ARTIST BIO
Makenna Finch is a dancer, videographer, photographer, and multi-media artist studying how to complicate dance in obvious ways. Through her work she questions who is a dancer, what is considered dance, where it is allowed to happen, who gets to see it, and how do they get to engage with it? She began dancing at age three and has continued her embodied research through a wide variety of technique and theory based classes as an undergraduate within the Five College Dance Department (Hampshire College, Smith College, Amherst College, University of Umass Amherst, Mount Holyoke College). She has also studied at Accademia dell'arte, Arezzo Italy and Mettler Studios Tucson, AZ through their Mettler Based Teacher Training Program. She has studied photography and Video through the Pioneer Valley Five College Consortium for four years and continues to explore the translation and visual possibilities of the moving body through various mediums and modes of instillation.
TESTIMONIALS
"In the studio she delved into the movement material with both seriousness and a sense of wonder, balancing her quest for personal expression with efforts toward specificity and mastery. And with each week that passed, she demonstrated greater understanding of both concepts. Her movement grew bigger, clearer, and able to shift between her inherent release and the potential for powerful/directness."
Deborah Goffe, Professor of Contemporary 3/4
PERFORMANCES
DANCER IN THE DENSITY OF OUR BONES CHOREOGRAPHED BY SAMANTHA CHERRIER
Winter Dance Concert 2016
This was my first experience being choreographed on and part of a student’s process at Hampshire. I learned how to be supportive and patient in their learning process and how to walk the line of collaborator and dancer.
CO-CHOREOGRAPHER OF PIT CHOREOGRAPHED BY MARIA DONJACOUR AND MAKENNA FINCH
This was an impromptu and informal piece that was created specifically for an outdoor informal student dance showcase.
Informal Spring Dance Showing 2016
LIGHTING BOARD OPERATOR AND DANCER FOR JAMILA JACKSON’S DIV III PERFORMANCE
Jamila Jackson’s DIV III performance 2016S
I was a part of Jamila’s DIV III workshops, rehearsals, and planning that used movement as a way of creating ceremony, community, and a space to access ancestral wisdom. I performed authentic movement as well as did the light board for a POC dance section.
DANCER IN FAMILY AND FRIENDS: DESIGN AND CHANCE CHOREOGRAPHED BY HAMPSHIRE DANCE FACULTY AND VARIOUS HAMPSHIRE STUDENTS
I was a last minute audition to the Hampshire Family and Friends Concert and got to be a “wild card” that improvised throughout the entire show.
Family and Friends Concert 2016F
PERFORMER IN I HATE YOUR GUTS CONCEIVED, CHOREOGRAPHED, AND VIDEOED BY MAKENNA FINCH
Donut 3 Centrum 2016F
This was an instillation piece performed in nudity about distorted body image to a select audience as part of my independent study, Eco-Feminist Art.
TEACHER’S ASSISTANT FOR GROUP IMPROVISATION TAUGHT BY GRIFFE GOEHRING
Main Dance Studio 2016F
After taking this course in fall of 2015 and attending a summer teacher training in Mettler Based dance, I helped co-teach this semester long course in group improvised dance based off of Barbara Mettler’s practice.
DANCER IN NOTIONS CHOREOGRAPHED BY AILEY PICASSO
Winter Dance Concert 2017
This was a process-based piece choreographed by a Hampshire alumnus. She used writing prompts to have us choreograph segments of the piece she then manipulated and sculpted into the final dance.
CHOREOGRAPHER OF WE MADE A POEM
Winter Dance Concert 2017
This was my first time being the sole choreographer of a piece and choreographing onto other bodies. I choreographed based off of co-written poems and created my own sound score based on our breath and spoken poetry.
DANCER IN REMEMBERING THE BODY CHOREOGRAPHED BY RIKKIA PERIERRA
DIV III Dance Concert 2017
This full-length forty-minute piece was Rikkia’s poetic self- discovery of finding the light in herself. It included elements of the casts’ choreography as well as her choreographed group numbers, quartets, trios, duets, and solos.
DANCER IN A SEGMENT OF REMEMBERING THE BODY CHOREOGRAPHED BY RIKKIA PERIERRA
ACDA Concert 2017S
This segment of Remembering The Body was a trio with Maire Frances Psomas-Jackloski, Rikkia Perierra, and me. It was performed for adjudication at ACDA.
DANCER IN HAPTOS PROPIO CHOREOGRAPHED AND FILMED BY ROSE CARR
Rose Carr’s Dance Instillation 2017S
This was an installation dance piece created by Rose Carr utilizing projected footage she shot and a co-choreographed dance that we performed in front of the projections.
SOUND BOARD OPERATOR
Smith College Fall Faculty Concert 2017F
I ran the sound for the Smith Fall Faculty show, which involved learning and operating QLab.
DANCER AND CHOREOGRAPHER IN THE LENS CHOREOGRAPHED BY DANTE BROWN AND ENSEMBLE
Amherst College Performance Project 2017F
This piece was created for Dante Brown’s Ensemble Dancing in Community class and dealt with concepts of revolution, subversion, and current events and was left intentionally open ended to look at personal interpretation.
TANZTHEATER PERFORMANCE
February 8th, 2018
This hour long performance was the result of a week long intensive studying the form of German based dance theater. This was performed in Arezzo, Italy at a part of the Accademia dell' Arte dance study abroad program.
BUTOH PERFORMANCE
February 20th, 2018
This was an hour long performance that resulted from a week long intensive with Mitsuru Sasaki who taught us the complex imagery, kinesthetic sensation, and meditative states found in this Japanese dance form. This was performed in Arezzo, Italy at a part of the Accademia dell' Arte dance study abroad program.
TARANTELLA/AFRICAN DANCE PERFORMANCE
March 15th, 2018
This evening length performance combined the history and form of Tarantella with Afro Modern to create an dramatic embodiment of the god Dionysus. This was performed in Arezzo, Italy at a part of the Accademia dell' Arte dance study abroad program.
FINAL SHOWCASE ~ DUET
April 15th, 2018
An evening length performance composed of self choreographed solos, duets, and trios, as well as ensemble work choreographed by Sabine Fichter and Giorgio Rossi. This was the final performance for the Accademia dell' Arte program.
REFLECTIONS
October 19th, 2018
I created a solo score around a pond at the Mount Holyoke Botanical Gardens with the audience's score to view me through window and pond reflections. The audience joined me at the pond's circumference creating no physical division between performer and audience and forcing us to physically navigate one another.