Eternity Project

images by Joe Osejo

‘The Eternity Project’ is a collaborative evening-length project created by NOCO director Amy Querin, involving original interviews, video, music, and choreography. The Hebrew scripture states, “Eternity is placed on the human heart.”  This dance is an investigation into eternity… Our universal yearning to understand, wonder, and struggle about eternity. Sub-investigations into life/death, good/bad are introduced.

אֶת־הַכֹּל עָשָׂה יָפֶה בְעִתֹּו גַּם אֶת־הָעֹלָם נָתַן בְּלִבָּם מִבְּלִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִמְצָא הָאָדָם אֶת־הַמַּעֲשֶׂה אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה הָאֱלֹהִים מֵרֹאשׁ וְעַד־סֹוף׃

A variety of religions and cultures are referenced in the interviews as a working language to discuss ‘eternity.’ Although the dance is not a statement about culture or religion, elements of both are found it the dance’s subtext as a reflection of how we flesh out this struggle of eternity & how our beliefs and cultures aid us in this struggle.

The movement is built as personal “prayers,” reflecting some of the salient features of the interview responses: willingness (& unwillingness) to yield to a greater power, yearning for help with Earthly struggles, and a cry to be absolved of human guilt.

Interviews occured in London, UK May-June 2011 and in Fresno, CA September-December 2011; Project is set to premier at the 2012 NOCO ROGUE shows @ TOWER THEATRE March 4th & March 10th.

‘Draw Close’ Film Project (LONDON 2011)

Collaboration with London-based multi-media artist, Amy Irene Marquez, LA-based dancer, Hannah Cavallaro, and NOCO Artistic Director, Amy Querin.  FIlming occured over a 3-week collaborative process May-June 2011 in London.  Project is set to premier at the 2012 NOCO ROGUE show.  *all images by Amy Irene Marquez Photography

FITS! together (2011)

FITS! together is a play on the effortful way we try [and resist] to fit together. The movement was built through a physical exploration of a tantrum.

intermittent restraint (2010)

“Querin’s solo dancing was breathtakingly athletic, with crisply executed turns and inventive petite allegro.”

- Manuel Mendoza The Dallas Morning News, August 2, 2010

lilac tree (2010)

Lilac Tree is a 60’s flavored remix of adventure and simplicity in love.  Based on the old folk song, the dancers are “a little boy and a little girl in an ecstasy of bliss.” They chase each other for capture, spare no exploration, and release each other with reckless abandonment.  They are adolescence; They are maturity; They are good; and They are evil.

mii parade, a draft (2010)

Mii Parade is an idea of a dance I am working on for our Fall 2010 shows.  It is based on the popular Wii Sports games, featuring quirky demonstrations of hula, baseball, basketball, tennis, yoga, bowling, aerobics, golf, and boxing.  After finding the most amazing inflatable wigs, I was inspired to sew some hula hoop skirts, and Mii Parade was born!

belonging (2009,2010)

“A whining helicopter looms over the ground in Amy Querin’s “Belonging.” Six captives in filmy white dress walk, run, leap, or lie in a stupor, their movement leaving a trail of white chalk marks. Two return to the same spot, and fall asleep. Rising, they keep close to each other. At the end, Joseph Orta swings Emily Rodriquez around and around, capturing the image of whirling rotator blades as the sound of a plane’s roar fades away.”

- Margaret Putnam Theatre Jones, February 21, 2010

sugar & spice (2008)

This whimsical dance journey presents a stereotypical look at three iconic pictures of the womanchild, capturing the quirkiness of being a girl, a required detachment in the presentation of feminine image, and the physical complexity of grace.

properties of life (2007)

This is a therapeutic adage centered around the fragility of life. I choreographed this when my husband’s cancer relapsed. After “beating” cancer during the first treatment, we felt so invincible. Discovering the relapse felt heavy; the undertone of the dance is that “nothing is too small to notice.”

ebb & flow (2007)

Ebb & Flow is an experiment in flocking. Dancers experience a community who share a language of quirky, bird-like movements and the desire to experience flight.

taki taki tail (2006)

Taki Taki Tail is a technical banter between precision and momentum.  The quintet darts in and out of synchronization with each other, blending a collection of wild postures, complicated rhythms and arching movements en pointe.

range of motion (2005)

This work is a dynamic arrangement of movement investigating a body’s full potential of motion; from the most essential functions to the most aerobic efforts.  In this exploitation of the physical body, the performers demonstrate their anatomical ability, virtuosity, and endurance.

ages two & up (2004, 2005)

This is a live version of a game of Backgammon; performers use their bodies to negotiate a strategic path through a life-sized maze.

amy querin CHOREOGRAPHY DEMO REEL

(opening rehearsal footage scenes: choreography by Michelle Dexter of Perpetual Motion, OK)