Richard Move and Biba Bell in Conversation

Richard Move (M.A. '10) and Biba Bell (M.A. '07, Ph.D. '15) sat down for Movement Research to discuss Richard's latest piece XXYY,  which was recently highlighted in the New York Times.

Thoughts from Biba:

"As he prepares for an upcoming season at New York Live Arts, choreographer Richard Move takes a moment to discuss his latest piece, XXYY, while also looking back at his expansive body of work centered on the choreography, persona and legacy of Martha Graham. Twenty years ago his “dance-based variety show,” Martha@Mother, instigated questions and controversies surrounding authorship, copyright, gender, reconstruction—current issues performance is very much engaged with—while also stirring up the archive into a dancerly frenzy, and inviting former Graham dancers and curious spectators alike to join in in a celebration of Move’s embodiment of modern dance’s grande dame. Since then Martha@ has continued on… close to thirty dances have been reconstructed. Move, with his latest piece, XXYY, continues his historical research focusing on performative historiographies of gender—specifically archetypal figures who navigate fluid spaces between gender binaries, and whose stories remain fragmented and ephemeral within dominant historical records. Move’s poignant inquiries (also evident in his extensive research and film on the life and work of Ana Mendieta) laboriously and lovingly seek to give volume, visibility, and body to oppressed or dismissed voices, moving not in straight lines but tracing queer, poetic, and radical trajectories."

Richard Move is a choreographer, dancer, performing artist, director, and filmmaker. He is the Artistic Director of MoveOpolis! and Move-It! Productions. He is a TEDGlobal Oxford Fellow and TEDxWhiteOak co-curator and organizer. Recently, Move invited us into his home, where his work and press clippings line the walls, and his books, organized neatly and systematically, lend insight to his creative and intellectual process.

Biba Bell's work is framed by both performing arts and (extra)visual art contexts, frequently curated within museum or gallery institutions. Due to these contexts, she often confronted with the intangible and immaterial dimensions of dance and performance within the frame of object-based art economies.