I am so excited to be performing with Vela Luka Croatian Dance Ensemble this coming Sunday October 1st! Performing Croatian folk dance is a rare and wonderful tradition that I feel lucky to participate in. 

I am also excited to be teaching Latin Hustle classes in Seattle at Century Ballroom this fall. There are also a few open socials where everyone gets to shake their groove thang. It's such a treat to enjoy the music and dance everyone. 

Details about these events found here. 
See you soon!
​

Hello Darlings,
I hope you are having a wonderful fall full of color, coziness, and creativity. I have been busy this season making, rehearsing and teaching dance. Here are some lovely events wherein you can enjoy the fruits of my labor. Huzzah!

Cornish Dance Theater
This Friday and Saturday at the Cornish Playhouse a duet I created entitled Please Hold will be performed by Cornish College students alongside works by Markeith Wiley and Celia Weiss. The duet features Lola Mahaney and Michael Walton as two lost souls seeking joy and connection in a world filled with unpredictable forces.
November 18th @ 8pm, November 19th @ 4pm and 8pm
Get Tickets Here!
​
Heritance
In December, Erica Badgeley and I will perform live the duet she created in collaboration with Costume Designer and Visual Artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine as a part of BASE’s 12 Minutes Max series. Originally a film, the piece is a meditation on how relationships intwine and unravel across generations. This will be my first time performing on stage since 2019 and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
December 4th @ 5pm, December 5th @ 7pm, Livestream available
Get Tickets Here!

Expressive Arts for the Holiday Season
As the holidays approach we are offered opportunities to slow down and reconnect with ourselves and dear ones. Sometimes it can feel celebratory and at other times the season reveals old wounds in need of tending.
I offer two different ways to engage what is arising through dance, drawing, creative writing, and community. Give yourself the gift of time to nourish your creative spirit in either my weekly expressive arts class, Tending the Fire, or my Solstice event.
Expressive Arts Class: Tuesdays @ 5:30 - 6:40pm PT, Online
Solstice Event: December 18th @ 10am - 12:30 PT, Online
Register Here!

Wherever you happen to find your self this season my wish is that you have moments of glittering joy, earthy support, and the wisdom found only in the dark times of the year. I’ll see you on the dance floor.
​
With Love,
Lucie Baker

A dance film and a documentary featuring my dancing are available now:
​
Heritance:
For those of you who missed the live screening of this lovely little dance film I performed in this summer, you can view it at your leisure. It is a meditation on love, loss, mothers, children, and the things we leave behind. We had a wonderful time premiering the film and would love to share it further.
Link here! https://vimeo.com/655935236

Enter the Faun:​
The documentary, Enter the Faun, tells the story of actor Greg Mozgala and choreographer Tamar Rogoff, as Rogoff creates the role of the Faun for him while navigating Mozgala’s Cerebral Palsy. It is an uplifting story that investigates the link between medicine and art, challenges perceived limitations around disability, and features dancing by me. It is streaming on YouTube via PBS’s America Reframed until January 1st.
Link here! https://youtu.be/Wdev_RLmBXU

I hope you enjoy! - LB


View the official eblast here:
https://mailchi.mp/9219035bce87/gifts-to-celebrate-the-new-year

Hello Dears,
I hope this message finds your warm, well, and enjoying your life to your greatest capacity. I am here to let you know that I’ve got a few final offerings as we go careening towards the end of 2021 and into whatever this fateful future holds for us. Get into it!


Online Open Class!
My open group expressive arts class, Tending the Fire, has two more sessions left this year. This online class is a great opportunity to fire up your creativity and get in touch with your body.
Regular participant Lisa O. says, “I am totally IN LOVE with this new way of discovering, expressing AND receiving.”

Join us to see what she is talking about!
Today! Tuesday December 7th and Tuesday, December 14th at 5:30pm PT
Register for Tending the Fire


Dance Film Screening!
This summer I had the marvelous opportunity to perform in a dance film created by dance artist Erica Badgeley and visual artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine, filmed by cinematic artist Devin Marie Muñoz. The duet we made, entitled Heritance, is a meditation on mothers, daughters, and the tangled webs we weave.

Free online viewing parties of the film are being held
December 9th at 8pm PT and December 12th at 11am PT
Register for a Heritance Viewing Party Here


The Wild Body: A Solstice Event!
The darkest days of the year in the northern hemisphere can feel like a total drag, but during these inward facing times we have the opportunity to reach into the dark and take hold of the wilderness that lives inside us and drives our desires.
In this 2 hour online workshop we will develop images, mantras and movements to keep connected to the power of nature coursing through our veins. Join me to juice up your intuition and creativity for the new year! All bodies welcome. No experience necessary.

Sunday December 19th 10am - 12 PT
Register for The Wild Body Solstice Event Here


Wherever you find yourself these days, I hope you are filling your cup and drinking it down with those you love. May your holidays nourish you and bring you the creative expression you desire.
Be Merry, Y’all.


With Love, Lucie

​See the complete Eblast here: https://mailchi.mp/241db8d21730/lucie-bakers-final-offerings-for-2021

​Hello my dears,

It’s been awhile. I sent my last message to you all in December of 2019 to announce the premiere of a new dance and little did any of us know that time in theaters and time together would be stripped from us unceremoniously for the following year and a half.
It has been an illuminating and difficult time. It has often felt like a crucible to me. Burning away what was not necessary and highlighting what is deeply essential, either through lack or abundance. While I will be digesting the pain and sorrow of these past months for some time to come, I am also grateful for the clarity it has offered me.

I am writing announce a new venture. The seedling sprouting from the ashes of the fire: My new offerings as an expressive arts facilitator.

My intention is to use the power of expressive arts, community ritual, and nature to help people live their greatest potential. I draw on my experience as a professional dance artist, a Tamalpa Practitioner, and my studies of nature to support those who believe there is more juice in life than they are currently experiencing.

I seek to help to the helpers. Those who are participating in the collective healing and evolution of the planet in ways great and small. It may be through activism, art making, healing, teaching, or any number of subtle actions. I am especially interested in supporting those who are experiencing burnout or languishing, and recovering from trauma.

I will do this by reconnecting people with their creative spark, their bodies, their expressivity, and their communities. 

Here are my first offerings.

Tending the Fire: Group Class
This weekly online drop-in class is an opportunity to practice the foundational tools of embodiment, self awareness, communication, and connection you need to keep your heart fires roaring. Starting September 14th.
Learn More

Swimming the Depths: One to One
For those seeking personalized support in addressing a specific theme or event in their lives these private sessions allow you to dive deep into the waters of the unconscious with the help of creative tools and skillful facilitation.
Learn More
​
Watching the Skies: Seasonal Events
Periodically, I offer workshops, intensives, and retreats focused on a particular theme. These immersive events allow participants to develop creative resources in a concentrated manner. My first event centers on the equinox and how our light and shadows balance each other and will be held September 19th. 
Learn More

While my venture as an Expressive Arts facilitator takes me into new territory, my path remains true. I continue to seek ways to cultivate the wisdom of the body, connect with power of art, and nurture individual and collective growth holistically. If this sounds like a journey you are tempted to take — and I hope you are! — then keep an eye out for future newsletters. You will get tasty tidbits of inspiring resources and notices of upcoming events about twice a month. I enthusiastically invite you to remain connected, though you can, of course, unsubscribe at any time. 
​
I hope to dance with you all in one way or another in the near future. Feel free to reach out if you are curious about working with me or have any questions at all. I wish you all the very best.

Hello Friends!

I am coming to you from the mysterious misty lands of the Pacific Northwest winter. I am reaching out let you know that my work Singing Over the Bones is being produced at Velocity Dance Center's Next Fest. This dance is a development of the work that I made for the MFA Dance Concert at University of Washington last spring and I am grateful to have an opportunity to revisit this material. The piece evokes the Rusalki, figures of slavic folklore said to have power over human, animal and agricultural fertility. The dance explores themes of cycles of life and death, liminal space, womanhood, wildness, ecology, cultural identity, and spirit. This iteration features Erica Badgeley, Megumi Hosaka and myself as performers.

Details are below:

Working on this dance has been a delicious, personal and empowering experience. I have enjoyed finding a sense of integration of my experiences as the daughter of a Croatian mother and Anglo-American father as well as an integration between my interests in folk and contemporary dance. The mythology of the Rusalki has provided me a magnetic pole to orient towards as I investigate these ideas. 

​​I hope you all choose to dive in with me.

One of my goals as a choreographer is to pay my dancers wages for rehearsal and performance. While I have received some funding from Velocity as a part of this production, I am striving to raise another $250 to cover the remainder of rehearsal costs. You can make a tax deductible donation by clicking the button below. Any amount is greatly appreciated and monies raised beyond my goal will go towards future productions. 

As always, I am thankful for your support and interest in my work. It is a constant inspiration to see what dance means to different people and it is an honor to be an advocate and keeper of the form. May you find some space for dance in your life this winter season. 

With love and reverence, 
Lucie Baker

Dearest friends,
The wheel of the seasons keeps on turning. Since my last message (over a year ago!) a great number of things have occurred. Let's start where we are.

I am about to graduate from the University of Washington with a Masters of Fine Art in Dance degree. Can you believe it?! It's been a wild ride and I have been grateful to share it with some of the most inspiring dance academics around. I am finishing up my thesis work, teaching, and choreographing for the MFA Dance Concert next week.

What follows is a little recap of what I've been up to!

Last spring I premiered Glow Up, a dance made for twelve young women in the undergraduate dance department. It was a light and playful look at the wonderful weirdness of community. I had a blast working with them and designing glowing balloons to light their way as a part of the MFA Dance Concert. You can view the piece from 2018 here: https://vimeo.com/287129886

Last summer I completed original research that focused on creative collaboration between scientists and artists. I invited three doctoral students in the early stages of their work into the studio to try their hand at dancing as a method of investigating their research questions. What emerged was an inspiring look at the stimulating effect of applying dance based inquiry to the scientific process. You can watch my presentation of my findings here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SNAAR-AtZwoablgoMbl32r9nviEVCcGK/view?usp=sharing 

This past fall I performed with the Chamber Dance Company at UW's Meany Hall. The program was full of fantastic pieces including works by Lucinda Childs, Joseph Gifford, and Daniel Charon. It was a challenging and satisfying run. You can see me dance Gifford's The Pursued here: https://vimeo.com/300579847/904de93ab3 

Over the winter I prepared my thesis which is to create and teach a course. I am in the midst of that at this very moment. It has been a joy to teach this class which synthesizes my research in creativity, life sciences and philosophy. I have titled it Embodied Ecology for Creative Practice. I have an intrepid group of students from many different disciplines and we have been having a blast learning about how to use natural systems as models for creative work. We even went on a field trip to learn about how beavers create their habitats so that we can better understand how we humans might choreograph ours. 

​

And now here we are! May, 2019!
I am looking forward to celebrating the end of a wonderful experience here at UW but not before one last hurrah. I will premiere a new work for six fantastic undergraduate women as a part of this years UW MFA Dance Concert. In this piece I explore the archtypal power of the Rusalki. Characters from Slavic folklore, the Rusalki are the spirits of young women who died untimely or unjust deaths, and are believed to have the power to regulate the seasons, and agricultural abundance. They have a tendency to curse or kill those who cross them and bless those who appease them. The piece, entitled Singing Over the Bones, is an investigation of life and death cycles as symbolically represented by the female form and how these cycles function in contemporary culture. It is also a personal exploration of the liminal cultural space I occupy as the daughter of a Croatian immigrant mother and an Anglo-American father. I drew on my years of folk dancing as well as my theatrical dance experience when developing the movement. It is a convergence of many things and I look forward to sharing it with you all.

I hope you can come and spend an evening with us! (Consider it an early birthday present to me.) As I move into a new chapter of my life, I look forward to creating projects that utilize what I have learned over the past three years of education, both at UW and theTamalpa Institute. I am eternally grateful to those who shared this journey with me and I believe there is fertile ground for the seeds we have cultivated to take root. I intend to do some planting.


With Love,
Lucie

MFA Dance Concert
May 15 - 19, 2019

Wednesday - Saturday 7:30pm
Sunday 2:00pm
University of Washington
Meany Studio Theater 

Tickets and Information Here:
https://dance.washington.edu/events/2019-05-15/mfa-concert

Happy Spring!

Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the cherry blossoms and sunshine as much as I am. Spring has been a long awaited occasion. I have spent the winter immersed in my work as a teacher and a Masters student here at UW. I have been challenged to reflect on and develop my teaching practices by learning about feminist pedagogy, ecopsychology, and phenomenology. All of which were terms I had never heard before. It has been an engaging experience. I have also continued my work with the Tamalpa Institute and I am writing to announce that I have the pleasure of offering a new workshop this April.  

Tamalpa Life/Art Process:
The Forest and The Trees

Saturdays in April the 7th - 28th, 2-5 pm
at Velocity Dance Center
1621 12th Ave. Seattle, Wa

Class Description:
This four part expressive arts workshop fosters the development of connection, communication, and personal awareness. Inspired by the imagery of trees, we will improvise dances, create drawings, and develop creative writings that help identify ourselves within our greater ecosystems. We will seek ways to nourish ourselves and our communities as trees do their forests.

This workshop is based on the Tamalpa Life/Art Process®. Developed by Anna and Daria Halprin at the Tamalpa Institute, it is an integrated approach that explores the wisdom of the body as expressed through movement, dance, and imagination. We use artistic processes and media to explore and deepen our relationship to psychological life, to social issues, and to creativity itself.

This is a dance-based experience. All abilities and backgrounds are welcome. No experience necessary. Art materials will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring a journal if they wish. The first class may be taken as a drop-in but the following classes require full enrollment. $30 first day only | $85 full series of four workshops. 

Register for Expressive Arts Here!
https://velocitydance.secure.force.com/ticket/#sections_a0F2A00000QufoOUAR

I can't wait to share this work with you all! I imagine it will be a fruitful process. Feel free to invite friends and colleagues and reach out for further information if needed. I would be thrilled to have you in attendance.

Another event that is budding is my choreographic offering at the annual University of Washington MFA Dance Concert. I will be showing a piece for twelve
wonderful undergraduate dancers that is inspired by emergent form, relationships, and jellyfish.

UW MFA Dance Concert 
An evening of choreography by the graduate students of the
Department of Dance at the University of Washington

Meany Studio Theater, Seattle, Wa
May 16th - 19th at 7:30
May 20th at 2pm
$10
 
Tickets Here!
https://dance.washington.edu/events/2018-05-16/mfa-dance-concert

​May 20th is my birthday and I can think of no better way to celebrate than to be in the audience for this show with you. I look forward to sharing this new dance and workshop with the world, just as the plants are sharing their young leaves and flowers. May this spring bring you fresh blossoms and new moves! 

 With Love,
Lucie B 




To view eblast in browser click here: mailchi.mp/7d3f5452b418/expressive-arts-and-new-choreography-in-seattle?e=40530f94a7