A feature length dance film by choreographer Taja Will and filmmaker Sequoia Hauck

Queer ceremony. Tierra. Fuego, Agua, Viento. Reclaiming connection to bloodlines through the guidance of plant and land ancestors on Dakota and Anishinaabe land, Mni Sota Makoce. We find ourselves right where we are, as we listen deeply to the plantita ancestors near us. This dance film

is the biomythology of bodies in Latine diaspora, Boricua, Chicana, Chilean.

We journey with the archetypes which support/guide/mask/empower us, we are LOVER, VIRGIN,

SHADOW, SERVANT, SIREN and ALCHEMIST. We are here now, and ancient, elders in training

and millennials, we are stress, and meditation, we are tired and we are growing. 

Filmed at Belwin Conservancy, our process was held by ancestors of long, tall grasses, bison, raspberries, mullein, yarrow, burr oak, and red pine, ancestral lands of the Dakota

and Anishnaabe people. 

To see, screen or host a screening of this film please contact tajawillconsulting@gmail.com.

To enjoy a behind the scenes look at the inner workings we offer a short documentary of the making of LÍNEAS, here

To view a trailer of LÍNEAS visit here.

Artistic Team

Choreographer, Director, & Performer: Taja Will

Director of Photography & Editing: Sequoia Hauck

Artistic Collaborators & Performers: Marisol Herling and Margaret Ogas

Sound Design & Composition: Brandon Anderson Musser

Dramaturg: Lisa Marie Brimmer

Additional music & songs: Carlisle Evan Peck, Laura Larson & Michael Wall

Film Residency Project Manager: Genevieve Draškocí

Second Camera Assistants: Gisell Caldrón and Makayla Gayle

Drone 1 Operator: Jöhn Mbanda

Installations: Kat Purcell

LÍNEAS was created with support from the McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Choreographers, the National Center of Choreography Akron, Belwin Conservancy, and the Metropolitan Regional Art Council.

LÍNEAS was a selected feature at the inaugural North x North International Film Festival. 

It premiered in December 2021 to 3 sold out screenings at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis. 

A digital archive/performance work funeral/dead dance: view webpage here

The parts of the process that don't reach the stage are often rich and revealing, the labor that is less visible is still vital, and this archive is a memorial to those materials. The development of Blood Language was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and over a year later morphed into this digital archive as a way to spotlight the materials derived throughout the process; the visual artifacts, and a collection of writings embedded in a virtual journey that captures the aesthetic of ritual. 

Blood Language creates a ritual of identity personified by archetypes. It centers experiences of otherness and belonging; authored by BIPOC, queer and artists with invisible disabilities. Queer, Chilean choreographer Taja Will and collaborative performers bring audiences an immersive performance meditation on power, privilege, stress, love, wisdom, seduction, servanthood, judgement, detective work, trauma and healing. 

View Blood Language digital archive here.

To see an excerpt of the Alchemist's solo, visit here.

Digital Archive Collaborators

Artistic director & choreographer: Taja Will

Site Designer: Zeta Aharonov

Artistic Collaborators: Marisol Herling, Margaret Ogas & Julia Gay

Rehearsal director: Marcela Michelle 

Sound designer: Brandon Musser 

Administrator & project manager: Genevieve Johnson

Performance Collaborators

Choreographer & performer: Taja Will

Artistic Collaborators & performers: Taja Will, Marisol Herling, Margaret Ogas & Anat Shinar 

Rehearsal director: Marcela Michelle 

Composer: ba musser 

Songwriters: Carlisle Evans Peck & Laura Larson 

Sound selections: Michael Wall (soundFORMovement)

Blood Language was created with support from the National Association of Latinos Arts and Culture, the Cowles Center Generating Room program, the Candy Box Dance Festival, New Movement Collaborative, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, National Center for Choreography Akron, the McKnight Foundation, and individual community support from over 100 private donors. 

"I want to hold your hand to the end of the world." Set in Oblivion, the era immediately before humans become extinct; an in-depth viewing of decaying culture in future times. Gospels is a dazzling swan song, it believes the world is still glamorous. It is a preservation of culture when we are emotionally stripped down and lost in a world where nostalgia is more exciting than reality. 

To watch Gospels, visit here.

Performers: Timi Rehborg, Kathleen Pender & Taja Will 

Words & media: Joe Horton 

Sound design & composition: ba musser 

Original song composition: Carlisle Evans Peck

Scenic design: Justin Madsen. 

Gospels was presented by ARENA Dances and the Candy Box Dance Festival at the Southern Theater in 2018. This work received additional support from the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Award 2018, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Award 2016.

Created for the 40th Anniversary of Choreographer’s Evening at the Walker Art Center. The Third Coast Collective* reimagines past Choreographer’s Evening selections by Shawn McConneloug, Judith Howard, Laurie Van Wieren and the late John Munger. Short splicings woven together include new, post-modern interpretations of McConneloug’s full bodied movement, Howard’s gift for costume and surrealism, Van Wieren’s expressive gestural language and Munger’s precise, count-based jazz turned cheerleading by this ensemble. 

To watch an excerpt of 80's Babies, visit here.

*The Third Coast Collective was a short-lived, collaborative experiment instigated by Taja Will, with members comprised from past works. The ensemble working model was an instigation for Will to start imagining TWE.