EVA YAA ASANTEWAA GRANT 2019 FINALIST

taja will

Taja Will is a queer, Chilean adoptee, performer, choreographer, therapist and restorative justice facilitator. Will's approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text and vocals in contemporary performance, their aesthetic is one of spontaneity, bold choice making, sonic-kinetic partnership and the ability to move in relationship to risk and intimacy. Taja explores visceral connections to current socio-cultural realities through archetypes, ritual and everyday magic.

Will's work have been commissioned by the Candy Box Festival, Right Here Showcase, the Red Eye and presented at the Walker Art Center. Support has come from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Will is the recipient of a 2018-19 McKnight Choreography Fellowship.

BLOOD LANGUAGE

Blood Language is a collection of solos, which together are a ritual of identities. The process guides each performer to an archetype they feel personifies their identity experience. Together we’re researching and crafting environments which illustrates the complexity of thier lived experience and overlaps archetypes with other performers’ in a shared world. This work is intentionally designed to be authored by performers of color, queer, trans, non-binary and artists with invisible disabilities, as those are my personal and close communities of lived experience. As I increase personal responsibility and accountability in my local community I want to lead with values that create braver, more inclusive and equitable spaces for artists with marginalized identities to co-author work which is radical and liberated. –Taja Will