Our Movement

Tulsa Modern Movement (TuMM) thrives as a dynamic force for local artists and audiences. Our projects rely on a collaborative group of dancer/innovators making progressive work that surprises, delights and stimulates, working within a broad network of producing artists.
Our mission is to invigorate contemporary dance in Oklahoma by creating and presenting new choreography, promoting life-long learning in the art of dance and collaborating across disciplines.
The company formed out of collaboration and curiosity. We unveiled with "Suchness" - a public performance of site-specific dance on the bank of the Arkansas River in June 2011. Since then, we have continued to communicate perspectives beyond words and connect people through experience to the knowledge and intelligence that resides in the body. 

BLACK LIVES MATTER

A message from our Executive Artistic Director, Ari Christopher

As an artist -- a creator who makes things where they hadn’t previously existed -- I believe it's my power and responsibility to imagine. In solidarity, I imagine a more equitable world and pledge to help build it. I pledge that my creative and collaborative work will never shame or diminish Black, Indigenous and/or People of Color (BIPOC) and it will never protect White fragility. I am an anti-racist. My hope is that I can speak to fellow dance artists and audiences here on the Tulsa Modern Movement platform from a place of compassion as I invite you to join me: let’s chip away the layers of fear and ignorance and soften into patience, curiosity and radical love.    

If you’ve been following my work, you may have noticed that I frequently make dances that wrestle with questions of identity, belonging and equity. “Greenwood 1921” (2016), with poetry written and performed by Tony B., was about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the power of community in maintaining a life of dignity. “Mother Tongue” (2016) explored forced assimilation and subjugation of generations of BIPOC by White America. “Phenomenal Woman” (2019), a solo dance film celebrating Maya Angelou on International Women's Day and “How To Mutate” (2019), a collaboration with Candace G. Wiley about racism and privilege hoarding, are examples of recent works highlighting Black voices. I make work around these issues because that’s what I care deeply about and what inspires me. I am deeply grateful for the other artists and donors who have made this work possible.

I’m a gender non-conforming, bisexual who was raised atheist in the Bible Belt as a White child in mostly Black schools in North Tulsa. I learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre when I was only 8 years-old and that started a life-long quest in me to understand. I make work that wrestles with identity and belonging because *I* wrestle with identity and belonging; and because, while I understand that dances won’t take guns out of police hands, I believe that dance and other body-based art have a direct line to people’s empathy systems. I say: turn up the volume on empathy, even if it makes people mad, sad, or angry. FEEL. Feel. Feel to understand.

We are living in an important moment in history, and one that I am hopeful about. I also recognize that we may have a long process of reckoning and reform ahead of us, but I believe that the process will be easier on those who get knowledge and perspective. I share the linked document, Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources, because it is a fascinating and thorough list of resources for allies, artists and audiences. Like any other generative endeavor I urge you to stay curious, keep notes, and notice how you feel while you engage with this material. Let yourself feel, wonder, reflect and stay present. 

Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources

Processes & Priority

 An artist statement from our Executive Artistic Director, Ari Christopher

My choreography draws upon classical modern dance, release technique, and weight sharing. I like to play with the pushes, pulls, weight and initiation points throughout and between connected vessels. I often prefer to work in collaboration – usually with an artist or thinker from a different domain, art discipline or life experience – because I find fruitful ground in the overlaps and enjoy the discovery process.

When I make work for public spaces, I am interested in shifting the environment and tuning into a state of being that amplifies the audiences’ ability to be here now.

My recent work for the stage explores the possibilities of storytelling with immersive dance-based theater. I'm interested in how movement in time and space can affect text and vice versa to tell an embodied story. The main purpose of this work is to offer my audience permission to reflect upon difficult issues across disparate and historically unequal groups - not just speak, but also to ask questions. I operate with the understanding that every person balances the need for safety with the need for truth. I take risks in my work to give the audience a safer place to sit in truth, and take a risk toward their own truth and vulnerability.

I am deeply grateful to each person - dancer, collaborator, donor, friend and family - who have given of themselves - in time, talent, encouragement and funds - to help make this company and my work possible.

BIOS

Ari Christopher - Executive Artistic Director

Ari makes original dance productions and site-specific work, teaches Modern Dance Techniques & Contact Improv, and provides k-12 teacher development in art infusion. Her choreography has been commissioned by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Living Arts of Tulsa, The Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, among others.

Ari was engaged in all arts disciplines from ballet to jazz violin until she found her place in the Modern Dance studio. She attended the BFA program in Modern Dance and Choreography at Marymount Manhattan College in NYC, where she trained with Merle Holloman (Jose Limon Company), Lone Larsen (Martha Graham Co.), and Gerald Otte (Nikolais Dance Theatre). She continues her commitment to professional development by studying with masters in the field such as Bill T. Jones and Brian Brooks. 

Before TuMM, Ms. Christopher served as the Associate Director of Project CREATES, an art infusion organization that provided teacher professional development and paired teaching artists with classroom teachers to deliver co-taught units of study. She continues to support area schools with high-quality dance instruction through Oklahoma A+ Schools, Lincoln Center’s Any Given Child Tulsa, the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa and purpose-built programs of her own design supported by charitable gifts to Tulsa Modern Movement.

TuMM is a Project-Based company. Dancer and collaborator info is in the descriptions and documentations of each work.