Andrea Cerniglia
she/her
Andrea Cerniglia | Sponsored Artist 2015 | Photo courtesy of the artist
Andrea Cerniglia’s work is based in the act of care-taking one another and the dance. She experiments with immersive, meditative dance performance forms as acts of care and self-care. Her role as a mother of two has impacted and informed her creative process and approach to research and development. The artistic work is constantly evolving, and echoes our ability to respond and be malleable in each moment of existence.
Andrea is excited to design environments that provide a journey for guests, rich with personal mementos and story (abstract and spoken word). Her work is often performed in domestic and communal spaces that have familiar architecture and allow guests to move from space to space, making choices of duration and proximity.
Photo courtesy of the artist
The Project
While in residence in the winter/spring of 2015, Andrea Cerniglia and Julie Brannen (dropshift company member 2012-2015) created an original dance work to “Open” by Two Labryinths Records (Luke Gullickson). Cerniglia and Gullickson collaborated between Chicago and New Mexico during the dance creation, and the residency culminated with a premiere of the original choreography and the musical composition (for piano and viola).
Photo courtesy of the artist
Open is composer/pianist Luke Gullickson's musical evocation of that space, an unfolding chamber-folk tapestry of improvisatory joy and granitic wonder. In January 2014, Gullickson found himself in a log cabin in Wyoming, at the Brush Creek Arts Foundation. In a process inspired by author Haruki Murakami and Australian piano trio The Necks, Gullickson wrote a small, set amount of music each morning during his Wyoming residency, never returning to edit, finishing the piece on his last day at the ranch. He recorded the music with violist Doyle Armbrust at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. The music was later premiered at High Concept Labsoratories with original choreography by Andrea Cerniglia of dropshift dance.
About the Artist
Currently a contemporary artist based in Chicago, IL, Andrea Cerniglia (chu-NEEL-ya) is a performer, choreographer and seasoned educator. She is the founder and artistic director of dropshift dance, dedicated to a collaborative and investigative studio practice and pushing the boundaries of movement and expressivity in performance. Andrea’s collaborative relationships outside of movement, include the realms of dance film, visual art and installation piece, and musical composition. Her work engages viewers in a visual, aural, and human experience offering immersive and interactive environments that invite guests on a journey and draw from personal story. Andrea holds her Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis from Columbia College Chicago, and utilizes many layers of Rudolf Laban’s framework and Irmgard Bartenieff’s Fundamentals within her pedagogy and creative practices. Her work has been shown internationally in Vancouver, BC as well as many local Chicago venues. She has performed at such Chicago venues as including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Dance Center of Columbia College, Harold Washington Library Theater, the Athenaeum Theater, and the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts. Andrea has also performed across many cities in Tuscany, Italy, throughout the United States, and in New York City at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Dance Space, the Cunningham Studio Theater, Mulberry Street Theater, and Triskelion Arts.
For more information, visit dropshiftdance.com
