person shares anything meaningful to them, while the other (in this case, all of us, as we did this as a group) listens in Loving Presence. After the person shares, we reflected back what was nourishing and inspiring about the person speaking or things that they shared. It was a wonderful way to begin a new rehearsal process with two new dancers to the group!
Next, I took this practice into an improvisational session that I filmed. (There are four videos you can view.) The dancers were divided into groups of two. Instead of speaking, this time the sharing was done through movement. I strongly suggested to the dancers to not make an attempt to perform, but to follow impulses to move that felt natural and comforting to their bodies. One person moved, the other watched in Loving Presence, seeking to experience what was nourishing and inspiring about the person speaking in movement. Instead of verbally reflecting what was nourishing, the witnessing/listening dancer expressed their experience in movement as well. And so we went back and forth four times. From these improvised sesssions I began to build the work. In the second section of the work—which was the first section I created—you can see movement from this first day of rehearsal.
I was also inspired by Doug Varone’s Possession that UW’s Chamber Dance company was about to present that fall 2023. In particular, I was interested in the choreographic idea of duets in quartet form—that you can see in this clip of Varone’s work. I believe it was from here that the ideas of friendship, the communal and loving presence took shape for the overall intention of the larger work that unfolded over the next year. As I created the work, I practiced following Loving Presence with the material rather than analysis and mental calculation for what I “thought” I should do. I kept with the heart of the process and extended the Loving Presence even toward myself! Eventually the title of the work distilled into “Just Love”.
I have a strong manager part, especially loud as I drive to rehearsal, “Stay on top of time! How much have you gotten done and should get done today?! Are you doing enough?! Is it working?! Are the dancers happy and like working with you?! etc! etc! etc!” Instead, I practiced feeling into what was nourishing and inspiring me from the process, but most especially, what was nourishing about these moving humans I get to be in the room with every week! I have always had a drive to foster a culture of care for the dancers needs in the rehearsal process. Practicing Loving Presence enriched this culture of care even more. My relationship with the dancers began to feel more grounded and mutually supportive in new ways. (Also, extremely important during a year I was pulled away multiple times to Montana to help my dad care for my severely ailing mother with Alzheimer’s. She fell twice with devastating bone breaks and then almost died from a viral infection. I will be out there again two weeks before our show in October! So grateful for this group of dancers right now.) To say the least, this last year was creatively and personally transformative. I have way less fear and stress (Yes, as much as one loves making work, fear and stress can be an ongoing challenge to well-being for creatives.) and a deep gratitude for the journey this last year. I can’t wait to work on the next project and move with Loving Presence in the process. —Karin, September 2024
Here is a link to my Youtube channel for more videos from our creative process beginning in September 2023: https://www.youtube.com/@karinstevens/videos