W O R K S
Before the sun sets
Who holds the power in relationships? Does it fluctuate? Is it a dynamic both agree to, or is there discontent within it? How can we feel seen and heard when a power dynamic is pervasive? This solo explores how these questions show up in a romantic partnership. With the "partner" just offstage in the downstage left corner, the dancer is deep in the throws of a negotiation of some sort with them.
This work was presented for 4:15 at Greenlung studio in Brooklyn in 2025.
Choreography and Performance: Madison McGain
Music: “Partita No.1 in B-Flat Major” Bach - “We Belong Together” Ritchie Valens
Photo by Stepan Liubimov
Meditations on loss
These journal entries, or meditations, are a collection of improvisations oriented around a practice of sitting with, moving towards, repeating, confronting, befriending even. Exhausting the thought until it loses meaning, or maybe gains a new one. These entries were born out of time spent at the Sable Project Artist Residency Program (2025). The practice became a daily ritual and the ritual became a challenge in honesty. Madison was deeply inspired by the container Sable created for artistic exploration.
Middleground
Premiering in April of 2022 (Santa Cruz, CA), Middleground is a site-specific, improvised, work centered around creating a physical vocabulary inextricable from its environment. Over the course of two months, Madison formed a practice on-site at the Evergreen Cemetery, exploring the particularities of moving throughout a silent landscape, following solely the emotional and physical response of her own body, with sound only becoming a component of the work during the performance. This will culminate in a series of six performances, all unique improvisations, as part of Beyond the Grave by the Museum of Art History, curated by Indexical.
Choreography and Performance: Madison McGain
Live Sound: ordinary blood
Dramaturgy: Lisa Brenner
VOID
“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” —Seneca
VOID is an interdisciplinary, full-length, duet, featuring Chloe Rosen and Lisa Brenner, which premiered in June, 2021. An iteration of a larger project that began in 2019, VOID questions the culture of separation and avoidance of mortality prevalent in our society today.
Choreography: Madison McGain in collaboration with the artists
Dance Artists: Chloe Rosen, Lisa Brenner
Live Sound: ordinary blood
Funding/Support: Santa Cruz Arts Council, SC County Parks & Friends
Refraction
Refraction is an experimental dance film created for the Post/Future Performance Festival in 2020. Featuring original music by ordinary blood, the film examines grief and isolation. Additionally, the film was presented at the Museum of Art History (Santa Cruz, CA).
Choreography and Performance: Madison McGain
Music: ordinary blood
Film and Editing: Madison McGain
High Exposure
High Exposure is a two part solo using movement as a catalyst to confront certain ideas surrounding women that perpetuate an oppressive dynamic; specifically, emotional outwardness being seen as weakness. High Exposure has been presented at 7MPR (NY), the New Work Series (NY), Small Plates Dance Festival (NJ), and The Craft NY.
Choreography and Performance: Madison McGain
Music: Elvis Presley & Franz Schubert (edited by Madison McGain)