“Alexandra Beller is built like a burlesque queen and moves like a goddess.” — Dance Magazine

us is an evening length performance art solo about America.

The seed of the work began as a ten-minute duet for myself and an American flag at Dance Theater Workshop on the one-year anniversary of America’s invasion of Iraq.  Subsequent work at University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee revealed that the solo was forming itself into an entire show and unearthing my deep feelings and opinions about gay marriage, reproductive rights, bureaucracy and citizens rights to privacy.

Through a series of duets with anthropomorphized objects (including a mop and an inflatable sex doll), this challenging and physical performance art piece looks at the country through the eyes of those who have no voice.  The work has been expanded through a residency at HERE Arts Center in New York City, and the frequent showings and feedback sessions inherent in the program have opened the piece towards a multi-disciplinary form.

us begins with the premise that patriotism can be an addiction that blinds us to the truth. Like any drug, nationalism can alter the chemistry of the mind, obliterating compassion, consciousness, and curiosity.  By questioning the love relationship between a country and her citizens, I hope to find a way to really love America and the people who define it as a country. The questions are abundant.  Can I truly understand and collaborate on citizenship with people whose values differ so greatly from my own? How do we even define values, morality, humanity and forgiveness?  In a time when democracy is being redefined, this piece equates freedom with the importance of dangerous ideas and challenges censorship that has revived itself after the death of McCarthy-ism.

The 75 minute solo is performed without intermission.  A hybrid form of performance art using text, song, virtuosic dance, and original sound design, us attempts to excuse itself from genre classification by using different mediums to tell it like it is.  There is both seeringly literal ideology (as in text where Bush explains the elimination of reproductive rights as essential for a compassionate culture) and rampantly metaphorical (as when a mop is used in place of a gay partner for a love duet).  Humor is used to engage and disarm the audience, and pathos to elicit an open heart and mind.

The ultimate goal is to create a space where the issues can be looked at as human decisions rather than legislative rules and where the experience of being a citizen can be examined as a life rather than a political model.  The work can be performed in a black box, studio theater, or small proscenium. 

The premiere has been commissioned by HERE Arts Center in New York City for June 2007, and touring is being explored for the following year throughout America.  There is also great interest in showing the work outside of the States in the hopes of truly establishing a conversation about America with non-Americans and ex-pats.

I am approaching this solo show from the perspective of a woman who is at a crisis point in her love relationship, unable to continue as is, but heartbroken at the idea of leaving her life partner, her country.  In her journey towards reconciliation and forgiveness, she cycles through issues that are intolerable to her including the country’s phobia of same-sex partnerships and hypocrisy around death (abortion bad/war good/death penalty bad/handguns good).

I engage in the these issues through a series of duets with objects, including a blow-up doll, a mop and the American Flag.  The anthropomorphism of these objects allows me to relate to the country through direct, intimate conversations of movement and text. I hope to relate to people not through the brain but through a visceral, familiar and personal understanding of choosing to end a relationship with your life partner.

The country becomes a lover, friend, parent and child, anyone to whom you have had to say, “I cannot go on with you in this way...”

Alexandra Beller, the Artistic Director of Alexandra Beller/Dances, received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in 2006 and a BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan in 1994. As a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1995 until August 2001, she performed in over 50 countries and throughout the United States, and has also staged work by Bill T. Jones. She helped to create “The Belle Epoch,” a musical by Martha Clarke and Charles Mee. She is currently in her second year as an Artist in Residence at HERE Art Space, and has also been an AIR at Dance Space Center.

Alexandra is on the movement faculty of The Atlantic Theater School and a faculty member at Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Dance Space Center), where she also teaches frequently in the Summer Intensive, Student Performance Series, and Composition Workshops. She has been a guest artist at the 92nd St Y, The Spence School and St. Anne's School and has taught master classes and residencies at universities throughout the United States. She served as resident guest artist at APA, CCDC, and DanceArt in Hong Kong, D-Dance Festival in Korea, and Cyprus Summer Festival in Nicosia. She has also been a guest choreographer at the University of Michigan, Rhode Island College, The University of South Florida, MIT, Texas Woman's University, and Bates College, among others. She received an NCCI commission from Montclair State University to serve as adjunct faculty and guest choreographer in 2003/2004.

Alexandra’s choreography has been presented at and commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd St. Y, Aaron Davis Hall, Danspace Project at St. Mark's, Joyce SoHo, P.S. 122, WAX, HERE, The Connelly Theater, SUNY Purchase College, The Frederick Loewe Theatre, and Jacob’s Pillow and has been commissioned by companies in Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Korea, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Maine, New York City, Florida, Boston, Rhode Island, New Jersey and elsewhere. Her company has toured through Michigan, Massachusetts and New York and received The Company Residency at The Yard in 2004 with funding from The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts.

Film work includes “Romance and Cigarettes” by John Turturro. She was the collaborator and subject of a series of photographs by Irving Penn, "Dancer," which exhibited at the Whitney Museum in 2002, as well as  in Houston, Chicago, Sweden, London, St. Petersburg, Paris, Japan and other locations globally. She has modeled for fashion, feature and commercials and has appeared on the Ananda Lewis Show, The Oxygen network, E! Entertainment Television, and other shows. Alexandra is also a part time dance critic and writes reviews for offoffoff.com.

Upcoming projects include a solo show produced by HERE Art Space in June 2007, and residencies at Connecticut College and TCU in Texas.