BELLY (2012) — Directed by Maureen Whiting
Director & Choreographer: Maureen Whiting
Costume Designer & Dramaturge: Danielle Blackwell
Presented at On the Boards Black Box Theater
In BELLY, Maureen Whiting crafts a surreal and symbol-laden landscape — a dreamlike interior world where sexuality, innocence, biology, and abstraction collide. The choreography moves with staccato punctuation: classical shapes broken by absurd gestures, bursts of theatrical imagery, and transitions that flicker between playfulness and provocation.
As costume designer and dramaturge, I collaborated closely with Maureen to shape the visual and emotional architecture of the piece. The costumes became vessels of transformation: tailored shirts opened to release silk flower petals, while sea-creature-like sculptural elements pulsed from the performers’ bodies. These garments did not merely clothe the dancers — they moved, unfolded, and revealed — acting as narrative agents within the choreography.
Working with Maureen on BELLY allowed me to engage both sculpturally and symbolically, crafting forms that referenced vulnerability, evolution, and subconscious ritual. The world of the piece was at once primordial and modern, sensual and strange — a poetic bodyscape that lingered long after the final blackout.
