Year: 2026-2027
DanceForce Member: Glenna Yu
Artist: JoAnna Mendl Shaw
Community Partners: Carol Levine; Pillow Fort Arts Center
Audience: 40
County: Delaware

Pillow Fort Arts Center will host JoAnna Mendl Shaw for a week-long creative residency in Delaware County in late September 2026. During this residency, Shaw will work with 3–4 local dancers and interdisciplinary collaborators alongside members of her dance company, Equus Projects, to create a new durational, site-responsive performance and accompanying art installation.

The entire project will be developed outdoors on the Pillow Fort property, with the forest, pathways, and structures directly shaping the choreography and staging. Taking place in early fall, the work will respond to the seasonal shift and the changing leaves, celebrating the natural beauty of the landscape as an active element of the performance. The residency will culminate in a public, durational outdoor performance integrated with a site-specific installation created in collaboration with Andes-based visual artist Carol Levine.

This residency builds on Shaw’s growing relationship with Delaware County. In June 2026, Equus Projects will present a performance in Hobart, NY, and Pillow Fort Arts Center is planning a workshop with Shaw in advance of that event. Shaw’s choreographic practice is rooted in site-responsive creation and is widely known for its integration of movement with landscape and, in many projects, with horses through her company, Equus Projects. Her work emphasizes attention, relationship, and responsiveness to environment—qualities that resonate strongly within a rural community where land, animals, and seasonal rhythms shape daily life. While the residency at Pillow Fort will not include horses, Shaw’s long-standing exploration of human-animal and human-environment dynamics makes her approach particularly well suited to the rural context of Delaware County. The 2026 residency represents a continued deepening of her artistic engagement with the region and with Pillow Fort, strengthening long-term connections between her company and the local arts community.

The project will provide approximately one week of sustained creative time for Shaw and members of Equus Projects while creating paid performance opportunities for local artists. It also serves as a hands-on learning opportunity for Delaware County-based dancers and collaborators to engage directly in the process of developing site-specific work—gaining experience in durational structure, environmental staging, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

In addition to the culminating performance, several workshops will be offered during the residency for local dancers and community members, providing further access to Shaw’s creative methods and expanding community participation.

The estimated total audience for the performance and workshops is 35–60 people.