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Photo by Simon Gentry

Core Dance presents

if... a memoir
A love song for humanity



Engaging questions of human freedom alongside human limitations and its direct link to the current crisis on our planet, if… a memoir is a love song written for humanity. if… a memoir is an evening-length, physical theater/choreo-poem, revealing a performance literature that is bold, straightforward, expressive and timeless.  An immersive performance developed out of artistic questioning, if… a memoir is an exploration into the inseparable connection between our humanity, the earth and our future. Actively linked to the performance experience and ensuing dialogue, the artists engage with the local audience and community to create a collective act to address local issues and concerns. Over the performance life of if… a memoir, input and knowledge collected from audiences will be paid forward to future audiences and communities where if…a memoir will be performed.

Sarah Turquety's original poetic accompaniment for if... a memoir can be found here

Choreography and concept by Sue Schroeder in collaboration with...
Core Dance Artists: Walter Apps, Anna Bracewell Crowder, Nikki Morath, Joshua Rackliffe, Rose Shields, Benjamin Stevenson and Scott Wheet
Simon Gentry: Cinematographer
Adam Larsen: Video Installation Artist
Christian Meyer: Composer and Sound Designer
Sarah Turquety: Poet (writer and performer) 
​
About the Creators 

Sue Schroeder, (Choreographer and Core Dance Artistic Director/Co-Founder), focuses on the creative process and the exploration of new and unique inspirations for the creation of dance and movement. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston and earned her Master’s of Fine Arts in Theater Arts with a dance concentration from the University of Arizona at Tucson. Educated under dance greats Bill Evans, Hanya Holm, Oliver Kostock, Anna Halprin and John M. Wilson, among others, Schroeder has additional experience in the extended studies of Body-Mind Centering, Contact Improvisation, Modern Dance and Composition.  A recipient of the Haldeman Award for Merit and the Cultural Multiplicators from Foreign Countries Award from the Goethe Institut-Munich, Schroeder has secured numerous grants and fellowships from organizations such as Alternate ROOTS, the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County, Dance USA and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2016, Schroeder acted as Festival Director for EXPOSED, a six-week festival of richly-layered, boundary-blurring contemporary dance and physical theatre from Israel. and is the recipient of the 2017 Center for Creativity & Arts Community Impact Arts Administrator at Emory University and a 2018 ArtsATL Luminary Halcyon Award.

Simon Gentry (Cinematographer) has over 20 years of experience as a photographer and cinematographer, with over 10 of those years spent capturing dance - still and moving images. In addition, Simon has worked in non-profit outreach programs using art to inspire youth as well as senior citizens. In 2018, Simon Gentry became the first Resident Artist at Core Dance.

Adam Larsen (Video Installation Artist) Over the past 16 years Adam Larsen has designed nearly 200 productions in theatre, dance, symphony and opera. Projects have ranged from intimate to extravagant and have appeared both on Broadway and in many of the major opera and symphony halls across the country.
Designs include Hal Prince’s LoveMusik on Broadway; Esperanza Spalding’s 12 Little Spells national tour; Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking The Waves at Opera Philadelphia and the Prototype Festival; Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus at the Athens, Edinburgh, and Spoleto festivals; Watermill at the BAM Next Wave Festival; Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Singapore and Edinburgh festivals; Bernstein’s A Quiet Place at Tanglewood; Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at Canadian Opera; Britten’s Turn of the Screw at Seattle Opera; Bernstein’s Mass at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Mostly Mozart Festival; Britten’s Peter Grimes, and all five seasons of the SoundBox series at San Francisco Symphony; The Pelleas Project at the Cincinnati Symphony; Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at Hawaii Opera Theatre; Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur at Opera Omaha; Foss’s Phorion with New World Symphony; and Mascagni’s Iris at Bard Summerscape. 
In addition, Adam has directed two feature length documentaries about disability. His first, Neurotypical, about autism from the perspective of autistics, premiered on the PBS series P.O.V and his second, Undersung, about caregivers of severely disabled family members, is available on Amazon.

Christian Meyer (Composer & Sound Design) lives and works as a musician and composer in Berlin. He composes, records and plays prize winning scores for movies (Esther Gronenborn, Ralf Schmerberg, Viviane Blumenschein, Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew, Ayse Polat, etc.), dance-theatre (Felix Ruckert Cie. Arthur Kuggeleyn Cie, Core Dance,Amaraoui-Burner-Project, CMPP, NTTL, etc.) and commercials (Audi, Hornbach, BMW, Mercedes, Nike, Sony, VW, etc.). www.meyermal.de 

Sarah Turquety (Poet)  is a French poet and performer. She works to suspend the automation of the body and language to allow the emergence of the unpredictable, a new or renewed language, the disruption of power relations. Her tools are writing, improvisation, physical engagement and creating situations. In 2018, she created Script-album, a participative transmedia creation developped from a set of performances, interviews and workshops, a website, www.script-album.fr around the modifications of perception and their influences on language. In 2016-2017, she worked on Pourtours, an surreal map about relationship, or how myths, ideologies, beliefs transform sights : a performance and a poetic website www.pourtours.fr. She likes to work with other artists, visual artists, musicians, dancers. She is supported by various institutions and art centers, in France and other countries.
www.sarahturquety.fr 


Walter Apps (Core Dance Artist) was born and raised in Detroit, MI starting his dance training at the age of 4. He received his BFA from Point Park University in 2016. Immediately after graduating, he worked with Texture Contemporary Ballet. Walter moved to New York to work with Yin Yue, Rubén Graciani, and Patrick O’Brien. He has had the privilege to perform works by Aszure Barton, Septime Weber, Lar Lubovitch, MADBOOTS, and Ohad Naharin to name some. Walter has immense gratitude to start his first season with Core Dance.

Anna Bracewell Crowder (Core Dance Artist) was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and began her dance training at Decatur School of Ballet. While receiving her classical training at DSOB, she attended and graduated from DeKalb School of the Arts, where she studied under the legendary Pamala Jones Malave. Anna went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Georgia and after graduating in 2012, she returned home to Atlanta where she began dancing with Core Dance. She is currently within her 8th season with the company! Her time in Atlanta has also granted her the pleasure to work with Staibdance, Blake Beckham and The Lucky Penny, Catellier Dance Projects!, Association Manifest (Toulouse, France) and other notable artists while continuing her work with company. Alongside her role as a Dance Artist, Anna serves as Core Dance’s National and International Liaison.

​Nikki Morath (Core Dance Artist), a native of South Carolina, received her BFA in dance from Point Park University. Nikki has performed and taught with Clancyworks Dance in Washington, DC and is currently the Company Director at The Studio Atlanta Dance. Nikki is thrilled to embark on her second season with Core Dance. She possesses a strong desire to expand and share her knowledge of the arts, and is equally excited by the opportunity to give back to the community and to other artists who are looking to progress their craft!

Joshua Rackliffe (Core Dance Artist) received his training in Modern and Ballet at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dancemaking. After graduating, he relocated back to Atlanta and joined Core Dance in 2012. His work with Core Dance has allowed him to perform, teach, choreograph and travel to Europe and Israel. When not dancing with Core Dance he can be seen performing and emceeing events as his alter-ego, drag queen “Brigitte Bidet”. 

Rose Shields (Core Dance Artist) received her BFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2007. Hailing from Duluth, GA, Rose developed her love for dancing under the tutelage of Peter Garick at the Duluth School of Ballet and then with Danita Emma, Clay McCloud, and Michael Garrison at North Atlanta Dance Academy. Rose has performed throughout the Southeast with UNCSA's multidisciplinary outreach program Open Dream Ensemble. Now residing in Atlanta, Rose has had the privilege to dance with Bubba Carr, T. Lang, Serenbe Playhouse, and Brooks & Company Dance, as well as teach dance with Good Moves. She was featured on ArtsATL as one of 30 Under 30 creatives in Atlanta. In 2010, Rose was welcomed into Atlanta's circus community where she found her love for aerial dance and acrobatics. She currently performs acrobatics and aerial as a freelancer with varying local groups. Rose is grateful and excited to be dancing and choreographing with Core Dance for a 7th season. Outside of her dance and circus work, Rose loves exploring outdoors, climbing, figure skating, supporting the local arts community, and spending time with family. 

Benjamin Stevenson (Core Dance Artist) is a movement artist from Alabama. They received their dance training as well as a B.A in Political Science and Arabic from Emory University. When not dancing at Core Dance, Benjamin moves with Staibdance and creates their own original works. Benjamin enjoys incorporating poetry and prose in their creative process as a means of facilitating thoughtful dialogue on identity and interpersonal relationships. 

Scott Wheet (Core Dance Artist) Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Scott began dancing at the age of 17. In 2015, Scott graduated summa cum laude from Troy University with a BFA in Dance. On the journey from academia until now, Scott has received mentorship from Kristin O’Neal, Dominique Angel, Kyle Abraham, Tracy Gilland, Claudia Lavista, Pamela Pietro, Jen Nugent, Robbie Cook, and many others. Since graduating and moving to Atlanta, Scott has performed with T. Lang Dance, Staibdance, Fly on a Wall and is currently with Core Dance as a full time Dance Artist. In addition to being on the Board of Directors of Core Dance, this fall will be his 4th season with the company.


About Core Dance
For four decades, Core Dance has supported innovation, collaboration, artistic risk-taking and sustainable art-making in dance. An award-winning contemporary dance organization with global reach, Core Dance creates, performs, and produces compelling original dance that ignites the creative spirit and actively encourages participation and conversation with the community. In 1980, Core Dance was co-founded in Houston, Texas by dancer and choreographer Sue Schroeder and her sister, Kathy Russell.  Five years later, the organization added Atlanta, Georgia as a second home base, creating a context for dance that is relevant in both cities and around the globe. Core Dance uses dance to educate, question and illuminate, and is internationally recognized for its artistically driven research practices, cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary collaborations, the humanity of the individual Dance Artists, and its rigorous physicality. (coredance.org)
Core Dance and if...a memoir is supported by FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, and private donors. Additional support for women artists has been provided by Chanel Fund for Women in the Arts and Cultur

We Applaud Our Contributors
Core Dance’s 40th season is supported by the O Fund for New Work, Gwinnett Industries, Inc., Pattillo Construction Corporation, Atlanta Community Foundation Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly. GCA is a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, Cameron and Roberts Insurance Agency, Kroger Community Rewards and many generous individuals from our community.

Learn More About Our Leadership and Staff Here

Over the past 40 years, Core Dance has engaged in thoughtful dialogue with many causes and issues that have come to face our world. If you're wondering what you can do to support and engage with these causes personally, take a look at the following links...


  • Amazon Watch - Pledge to Protect the Amazon Rainforest (introduced by Leila Salazar-Lopez)
    • Mission: "Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems."
  • A Global Deal for Nature - Petition (introduced by Carly Vynne, PhD)
    • Mission: "Sign the petition calling on world leaders to support a Global Deal for Nature that protects and restores half of the Earth’s lands and oceans."
  • Drawdown Learn
    • Mission: "Drawdown Learn is a broad initiative to encourage education and learning about climate solutions based on Project Drawdown’s research, analysis, and insights. Through our programs and partnerships, we are helping educators and students of all ages to understand the solutions available to address the climate crisis and create new ways of teaching and learning about Drawdown solutions."
  • Cooperation Jackson (introduced by brandon king)
    • Mission: "The broad mission of Cooperation Jackson is to advance the development of economic democracy in Jackson, Mississippi by building a solidarity economy anchored by a network of cooperatives and other types of worker-owned and democratically self-managed enterprises."
  • New Consensus (introduced by Demond Drummer)
    • Mission: "We are a global, distributed network of academics, creators, activists, leaders and entrepreneurs working to make the new consensus the standard operating system for national economies around the world."
  • Youth Vs. Apocalypse (introduced by Isha Clarke)
    • Mission: "Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a diverse group of young climate justice activists working together to lift the voices of youth, in particular youth of color, and fight for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world."
  • Schumacher Center for a New Economics (introduced by Greg Watson)
    • Mission: "To envision a just and sustainable global economy; apply the concepts locally; then share the results for broad replication."
  • Democracy Collaborative (introduced by Ted Howard)
    • Mission: "Through our cutting edge research and our many diverse programs, The Democracy Collaborative works to carry out a vision of a new economic system where shared ownership and control creates more equitable and inclusive outcomes, fosters ecological sustainability, and promotes flourishing democratic and community life."
  • Seed Sovereignty (introduced by Christine Nobiss)
    • Mission: "Seed Sovereignty reclaims seeds and Biodiversity as commons and public good. The farmer's rights to breed and exchange diverse Open Source Seeds which can be saved and which are not patented, genetically modified, owned or controlled by emerging seed giants."
  • Coral Reef Alliance (introduced by Madhavi Colton)
    • Mission: "We work collaboratively with communities to reduce direct threats to reefs in ways that provide long-term benefits to people and wildlife."


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Core Dance, an award-winning contemporary dance company with global reach, creates, performs, and produces compelling original dance that ignites the creative spirit and actively encourages participation and conversation with the community. ​
  • Home
  • About
    • Core Dance Staff and Leadership
    • Core Dance Blog
  • Core Dance Artists
    • 2019-2020 Season >
      • Manifolds
      • Heart of the Matter
      • Planetary Dance
      • National Water Dance
      • Coreolab
    • Past Performances >
      • if... a memoir >
        • if... a memoir playbill
      • American Playground and The Third Dance
      • As The Shadows Grow Longer
      • Human Landscapes
      • Life Interrupted
      • Global Water Dances
      • EXPOSED
      • walk >
        • walk playbill 2018
  • Coming Up!
    • Atlanta
    • Houston
    • Elsewhere
  • Programs
    • Salon: The Art of Conversation
    • Dynamic X-Change
    • DIG: vital physical research
    • Core Classes >
      • Morning Class with Core Dance
      • Contact Improv Jams
    • Fieldwork >
      • Facilitators
    • Lunchtime in the Studio
    • EnCore Dance on Film >
      • EnCore Program 2019
    • Teens Activate
  • Get Involved
    • Tote Bags
    • Envelope Wall
    • Donate
    • Volunteer
    • Internships
    • Advocate
  • Social Media
  • Studio Rental
    • Studio Contracts
  • Store
    • Socks
    • Light Weight Hoodie
    • Purses
  • Contact
    • Newsletters
    • Join Our Mailing List
  • Privacy Policy
  • Press