Urban Movement Arts  Presents Lillian Ransijn, Winter Artist In Residence

Lilli Ransijn is curious about grief, loss, and the erotic. Her current work as the Winter Artist in Residence at Urban Movement Arts considers the erotic as the aliveness in the space between people. Lilli is thinking about how loss and eroticism can both be powerful, painful, or pleasurable all at once. Asked about her work, Lilli cites the writing of David Whyte and bell hooks who propose love that can carry grief; that the erotic can contain the celebration and the grief of life together as one.

"I'm starting to develop a new relationship to death, which I've had such a fear of since I was little." Lilli explains. "I made my mom promise me she would never die. And then, as people do, she did end up dying."

Lillian Ransijn is a Dutch/American raised in Wyomissing, PA. She followed her "Magnolia-mouthed mama's" footsteps down to Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where she earned her BA in Dance and Movement Studies. In 2007 her mother died of breast cancer. In 2008 she founded her own ensemble, Ground Delivery Dance Theater, as a vehicle to experiment with the dance theater form through ensemble-driven work. She is 2016 graduate of Uarts/Pig Iron's MFA program in Devised Performance. In the past few years, she has been performed locally with Helen Hale Dance, Eva Steinmetz Projects, Fourth Quarter Ensemble and Lily Kind/ Wolfthicket.

Lilli is working with collaborators Maddie Hopefield, Eva Steinmetz, Dylan Smythe, and Amalia Colon Nava with directorial support from Francesca Montanile and Chelsea Murphy. Lilli has focused her residency time to test out impulse after impulse with her devising collaborators. One of Lilli's goals for her residency was to end up with "a lot of seeds" some to plant now, others to save for later. Come to Good Grief!, and experience the complex, hilarious, and moving seeds Lilli is generously sharing.

For more information visit urbanmovementarts.commovemakersphilly.com