The Swirl is a surrealist duet that explores the slipperiness of individuation, created and danced by Emily Jones and Hannah Krafcik. Ralph Pugay created portraits of Emily and Hannah that appear in projections in multiple iterations of this work.

In many ways The Swirl is a reaction to the superimposed binaries and/or categories that hem us in. Binary options for political alignment—with one ideology and against another—preclude individual capacity to take in the complexity and nuance that might blur personal conviction. Through The Swirl, we are working with the notion of two bodies as a "set" (distinct entities with similarities and differences) rather than a binary or categorizable pair. In a set, qualities can converge and diverge, and differences can be present without existing in direct contrast. We think the paradigm of swirling sets that converge and diverge is a useful framing that can help disrupt the social violence that often accompanies imposed binaries and categories.

More themes: sensory / crafty cognitive dissonance / connective tissue / timing / intuitive / how do we ever really know if we are talking about the same thing? / syncopation / care / coercion / analytical / waves / nervous system / connected / zoom in / undulations / momentum / zoom out / stimming / energy shift / language approximations / individual / impossibilities / imperfect unison / delusions / power dynamics / failures / ground / questioning meaning and form / touch / multiple truths / sensitive / strange / spiraling / history / “two” is not a binary / lineage / how did we arrive here? / characters / daredevil cartwheel / set games / optical illusions

The Swirl has been supported in different ways by Chocolate Factory Theater, Lucy Cotter, Stelo Arts, Camp Colton, Berm, Velocity Dance Center, Subashini Ganesan and many generous individual donors and colleagues.