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Let's Talk About It

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What is "Let's Talk About It"?

Premiered on April 15, 2024 - 
Current rework in progress for February 8, 2025

"Let's Talk About It" is a collaborative show between Collective Moments Dance Company and Tess Saoirse Dance Company. Each company put up half an evening's work (30-45 minutes) about mental health/disabilities/neurodiversity related issues. Both companies have been putting together individual pieces related to these ideas for the better part of 2 years. For both companies, these individual pieces should be intertwined with one another to create a larger piece that reflects a grander message. The goal of this show would be to provide the first draft into those longer works.

While Collective Moments Dance Company's half-show length piece is entitled "side-punch", Tess Saoirse Dance Company's half-show length piece is entitled "In A Minute" and this page displays the creators involved in bringing it to life.

We thank the POP Series through Arts at the Armory for the opportunity to premiere this work and The Dance Complex for the opportunity to represent this work through the DIY Series.

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How did the show come to life?
The directors of TSDC and CMDC, Tess Saoirse Liddy and Kaylee Mahan, have been working together since January 2022. The two met as choreographers in the aMaSSiT program through The Dance Complex and Monkeyhouse, where Kaylee danced in the first rendition of In A Minute. Kaylee and Tess have gone on to dance together and choreograph on one another in shows across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey for the past 2 years. In the summer of 2023, Tess and Kaylee brainstormed ideas for a new show - focusing around topics they were passionate about. It is through that discussion that Let's Talk About It was born, to eventually evolve into what it is currently becoming: a show dedicated to addressing themes of mental health, neurodiversity, negative self-talk, and suicide.

Tess Saoirse Liddy

Tess Saoirse Liddy, Dancer, Choreographer, Director of TSDC

Tess Saoirse Liddy is a Boston-based dancer and choreographer. Tess teaches ABA in the Boston Public School System, as well as a special education consultant at Art Lab Everett for an inclusion art class. Tess is a company member of Collective Moments Dance Company and Exceptional Dance Company, as well as the founder of TSDC. She is passionate about creating work on the individual dancer's body so that all involved are comfortable and confident in the movement. 

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Shirin Kuppusamy - POP Series and DIY Series Dancer

Shirin Kuppusamy (she/her) identifies as a dancer, teacher, engineer, biologist, and lifelong learner from Atlanta, GA now residing in Boston, MA. She has extensive training in Kathak, Bollywood, Modern, and Contemporary with experience in Jazz, Ballet, and Hip Hop. Growing up she trained at Nritya Natya Kala Bharti Dance Academy and at North Atlanta Dance Academy. Upon moving to Boston for college, she's loved dancing with several college dance teams - including Olin Dance Ensemble which she co-founded with fellow TSDC company member Annabelle Platt. Post graduation, she also dances with Pantos Project Dance Ensemble and Collective Moments Dance Company, alongside work as an independent artist and dance educator. She loves dance as a way to disconnect and release after a long day and as a form of communication. Her choreography is rooted in gesture and collaborative movement, embracing the nuance of dance beyond technique, while still valuing the details. Outside of dance, she is a first year PhD student in STEM Education - focusing on undergraduate level computer science and biotechnology education, and  she loves playing with her friends' dogs and cats - though she's unfortunately yet to get her own!

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Kelsey Clausing - POP Series and DIY Series Dancer

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I fell in love with ballet in elementary school. I danced ballet and modern throughout high school and college, including minoring in Dance and Performance Studies while completing my undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley. I moved to Boston to begin a PhD, and while I currently devote most of my time to my neuroscience research, if you can’t find me in the lab, you’ll certainly find me in the dance studio! I’ve taken classes all over Boston and Cambridge, and I also dance with Forty Steps Dance. I’m very excited to be performing with TSDC this season! 

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Lonna Brandt - POP Series Dancer

Lonna has trained at Nashoba Valley Dance Academy since the age of 3 in the styles of tap,
jazz, ballet, modern, pointe, lyrical, and contemporary. She has trained at many summer
intensives such as Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater summer program and University of New Hampshire Summer Dance Program. Lonna was a company member with Touché Taps from early 2018 to late 2019. She was a company member with Jennie & Company in the 2023 season and is currently a member of Saving Grace Dance Ensemble.

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Sanaya Mistry - DIY Series Dancer

Sanaya Mistry is a performer, choreographer, educator and advocate for the arts. She started dancing at the age of 13, training at CityDance School and Conservatory. In 2022 she graduated from Towson University, with her degree in Dance Performance and Choreography with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Sanaya has had the opportunity to perform as an apprentice with the Nickerson-Rossi Dance Company (2020), company dancer for Catalyst Dance Company (2022), and company dancer for Suttle Dance Company (2023). Currently Sanaya is training with Urbanity Dance’s Second Company where she wishes to continue her dance journey and grow as a professional dancer. After her career of performing Sanaya wishes to open her own studio for children with various mental and physical disabilities. She truly believes dance movement is a form of therapy and should be accessible to all. 

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Cat Tierney - DIY Series Dancer

Cat 

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Kaylee Mahan, Dancer, Choreographer, Director of Collective Moments Dance Company

Kaylee graduated from Roger Williams University with a major in dance, She has experience teaching adults as well as children ages 2-teens in creative movement, ballet, tap, acro, jazz, and modern genres. She holds the Acrobatic Arts Module 1 Certification as well as a NYU Performing Arts Industry Essentials Certification. During college she studied abroad in London and trained under Stephen Pelton, Tory Trotter, and Renaud Wiser. She is the founder of Collective Moments Dance Company. Kaylee has most recently choreographed for NACHMOBoston 2023, DanceWorks in Progress Metamorphosis Dance Company, Dance For World Community Festival, and aMaSSiT choreography lab. She has performed in numerous productions including works by Shura Baryshnikov, Sean Currran, Danielle Davidson, Ori Flomin, Christina Robson, and Renaud Wiser.

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Lindsay Gibbons - POP Series and DIY Series Dancer

Lindsay Gibbons is a New England based dancer and choreographer. She graduated summa cum laude from Keene State College, receiving bachelor’s degrees in both psychology and dance with a specialization in choreography and performance. While at Keene State College, she trained under Cynthia McLaughlin, Sarah Lass, Molly Fletcher-Lynch and Meredith Bove. She has had the pleasure of performing in the original work of Jesse Jean Stinett, Boris Willis and Ellen Oliver, among others. She is also a member of Collective Moments Dance Company. Outside of performing, she works full-time as a teacher’s assistant for a public high school while also teaching and choreographing for local dance studios. Lindsay’s choreography aims to explore topics of personal importance through dynamic movements, risk taking and creativity. She seeks to honor her dancers as individuals while simultaneously offering them a safe space to step outside their comfort zones. She is thrilled to be dancing with Tess Soairise Dance Company for a  second season of meeting, learning and creating with other local artists!

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Annabelle Platt - POP Series Dancer

Annabelle started dancing at the age of 4 at the Dance Place in Newburyport, MA, and continued with Ipswich Moving Company (now High Street Studios) in Ipswich, MA. She joined the Youth Dance Ensemble there from 7th grade through 12th grade, and assistant-taught many classes for younger students. She was also on her high school's FIRST robotics team, which led her to study software engineering in college. She attended Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA, where she co-founded Olin Dance Ensemble in her first year with fellow TSDC dancer Shirin Kuppusamy. After graduating Olin with a B.S. in Engineering, Annabelle is working as a software engineer at PTC Onshape in Boston, while also keeping up her love for choreography and dance in TDSC.   

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Katie Logan - POP Series and DIY Series Dancer

Katie grew up in Annapolis, Maryland where she studied many styles of dance, then went on to graduate from Boston University with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Dance Performance. During her time at BU, Katie was a member of Boston University’s Dance Theatre Group under the direction of Micki Taylor-Pinney. Since then, she has danced with several companies in the Greater Boston area, including Nozama Dance Collective, Evolve Dynamicz, Onstage Repertory, and Kelley Donovan and Dancers. She toured “Enough” with Paradise Moves and danced in “Alcina” with Opera Del West. Filmed works include “Space,” produced by Madison Florence, Parts 1 and 2 of “The Allyship Project,” produced by Azeb Freitas and Nozama Dance Collective, and “Resistance”, which she produced with Model Peril Sounds and cello duo Iris. Katie has extensive experience with choreography and teaching movement improvisation workshops and has set pieces on Nozama Dance Collective, Dance Theatre Group, and the Onstage Residency Showcase for both live and filmed performances. In addition to her performance work, Katie practices pilates, Franklin Method, themonkeybody, and participated in the 2021-2022 Responsive Body Program under Holly Johnston.

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Gwen McGovern - DIY Series Dancer

Gwen McGovern is a Massachusetts based dancer, teacher and choreographer who has been dancing since the age of 3 at New England Dance Academy under Stephanie Kemp, Hope Specht and Jill D’Aguanno. After graduating high school, Gwen moved to New York City and studied at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy under Lars Rosager, Janine Aloisi, Oren Korenblum and many more renowned choreographers.  She studied there for a year before moving home and studying at Dean College under Todd Shanks and Kristina Berger. She now teaches at New England Dance Academy in North Attleboro and Shooting Stars School of Dance in Seekonk and most recently became a member of Fourth Dimension Tap Company outside of Boston, MA. She’s so excited to be joining TSDC as she has been dancing with Tess for over a year now in the Boston area! 

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All photography credit on this page: Gretchen Maldonis Photography

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