Since the time I was able to connect my love for dance to the ability to communicate without words, I strive to use painting (another unspoken language) to explain the dance experience.  My exploration of dance deals particularly with West Coast Swing.  West Coast Swing is a social dance, in which dancers are able to perform a dance strictly through lead and follow without the need for routines and choreography. Depicting the West Coast Swing experience in a painting is a challenge that continues to captivate my interest. After completing a dance I feel energized, I feel accomplishment and excitement from my ability to interpret the unspoken directions that were communicated through the connection of the partnership and music. For me, this experience represents the essence of dance.  It is this energy that I want my paintings to convey. 

In my earlier paintings I included the figures of dancers to begin to show the physical connection between dancers; however as my work evolves I replace the recognizable human figure with abstract forms.  These forms can be used to not only represent the energies and movements of dancers, but also interpret the energies the music imposes on the dance experience. By transforming the recognizable human figure into non-representational forms, the viewer can investigate the composition’s shapes and colors and how they represent the movements and interactions of the dance and not the people involved in the movement of the dance.

Just like one would not be able to predict every movement of a dance, it is also rare that I have a preconceived idea of the outcome of each of my paintings.  When I begin my painting, I begin with the connection of the partnership in mind.  The connection between partners determines the connection that will occur between the forms on the canvas.  I use the space of the canvas as well as the interaction between the forms to describe the energy of the dance experience.  To develop the general outlines of these forms I use simplifications and exaggerations of the human figure. I use other influences such as the curves and folds found on fallen leaves and draped fabric, the knobs and twists found on tree branches and cars reflections to develop the overall texture and depth of the forms.  Using these objects as inspirations has helped me to develop depth with color, light and shadow.

As the colors in the figure and ground begin to interact with one another an energy begins to be created on the canvas that can be compared to the energy of the music and how it influences the movements of the dancer.  Colors for the forms are chosen spontaneously with no particular influence dictating the results.  The only exception would be that vibrant colors are often chosen to reveal the excitement and energy of the dance.  The background colors develop as a reaction to the colors in the beginning forms, contrasting colors and values are often chosen to generate a feeling of high energy.  The final highlights and textures of the forms develop as a reaction to the background colors in the painting.  Just as dancers react to the music to shape the outcome of the dance, the figure and the ground of the painting react to each other to determine the colors and the final outcome of the painting.