A Landing Place
A landing place has a distinct voice of cinematic landscapes that explores the body as a place of emotional locomotion and docking.
This work takes a roller coaster of emotional tactics. With themes of insecurities, bullying and trying to rise above. This work looks at how action and reactions become tactics for self-preservation or manipulation.
“When you depend on people to build you up. The same people have the ability to break you down.”
Alone We Pray... In Memory We are Bound
“There are always going to be things you look back on and wish you did differently but those very choices made you exactly who you are today.”
Alone We Pray…In Memory We Are Bound explores the importance of being in the now. How tragedy can shape our everyday lives if we do not find a level of balance.
Although we pray for the ability to lift out of our darkness, this particular work looks at how we are bound into our ritual of life.
Memory tricks us into believing that our choices are sound and justifiable.
In narrative we see how relationship between partners can be empty and through obligation we shackle ourselves to that in which we are convinced lies the answer.
Beneath The Surface
“We are all oceans, you can not see what is below, and sometimes neither represent each other.
BENEATH THE SURFACE is a section that lies within the evening length work “THE LAST CLICK”.
Beneath the Surface is a look at a regular unaffected average human. A person who looks as if they have it together, but underneath it all it is like an explosion of feelings. Insecurities and thoughts. It is truly like a war zone underneath a calm exterior.
Memories have the ability to hurt or aide us. Experiences can rip us apart without not doing any damage to the outer shell.
“You see me one way, but beneath the surface I am another.
Where there is a lamb in your sight, I am the Tiger on the verge of escape.
Do not mistake my silence for weakness” -Jacob Mora”
Butterfly
Butterfly exists as a beautiful duet that rolls through the music of Bilal & Robert Glasper.
The trials and tribulations that we may have as couples together ebb and flow. We do not know where they will land. But through it all we emerge different and reborn.
“Butterfly
The struggle makes you beautiful
The struggle makes you fly
Spread your wings and be new again”
-Bilal
D.N.A
I got power, poison, pain and joy
Inside my DNA
I got hustle, though, ambition, flow
Inside my DNA
-Kendrick Lamar
D.N.A. are the things that amplify our persona and ego. not bound or bred but it is the mental and soulful pride that we must have as individuals in a landscape that challenges our person.
Through our words, our swagger, our hope and historical resilience and renaissance. My reality is different than yours.
It is devoid of pretension. It is an extension of the essence of holding court with self, and self expression.
Evoke
Is It The Destination? or The Journey? Or is it the goal to feel the same through it all?
EVOKE is an evening length work that is made up of 3 stand- alone sections.
- The Last Beat of My Heart
- The Rapture
- In Rainbows
Evoke as a whole is a work that deals with the emotional response we have to our mortality.
Life in a lull within ritual and devoid of response, we look to shake that cycle up with choices and experiences that would Evoke a different response.
In Rainbows
Because we separate
Like ripples on a blank shore
In rainbows
Because we separate
Like ripples on a blank shore
-Radiohead
IN RAINBOWS is the third and final section of EVOKE.
In Rainbows goes through a release of energy and searches through the perspective that we need to connect with someone or something. With such a need to connect, it can feel like we are in a constant struggle to hold together whatever sense of together we have. It feels like we are being pulled apart. Or maybe it is that we are like Rainbows, very seperate but bound by journey and light. In Rainbows uses relationship and connection to come together with our differences. To define us and paint us in the colors we are.
In The Key Of B
Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so!
-BOWIE
IN THE KEY OF B is a dynamic, detailed movement vocabulary. With multiple versions of this work in the ether. The dance showcases pop culture, pop music and created youth.
The genesis of this work started initially as a series of elements and ideas that had relationship to the letter B.
Inspired by the phrase “To be or not to be, that is the question?” The key of B became an exploration of pop music. Originally the idea was to hit all the iconic stars with a “B” in the name or work. This all evolved with the passing of Pop Icon David Bowie. it soon became a moment to represent David Bowie and his music as tribute.
As accessible as pop music is, it has the ability to shape our lives. It creates a soundtrack to memory and becomes a defining structure to the soul. This result landed in multiple works that explore iconic music.
Insomnia
And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. -Friedrich Nietzsche
What keeps you Up? Is It the oven? Or Is it your amount of Work? Is it Desire?
Insomnia has two very interesting perspectives on sleep depravity.The way we lie, or the lie we tell to ourselves to get to sleep.
It is the look into the worries and fears that keep us up at night. With an exploration of domestic problems, from political worry to social experiences the mind has the ability to bring up childhood fears and amplify them in our lives.
Insomnia goes on a slightly creepy but playful experience that deals with those fears.
The narrative of this work pulls you into strong fluid movement, disjointed reactions and staring at your dark.
Intercession
INTERCESSION is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others. We see the practice in Christianity and mention of it in Islam.
With breath, meditative and fluid athletic movement. Intercession exists as a solo movement/ conversation where the intention of the work is not intended to take the side of one single organized specific Religion. However the work allows one to witness. There is something that keeps us on common ground maybe the secular intimate, within its clear quiet loudness. Whether your interpretation is spiritual, watching a soft in depth technicality of movement or finding a more humanitarian meaning in the Intercession, there is no denying a place of lifting up.
Last Beat of My Heart
In the sharp gust of love my memory stirred
When time wreathed a rose a garland of shame
It’s thorn my only delight war torn
Afraid to speak, we dare to breathe
-Siouxsie Sioux
THE LAST BEAT OF MY HEART is a stand -alone work that is also the first part of the larger Evoke series.
This work has an amazing sound score, that pulls from old radio shows as well as modern sounds that have become a signature sound from choreographer Jacob Mora. Bounding through organized chaos to cinematic tableau, The Last Beat of my Heart explores relationship and the experience of wanting and needing more. Simple touch is never enough. It is the journey where we stand together.
Mara
Mara lies within historical legend and mythology of what the definition & folklore of the word Mara comes from.
On The Verge
ON THE VERGE is a duet that expands on the relationship between two people where there is common attraction, but like many relationships there is a breakdown in communication that keeps us at odds. A exploration in co-dependency and love games, love can be a playful volley.
Through finding and defining the line that we cross or do not cross. Between gentle jest and toxic, the intricacy of “On The Verge” is captivating.
The Last Click
“Whoever controls the Media controls the Mind”
THE LAST CLICK is a work that started off with these questions.
In a society that has any and all information at the touch of their fingers. The ability to talk to anyone quickly anonymously or specific.
What does this do to our psyche and ability to communicate in everyday life? What are the digital ramifications to our real life? Where is our accountability? Do we reward our selves for the ability to use technology to affect in positive and negative ways. Are we marketing ourselves into numbness?
The answer came not with a thought but a click. The Last Click has a pulsing amount of energy that steamrolls subtlety for in your face virtuosity and phrasing. Explosive and eclectic, the score itself screams from the avant-garde to mass media influences…..
The Pink Blue
“You and me, what does that mean?
Always, what does that mean?
Forever, what does that mean?
It means we’ll manage
I’ll master your language and in the meantime I’ll create my own”
-Tricky
THE PINK BLUE has created its own language. Such a clear perspective in movement vocabulary, you have no choice but to be folded up in to it’s narrative. A dance based on hope, fear, confusion, anger, frustration and minority identity.
The Pink Blue exists as a dark raw exploration of definition. To Define through meaning or interpret what the Pinkest Blue holds for us all as individuals.
The Rapture
“In Rapture we wait, or we wait in Rapture”
If there is a common thread that binds us, and the actions of our choices define us. Does this mean that despite our choices, we are still destined to end up in the same place? and if so, How is it that we wait? Do we sit on our hands? or do we live without care? In what manner do we act or react? Can we change our destiny?
With such large questions that are fundamentally unanswered and remain perspectives in faith. The Rapture is a beat driven spectacle, that charges into the body as commodity. Where are we at? What are we really waiting for? Is my wait patient or indulgent? Self Righteous? Self Absorbed? Humble? or devoid of belief?
THE RAPTURE is the Second Movement in the evening length EVOKE. Compelling as a whole this second movement has its own life.
With Or Without
“This is America
Don’t catch you slippin’ now
Don’t catch you slippin’ now
Look what I’m whippin’ now
This is America”
-Childish Gambino
WITH OR WITHOUT is a special work created specifically for the Presenting Denver Dance Festival.
Through time and chance we are the product of the steps placed in front of us. With or without understanding, we go forward. Despite what you think. Despite What we need. Despite what we have. -Jacob Mora
With or Without is a showcase piece that touches on the parts of MPVCD that move us to create and dance. Sharing the social, political and emotional point of views from our cultures.
You Said Something
How did we get here?
To this point of living?
I held my breath
And you said something
-PJ Harvey
YOU SAID SOMETHING is a gritty underground work. Through alleys, cups of endless coffee, dark shadows, blue nights and endless summers. The importance of optimism through bubbling emotions peaks through a swarm of earthy movements.
The physicality of the movement reflects the collision of energy. Featuring the music of PJ Harvey, we see the marriage of narrative and sound mixed with a need to question and feel.