Sheffield, MA—Berkshire-based choreographer Fiona Scruggs’s Qualia Dance Collective will premiere a new work, “Barefoot Dances,” on Friday, October 6 at 7:30pm at The Foundry in West Stockbridge, MA, as well as perform selections of their repertoire, including “Chiaroscuro: Third Movement” (2022), “The Blue Suit Piece” (2023), and “Qualia: Time” (2021).
Choreographer Fiona Scruggs’s newest work, “Barefoot Dances,” is the ethos of the liminal space between a dream and a scream.
Artists in this evening’s performance include Fiona Scruggs (choreographer, founder, artistic director), Veronica Bone, Gillian Ebersole, Kendra Lassor, and Shannon Nulf.
Tickets are $18 in advance / $20 at door. Tickets are available online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/qualia-dance-collective-tickets-605147260747
QUALIA DANCE COLLECTIVE Founded in 2022, Qualia Dance Collective seeks to explore the qualities of space, time, and energy as catalysts for movement and art and performs the choreography of Fiona Scruggs. Scruggs’s background is in ballet, so her movement is grounded in principles of line and technical precision. The work she creates explores creative narratives of visual art and often possesses a surrealist quality, inviting her audience to envision new worlds. We perform in local venues and festivals to stay connected to our Berkshire neighbors and form stronger bonds with our nearby communities. Dialogues with the audience following performances are integral to engaging with our community and bridging access into the artistic process. Their work is poetic and classical, smart and inventive. They aim to awaken the imaginations of everyone they meet.
FIONA SCRUGGS Born in Tübingen, Germany, Fiona Scruggs is a dancer, choreographer, researcher, educator, and writer. Fiona’s choreography has been presented at the 5×5 Dance Festival (CT), The Foundry (MA), Bard College at Simon’s Rock (MA), Berkshire Theatre Group (MA), Chesterwood (MA), Berkshire Busk (MA), Choreography on the Edge (NY), the New Rochelle Arts Fest (NY), Salzburg International Ballet Academy Gala (Austria), Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts (NY), and Radford University (VA). She is an American Ballet Theatre certified Teacher through Level 5 and recently completed a two-year Teaching Artist Fellowship through the Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Youth Development program. Fiona is a teaching artist at Berkshire Pulse and the Director of Communications & Marketing at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She is the founder, artistic director, and choreographer of Qualia Dance Collective.
Fiona is the former School Programs Coordinator at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, where she researched, wrote, and curated an archival collection about The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s 90-year history and legacy. She received a bachelor’s degree in dance education, summa cum laude, from Radford University, where she received several fellowships and grants to conduct research and choreography in France and the U.S. on the life, career, and legacy of Josephine Baker, which she has presented at numerous regional conferences.