Sunday Feature: Mariah Steele on Tempest in a Teacup (Dance / Fringe)

Tempest In A Teacup
A major misconception surrounding choreography – and all arts – is that creative and innovative ideas are always pulled from thin air, or achieved through 'inspiration.'
by Mariah Steele

Mariah Steele is the choreographer and Artistic Director for Quicksilver Dance, a modern dance company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a major in Anthropology and minor in Dance, where she studied intensively with Ze’eva Cohen and Rebecca Lazier. She combined these two passions by studying traditional Kandyan dance in Sri Lanka for two months and writing her anthropology thesis about the experience. She went on to perform professionally in New York City in the companies of James Martin, Beth Soll, and Kelley Donovan. In 2008, she moved to Boston, where she has danced for Sokolow Now!, the Anna Sokolow archival company, Nell Breyer, Sara Smith and currently performs with Peter DiMuro’s Public Displays of Motion and Rebecca Rice Dance. In December 2011, Ms Steele graduated with a Masters Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she studied non-profit management and conflict resolution, writing a thesis about using dance in peacebuilding.  Mariah's choreography has been presented at esteemed venues in both Boston and New York City including MIT, the Boston Center for the Arts, Harvard University, SUNY Purchase and Brooklyn's John Ryan Theatre.  In 2013, The Boston Globe named Mariah one of six “rising talents” in the Boston arts scene. Currently, Mariah Steele teaches modern dance, dance history and world dance cultures at Endicott College in Beverly, MA.

There comes a time in any professional’s life when work starts to become boring. One of many miraculous things about being an artist-creator is that when faced with such a lull, one can continually ask new questions and re-invent oneself through new processes. In the past year, as the choreographer and Artistic Director of Boston-based Quicksilver Dance, I have delved into new territory and started making dances in new ways – several of which will be on display in our upcoming performances at the St-Ambroise Festival Fringe de Montreal, starting June 14.  

In the past, I have usually started a dance with an idea or theme in mind to explore in the piece.  For example, “No Sugar, Please,” one of the dances performed next week, is a text-and-movement solo that explores the cultural history of tea. This dance began with the goal of showing the contrast between how tea has created peace between individuals for centuries but has simultaneously instigated worldwide strife between nations. Now the dance fulfills that goal, taking viewers around the world in eight minutes and through several dynamic cultural histories.