Claire Porter PORTABLES

Claire Porter / PORTABLES is a series of theater dance pieces that are comedic in nature yet layered with meaning. Drawn to a particular subject Porter develops solos and groups pieces that combine language and movement. Each work is relevant to a broad range of audience and venue.

PORTABLES has a wide appeal and has been part of comedy festivals, fundraisers, weddings, museum events, art gallery openings, garden events, anatomy conferences, business meetings as well as theater, comedy and dance events. Grouped by their subjects, Porter has Job Pieces, Grammar Pieces, Muscle Pieces, Garden Pieces, Art Pieces, Music Pieces and is currently developing her History Pieces.

Her thematic work has recently been performed at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater in NYC featuring her new production SEN-TENCE including Falling for Prepositions, And/But, Witnessing Adverbs and Pronoun Emergency. She has also received many university commissions for her work including Sentenced to Sentences for Montclair State, Having Conjunctions for NYU and Out of The Question for Purchase College.

Porter’s work has highlighted special events including a performance introducing the Peter Eisenman Building at the University of Cincinnati, performing as the hostess-comedienne-scene changer for the Minnesota Composers Forum's New Music Concert, performed for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s 2009 GALA and was in residence at his center in NYC in 2010. She set a solo on Kansas City Ballet, has appeared on staircases, boats, backyards, gyms, classrooms, airports, humor festivals, museums, and soapboxes and is currently performing Namely, Muscles, recipient of the NYC Fringe Festival 2010’s Overall Excellence Award, at festivals, conferences, theaters, medical schools and universities around the U.S.

Porter has performed her work internationally, with appearances in India, Scotland, Germany, Holland, England, Latvia and Korea. In the US her work is extensive. In the New York City area, PORTABLES have been produced at DanceNow’s Joe’s Pub Shows at the Public, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace St. Mark’s Church, PS 122, The Kitchen, The Joyce Theater, Joyce SOHO, 92nd St. Y, Town Hall, The NY Horticulture Society, Liberty Science Center and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center. PORTABLES has also showcased at the American Dance Festival, The Lucille Ball Festival of Comedy, Bates Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Florida Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theater DC, Tampa Bay Off Center Theater, Duncan Theater Palm Beach FL, Center Stage Raleigh NC, The Southern Theater Minneapolis MN, The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, and many universities. 

Porter is a Guggenheim Fellow 2013 and has received several National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowships, New Jersey State Council for the Arts Choreography Fellowships, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Awards, Live Music for Dance Award and commissions from Dance Theater Workshop’s First Light Project, The 92nd St Y Harkness Dance Festival, Art Matters, Meet The Composer, VOGUE Magazine, University Dance Companies and even Domino’s Pizza Company. 

Porter has been recognized as an outstanding and generous teacher and when in residence conducts workshops in Laban Movement Analysis, Choreography, Text and Movement, Phrasing, Rapid Repertory, etc. She teaches her Dance Workout in Bergen County NJ and serves on the Board of DanceNJ and Bergen Arts and directs Bergen DanceMakers, a group of local choreographers. Porter has an MA in Dance from Ohio State, a BA in Mathematics from The College of New Rochelle, and is a Laban Movement Analyst.

“delightful” Roslyn Sulcas, New York Times

“It had the audience in stitches”, Mark Horning, Arts & Exhibits Newsletter, Cleveland OH.

“Like all sophisticated humorists, Porter has a sharp eye, a good sense of timing and tolerance toward those she satirizes.” Elizabeth Lee, Ballet News

“Slyly inserted into all the laughs is serious analysis” Offoffoff, Quinn Batson

“Porter’s timing is flawless” Wilma Salisbury, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“perfect comic timing and tone, all about subtext; what’s not being said or “danced.” Cory Nakasue, www.buzzine.com

“Porter brings the blooms to near human life." Anne Tobias, Dance Magazine

“One of the wittiest in the business” Siobhan Burke, NY Times

Touring Programs

Porter’s versatile comedic pieces combine language and movement and have appeared in concert settings as well as in special occasions. These special occasions have included conferences (Education, Kinesiology, Dance Medicine, Arts), meetings (Board of Directors, Art Councils), fundraisers, openings, galas (Baryshnikov’s Gala, Dance St. Louis Gala, Fund Raising Coalition of America), Garden Events and Weddings.

Porter typically weaves together varying subjects and when in a university setting connects with several different departments related to the concert. These have included Dance, Theater, Music, Art, English Composition, Poetry, Physical Therapy, Pre-Med, Nursing, Philosophy and Business Departments as well as Medical Schools.

PROGRAM THEMES
These include solos and group pieces, each about 8-12 minutes in length except where noted.

FUNDRAISING: Fund Raiser
MUSIC & ART: Falling for Prepositions, HomeStretch, Piano, Lost in The Modern, In Gloves, Knitting Orders
JOBS: Interview, Lady Lamp, Diorama Drama, HomeStretch, Piano, Green Dress Circle, At The Gate, See You Around, Breaking News, Ordering Greens, From Jobs to Geraniums (1 hour)
GRAMMAR: Falling for Prepositions, Pronoun Emergency, Witnessing Adverbs, Sentenced to Sentences, Out of the Question, Having Conjunctions
GARDEN: HomeStretch, Mulch, Green Dress Circle, From Jobs to Geraniums (1 hour)
TRAVEL: At The Gate, Connecting Flights, On The Map
MUSCLES: Fitness Digest, Namely, Muscles (65 minutes long, sometimes excerpted)
THE EVERYDAY: Happen Chance, In Gloves, It’s About Time, Beside Myself Deciding, Matter of Influence, If My Words Wore Boots, It All Depends, Frame, Lecture Circuit, Lost In The Modern, Looking for The Remote (1 hour), Play (1 hour)

Outreach

WORKSHOPS

Text & Movement, Choreography, Laban Movement Analysis, Ways to Phrase, Family Dance, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Learning with the Body, Improvisation & Play, Humor 101, A Case of Collaboration (with composer Mary Ellen Childs)

SWEEPS

SWEEPS are a series of 2 minute structured improvisational pieces, performed by local dancer/actors, appearing between Porter’s solos. They segue one idea to the next. Costumes are provided.

PUBLICATION

Dynamics in a Bag is series of games and cards designed for discovering and developing a wide dynamic range.