Blueprint of a Point Ascending
Public Installation and Dance Performance Series
Presented by Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective
What new possibilities emerge when oppositional tensions bring us together?
Blueprint of a Point Ascending is a site-responsive contemporary dance project by Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective that invites Michiana communities to experience dance in unexpected places—and help shape what happens there.
Inspired by tensegrity, a structural principle in which opposing forces create strength and balance, the project explores how difference, connection, and collaboration generate stability and growth. Each stop begins with an interactive sculptural installation and culminates in a free public performance featuring choreography set to music by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. Four dancers navigate the sculptural environment while responding to one another’s presence, resistance, and momentum. Their differing senses of direction and individual movement languages frequently place them in opposition but reveal the generative power of tension. Community members are invited to play, observe, and experience a new sense of otherness in familiar spaces.
Credits
Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective
Proudly based in South Bend, IN, the Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective is dedicated to building a vibrant, inclusive community that celebrates the transformative power of dance through excellence – nurturing artists, engaging and educating audiences, and fostering meaningful connections through shared experiences. The collective’s mission is to create and present high-quality, innovative dance performances that inspire, challenge, educate, and captivate audiences.
A “constructivist artist,” Abby Marchesseault is a freelance choreographer, performer, and teacher whose work centers around questions of human relationship – to ourselves, one another, nature, society, history, and the divine. Fond of collaborating with visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, and actors, Marchesseault’s collaborations and solo works have been presented in New York, Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, and Detroit, as well as internationally in London, Sydney, Ubud (Indonesia), and Abuja (Nigeria). She has danced with the Connecticut Ballet and many NYC-based contemporary companies, appeared in the Bessie Award-winning revival, “From the Horse’s Mouth,” and Julian Fellowes' The Chaperone, and served as dance consultant for the Bach Cello Suites Festival at Carnegie Hall.
The Creative Team
Blueprint of a Point Ascending features four dancers: Melody Tamiz, Ellen Burks, Bucket Panavong, and Dennis Davis.
Originally from London, Melody Tamiz graduated from London Studio Centre with a First Class BA Honours Degree. Melody has also obtained a Masters Degree in Professional Dance Performance from Rambert during her time working with prestigious Rambert Dance Company. She now works and resides in Indiana.
A Michigan native, Dennis Davis trained at Point Park University before joining Disney Cruise Lines as a mainstage performer and tumbler. He also toured the states as a stage manager and MC for Legacy Dance Championships before returning to Michigan to work with Berrien County ASD and EI students.
Bucket Panavong is a movement practitioner, choreographer, lighting designer, and teacher from Zeeland, MI. They studied dance at the University of Kansas before transferring to Western Michigan University, and they currently collaborate with numerous dance companies across western Michigan.
A current student at the University of Notre Dame, Ellen Burks is from Granger, Indiana, where she trained in ballet and modern at the Conservatory of Dance and was a part of the pre-professional company, Aurinko Ballet.
Funding & Support
This is a partner program of the 2027 Notre Dame Arts Biennial, supported with funding from the Notre Dame Arts Initiative.
This project is also made possible with funding from Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective. Venue and staffing support provided by the City of Elkhart Department of Parks and Recreation, the Berrien County Parks Department, the City of South Bend Venues Parks & Arts, the Mishawaka Parks and Recreation Department, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.
This work was created with support from the New Works Project at the Allied Performing Arts Center in Indianapolis.
Images
Production photos of Blueprint of a Point Ascending, courtesy of Abby Marchesseault Dance Collective.