Burden of Joy

The Burden of Joy — Directed by Maureen Whiting

 

Director & Choreographer: Maureen Whiting
Dramaturge & Costume Designer: Danielle Blackwell
Collaborators & Performers: Ezra Dickinson, Motoko Honda, Valencia James, and Michael Zapruder
Photography: Hillary Goidell

The Burden of Joy is a deeply introspective performance work choreographed and directed by Maureen Whiting, drawing on personal and ancestral narrative — most notably, the passing of her own mother. As a choreographer and mathematician, Maureen’s approach is one of striking emotional intuition interwoven with rigor and form. The result is a series of intimate solos and duets exploring themes of life, death, imbalance, joy, and states of consciousness.

As both dramaturge and costume designer, I contributed to the emotional and conceptual shaping of this work. My role centered around creating garments that could hold both structure and vulnerability — allowing the performers’ physicality to reflect the layered psychological terrain of the choreography. I also collaborated closely with Maureen in the development of narrative arcs, symbolism, and thematic cohesion across the evolving phases of the piece.

The Burden of Joy continues to unfold over time — a modular and expanding body of work that reveals new truths through each iteration. What began as a meditation on loss has become a durational exploration of transformation, lineage, and the probability of a life fully lived.

Watch the Samples of the Performance and Process

Maureen Whiting Dance Company ‘Bear Writes an Equation About Death Dance Mashup’ (3) from SFAltPerformance on Vimeo.

 

Maureen Whiting/Burden of Joy from chanibocks on Vimeo.

 

Burden of Joy ACT 2015 Sebastian-Export for Vimeo from Maureen Whiting on Vimeo.

Visual Samples of Burden of Joy


Costume design detail
Danielle Blackwell immerses herself in depth with meticulous research and integrity in all of our projects. Yet the costumes have a greater purpose of serving the essence of the dance that moves beyond costuming. The designer works closely with me the choreographer tapping into the elemental dreamlike subconscious of the work. By this process Dani’s costumes make the dance a “felt” story.

The cryptic messages of my mother’s dreams that she wrote in the months before she took her life are inscribed on a dance costume . . . At one point the pages of the journal literally come alive as they are torn off the costume mid dance.

The sculptural elements of the costume make the dance literally come alive as an imagistic filmic-like narrative. As wearable works of art they create an abstract emotional empathy that fill the stage with their own presence as the dancers interact with each other, themselves and move through space.
— Maureen Whiting