Ignite 2026

CHOREOGRAPHY: Undercurrent (under the direction of Alethea Alexander and Hilary Grumman) in collaboration with the performers

PERFORMANCE: Anne-Marie Ammons Strohl, Naomi Byrne, Liana Dillon, Hannah Dusek, Maeve Fahey, Sloan Flanagan, Neave Fleming, Megan Hankland, Lindsay Marquino, Ellie Mercer, Alli Schuh, Grace Smith, Madeline Voigt, Taylor Williams Guerrero, Toree Wilson, Lia Wong

SOUND AND WEARABLE TECH INTEGRATIONS + DESIGN: Mare Hirsch, in collaboration with live generation from the performing artists

NOTE: Benthic Confluence invites performers and audiences to key in to physical and relational explorations of reciprocity, mutualism, enmeshment, resilience, and attunement. Two dancers embrace and co-support one another for the duration of the piece, and are wearing pressure sensors that live-generate a layer of the soundscore that is responsive to density and placement of touch. "Benthic" describes the surfaces, structures, microbiome, sediment and animal ecosystem at the lowest level of an ocean, lake or river.

A deep and heartfelt thank you to each member of this incredible cast for their sweat, rigor, and care for one another to make this work possible, and for imbuing Surface Tension with the same.

CHOREOGRAPHY: Undercurrent (under the direction of Alethea Alexander and Hilary Grumman) in collaboration with company dancers

PERFORMANCE: Alethea Alexander, Hilary Grumman, Leah James Russell, maia melene d'urfé

ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE: Marco Gill

NOTE: In Surface Tension (developing work), Undercurrent company dancers investigate the use of directed lighting as a tool for sociopolitical narrative; in a climate where difference, tenderness, compassion and collective caretaking are challenged and devalued daily, this piece examines what, who and how we see.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

UNDERCURRENT is a Seattle-based dance organization dedicated to creating and experimenting with floorwork technique, injury-preventative movement practices, experiential design, immersive performances, and care-centered community building since 2017.

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ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

HILARY GRUMMAN (Artistic Co-Director, Founder of Undercurrent)

Hilary is an artist, educator, and community organizer. Drawing on her persistent floorwork research since 2011 she hosts floorwork classes, international workshops, research labs, social gatherings, and collaborative performance projects through Undercurrent. She is on faculty at Cornish College and an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington and Abbey Arts. Her work has been supported by Velocity Dance Center, Actualize, westFEST, Mosswood Hollow, 4Culture, Artist Trust, Alia Swersky, Douglas Pearce, the Undercurrent community, and her unwavering respect for and commitment to service as a holistic way to gather and care for others.

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ALETHEA ALEXANDER (Artistic Co-Director with Undercurrent)

Alethea is a Seattle-based dance artist and educator, and is the Artistic Co-Director with Undercurrent. Community, sensuality, care, effort, and collaboration are central tenets of her work with dance partners human, objects, and sonic. She performs her own improvised, choreographed, and installation-based works in collaboration with multidisciplinary artists in Seattle and nationally. Her recent works have been supported by Velocity Dance Center, 4Culture, City of Seattle, the Kreielsheimer Foundation, Bellingham Repertory Dance, Cornish College of the Arts, and Sam Houston State University. Alethea is Co-Founder and Teaching Artist for Ballet Rituals, a Seattle-based community practice initiative.