27 Breaths

CREATED BY MATHEW EVAN TAYLOR AND LAUREL JENKINS

27 Breaths is a live music and movement piece created by composer Mathew Evan Taylor and choreographer Laurel Jenkins. It is the first interdisciplinary piece created using Matthew Evan Taylor’s compositional system AfroPneumaism: a system where time and action are determined by the breath. Ultimately, this performance invites the audience to breathe with us.

Laurel Jenkins is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and mother. Jenkins’ work has been presented by Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, REDCAT, Automata, the Getty Center, Show Box LA, Danspace, Berlin’s Performing Presence Festival, Tokyo’s Sezane Gallery, and Paris’ Cité Internationale des Arts. She choreographed Bernstein’s MASS with the LA Phil and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. In addition, she has choreographed for LA Contemporary Dance Company, The Wooden Floor, and many universities including UNL. Jenkins was a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company from 2007-2012 and has danced in works by Vicky Shick and Sara Rudner. Jenkins performed in the opera Oedipus Rex/Symphony of Psalms by Peter Sellars and solos by Merce Cunningham in the Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event. Jenkins is the recipient of a Vermont Arts Council Grant, an Asian Cultural Council Grant, a French Institute Fellowship, holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence, an MFA from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, and is certified to teach the Skinner Releasing Technique. She teaches in the Dance Department at Middlebury College in Vermont.

Composer and improviser Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor’s music has been performed across the United States and Europe by such ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and Metropolis Ensemble. As a performer, Matthew has collaborated with such creators as musician Elliott Sharp, visual artist Dannielle Tegeder, and dancer Sara Shelton.Dr. Taylor’s music is sparked by his curiosity about the surrounding world and the inherent social bonds built through music. Whether he is addressing issues about the nature of time or the bounds of the human breath on musical performance, Dr. Taylor writes music that is engaging, surprising, and unmistakably human. His aesthetic is typified by vibrant instrumental colors, mercurial juxtapositions, and an affinity for groove. Innovative projects such as Say Their Names, Postcards to the Met, and The Unheard Mixtapes were created as new templates for composition and performance in the wake of the pandemic. His ongoing series The Living Score aims to decolonize the compositional process by democratizing the most precious Western musical artifact – the musical score. He is also focusing much of his work on the climate crisis and redefining virtuosity. Dr. Taylor’s music is available on all streaming platforms through New Amsterdam Records. He serves as a member of the music faculty at Middlebury College – where he is Assistant Professor of Music – and the composition faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.