By Guest Contributor Angelina DiFranco

Regarded as one of Cleveland’s acclaimed dance artists and burgeoning choreographers, Morgan Walker will premiere her latest commissioned work, Where I End, and You Begin, as part of the Detroit Dance City Festival on Saturday, September 7, at 2:30 p.m. 

Walker has created and presented works for Kent State University, Bellingham Repertory Dance, GroundWorks DanceTheater, Dancing Wheels Company, Mark DeGarmo International Dance Festival, American College Dance Association Conferences and others. 

In 2023, the Detroit Dance City Festival (DDCF) awarded Walker the Michigan Residency Award. This award, created as part of DDCF’s festival exchange program, supports one choreographer from the 2023 Choreographers Showcase to create and present new work in 2024. 

DDCF, located at Detroit Institute of Arts, is in its twelfth year of celebrating dance in its various forms and disciplines. The annual community-building event includes performances, masterclasses, and networking opportunities. Its mission is to diversify audiences, inform them about the impact of dance, and provide performance opportunities for artists.

Walker’s twelve-minute work is divided into six sections and performed to a diverse score of music, soundscapes, and spoken word. Props, designed and created by Walker and Louis Grube, symbolize loss, obstacles faced, confinement, and societal structures that are individually defined and explored through the dancers’ unique narratives. The cast of six dancers entangle themselves, partner, improvise, and manipulate the space while using six chairs painted a vibrant red and long strips of crimson fabric. 

“Where I End, and You Begin is inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the current battle for people’s healthcare, privacy, and rights,” says Walker. “It is a scream without voice, a wound without gauze, and an exploration of how a contorted narrative oppresses those who don’t fit within.” 

Walker’s work invites and honors difficult conversations from the perspectives of those affected by the repeal of Roe v. Wade and gives them a voice. The work’s dialogue, she says, “is the most profound and important part.” 

Walker describes her movement style as being driven by a fascination with momentum, weight transfer, stillness, and juxtaposing movement dynamics, which equate to an athletic and high-caliber performance quality. 

“We did a lot of writing and sharing to create movement vocabulary,” says Walker about the creative process. “I was inspired by the dancers’ narratives and curious as to how all of our voices could mold together while also giving a platform to each perspective individually.” 

Kylie Karam, a dancer in the work, shared that the dancers were given time to reflect on their narratives and generate individualized material to be incorporated into the work. “I believe this further enabled everyone to embrace themselves within the work,” says Karam. 

Where I End, and You Begin further incentivizes collaboration by incorporating task-based improvisation. Walker appreciated the trust built between the artists throughout the process. She says, “No run of this work ever looks the same, and the dancers get to make different choices and explorations throughout. I truly wanted their authentic selves, so it was important for me to make sure we acknowledged and checked in with each other every rehearsal.” 

Karam expressed that Walker facilitated a safe space in which the severity of the topic was handled with extreme care, allowing the cast of dancers to surrender to their thoughts and feelings about the work. Karam says, “The community of dancers within the piece reminds me that I am not alone in this difficult undertaking.” 

Morgan Walker presents Where I End, and You Begin on Saturday, September 7 at 2:30 p.m. Detroit Dance City Festival’s Outdoor Summer Stage on the Detroit Institute of Arts lawn, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI. Free, bring your own chairs and blankets. Visit http://www.detroitdancecityfestival.com/summer-stage for more information. 

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ABOUT ANGELINA DIFRANCO

Angelina is a dance artist, writer, and choreographer. She graduated from Kent State University with honors in May 2023 and holds a BFA in dance and a BA in English with a concentration in professional writing. Throughout her tenure at Kent State, Angelina has received the May O’Donnell Memorial Dance Award, the Eugenia V. Erdmann Dance Award, and the dance faculty award for outstanding achievement as an emerging artist and dance scholar. As a choreographer, her dance for film has been nominated by KSU faculty for the American College Dance Association, was presented at Cleveland Dance Festival’s Virtual Dance Film Gallery in 2022, and won best experimental film at the Highland Square Film Festival. Her concert choreography has been performed professionally at Cleveland Dance Festival, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and OhioDance Festival. Alongside her work as a dance artist, she took part in See Chicago Dance’s 2021 critical writing fellowship and has been published in See Chicago Dance, Luna Negra, and Brainchild. Currently, Angelina is company dancer with Cleveland’s Dancing Wheels Company.