Ipswich Moving Company (IMC), under the direction of Janet Taisey Craft, has been defining and refining Aerial Dance for the last fifteen years. Aerial Dance explores physical boundaries, taking dancers airborne into sculpted rope and fabric forms in an attempt to discover the delicate and exciting space between flight and gravity. For over twenty years IMC has offered professional modern dance performances in theatres, schools, outdoor spaces and galleries throughout New England. The Company participated in the Massachusetts Educational Collaborative for ten years, offering artist-in-residencies in public and private schools throughout the north shore area. Their Aerial Dance Theatre productions have been aired on British Cable TV, were a hit at the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and played to sold-out audiences in the 2003 "Spotlight on Dance" Series in the Cyclorama Theatre of the Boston Center for the Arts. DeAnna was a principal aerialist with Ipswich Moving Company from 2004 - 2010.
A POOKA IN THE WOODS
“A Pooka in the Woods”, originally premiered in March 2009 and is adapted from the original Celtic Tale, “The Piper and the Puca”. Incorporating all-live traditional Celtic folk music, this evening-long concert weaves together story-telling, music and dance. “The Puca” is an ancient character who is part human, part animal - and wholly prankster, shapeshifter, and soothsayer. Our Pooka takes us on an adventure through a magical forest when swans dance, trees come alive, and aerial creatures magically transform into old women. Cast includes Jenny Carlson as the piper, Chandra Cantor as the pooka, Danielle DiVito and Ingrid Schatz as the mischievious fairies and DeAnna Pellecchia as the mysterious aerial creature.
"Dreaming Head” takes inspiration from the surrealism movement, specifically the paintings of Salvatore Dali, among others. The surrealist movement originated in the late 1920’s and represented a reaction against the destruction wrought by the "rationalism" that had guided European politics and had culminated in the horrors of World War I. This Ipswich Moving Company premiere, conceptualized by director Janet Taisey Craft and assistant director Jenny Carlson defies all things rational. The Studio Theatre is transformed into a “live painting” where the dancers’ terrain includes a piano, a huge wooden table, a life-size picture frame suspended from the ceiling, and an aerial rope sculpture. In this realm the dancers reunite the unconscious world of dream and fantasy with the everyday “rational” world. “Dreaming Head” is a collaboration, choreographed and performed by Janet Taisey Craft, Jenny Carlson, Danielle DiVito, DeAnna Pellecchia, Chandra Cantor and Ingrid Schatz.
"ALIGHT" AND OTHER AERIAL PROJECTS
DeAnna was invited to join IMC in 2004 specifically because of her aerial dance experience. Working fifteen feet off the ground, suspended by fabric slings, DeAnna worked on "Outbound", a trio of dynamic energy and "Lake", a duet exploring elements of seperate worlds, with director Janet Taisay Craft. These works premiered in IMC's 2004 "BOUNDARIES" concert. In January of 2006, the company premeired "ALIGHT"(pictured right), an original Aerial Dance Theatre Production exploring the mysteries of darkness and the renewal of light, at the Ipswich Performing Arts Center. This community based project incorporated children from the Ipswich, MA ages 7 - 10, and featured music directed by Gerald Dolan, performed live by Ipswich High School musicians and singers.
