“The piece began with a dreamy, quiet, and specifically delicate quality. I became absorbed into the dawning of this world… The unexpected humor, their rage, then their touching connection and empathy. It was over too soon.”
— Austin Selden, dance-maker on A Body (Un)Becoming
— Austin Selden, dance-maker on A Body (Un)Becoming
Up NEXT!
A Body (Un) Becoming
Oct 18 & 19
Portland, OR
Dekum Street Theater
Tix: HERE
Oct 21
Seattle, WA
BASE
Tix: HERE
A Body (Un)Becoming is a dance duet that explores the tension between decay and transformation—where the body meets disintegrating materials through acts of touch, labor, and experimentation. Working with discarded substances such as eggshells, the piece investigates what new forms can emerge through pressure, heat, and attention. By animating overlooked materials including an aging female-identified human body, the work challenges fixed ideas of being and utility, proposing humanness as a permeable state—fragile, reforming, and ongoing.
Directed by Beth Graczyk
Performed by Leah Wilks & Beth Graczyk
Music by Aaron Gabriel, with cello by Laura Sewell
Lighting Design: Jeff Forbes (Portland) & ILVS STRAUSS (Seattle)
Costumes Asa Thornton
Photos by Effy Grey
Directed by Beth Graczyk
Performed by Leah Wilks & Beth Graczyk
Music by Aaron Gabriel, with cello by Laura Sewell
Lighting Design: Jeff Forbes (Portland) & ILVS STRAUSS (Seattle)
Costumes Asa Thornton
Photos by Effy Grey
Beth Graczyk is an independent performance artist and Artistic Director of Beth Graczyk Productions.
Beth Graczyk is a choreographer, performer, biochemist, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice explores the tensions between concrete facts and the more elusive, felt experiences of the body. Drawing on themes of uncertainty, materiality, and perception, she creates structures rooted in visceral impulses to express perspectives often overlooked—those of femme-identifying, neurodiverse, LGBTQIA2+ bodies, and non-human forms. At the heart of her work is a focus on vulnerability, connection, and the interplay of histories—evolutionary, psychological, and cultural—that shape our embodied existence. With an ongoing dialogue between dance, science, and material experimentation, Graczyk's work seeks to create spaces where language gives way to the unknown, and the body becomes both a site of transformation and a witness to the natural world.
Beth Graczyk is a choreographer, performer, biochemist, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice explores the tensions between concrete facts and the more elusive, felt experiences of the body. Drawing on themes of uncertainty, materiality, and perception, she creates structures rooted in visceral impulses to express perspectives often overlooked—those of femme-identifying, neurodiverse, LGBTQIA2+ bodies, and non-human forms. At the heart of her work is a focus on vulnerability, connection, and the interplay of histories—evolutionary, psychological, and cultural—that shape our embodied existence. With an ongoing dialogue between dance, science, and material experimentation, Graczyk's work seeks to create spaces where language gives way to the unknown, and the body becomes both a site of transformation and a witness to the natural world.
Film study at Lymra residency this past December 2024 in Port Townsend, WA. In honor of Jeremiah Greene.
Desire Motor
Thresholds
Other Collaborations
Biography
Beth Graczyk is a choreographer, director, performer, educator, and scientist based in Brooklyn/Lenapehoking. Her 22-year career blending creative practice and scientific inquiry offers a unique perspective on art and science. Her work is deeply rooted in improvisation and integrates postmodern, modern, somatic, and physical theater modalities. As the Artistic Director of Beth Graczyk Productions, Inc. (BGP), a national nonprofit based in NYC, she creates contemporary dance projects that celebrate LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse communities. Since 2002, Graczyk has performed and choreographed across the US and internationally, including in Japan, Ecuador, France, China, and India. Her work has been presented by Velocity Dance Center, Gibney, La MaMa, JACK, CPR, and Movement Research, among others. Her company’s recent dance documentary film, "Waiting for the Bus," explores self-expression, movement, and identity through the lens of autism and has been selected for the 2024 NY Global Lift-Off and Sans Souci Dance Film Festivals.
Since 2019, Graczyk has been a faculty member at the NYC Peridance Certification Program, teaching improvisation. She also works part-time as a Research Specialist at The Rockefeller University in the lab of MacArthur Fellow Dr. Vanessa Ruta, studying olfaction in insects. Graczyk is an author on ten science publications and received a 2020 Pilot Award from Rockefeller University with collaborator and neuroscientist Guadalupe Astorga for research on visual perception and neurodiversity. From 2008 to 2016, she co-directed the performance company Salt Horse in Seattle, receiving funding from 4Culture, Artist Trust, Washington State Arts Commission, NEA, and commissions from the City of Seattle, Northwest Film Forum, and Cornish College. She has collaborated with artists such as John Maria Gutierrez (G^2), Aaron Gabriel, Amy Chavasse, and Torben Ulrich, and has danced for Sara Shelton Mann, Mark Haim, Raja Kelly, and Molly Scott, among others.
@bethgraczyk
Since 2019, Graczyk has been a faculty member at the NYC Peridance Certification Program, teaching improvisation. She also works part-time as a Research Specialist at The Rockefeller University in the lab of MacArthur Fellow Dr. Vanessa Ruta, studying olfaction in insects. Graczyk is an author on ten science publications and received a 2020 Pilot Award from Rockefeller University with collaborator and neuroscientist Guadalupe Astorga for research on visual perception and neurodiversity. From 2008 to 2016, she co-directed the performance company Salt Horse in Seattle, receiving funding from 4Culture, Artist Trust, Washington State Arts Commission, NEA, and commissions from the City of Seattle, Northwest Film Forum, and Cornish College. She has collaborated with artists such as John Maria Gutierrez (G^2), Aaron Gabriel, Amy Chavasse, and Torben Ulrich, and has danced for Sara Shelton Mann, Mark Haim, Raja Kelly, and Molly Scott, among others.
@bethgraczyk
Beth Graczyk Productions, Inc is a 501(c)(3) based in NYC
Beth Graczyk Productions, Inc is committed to anti-racism and de-colonization practices through self-education, community engagement, and sustaining connections and support with individuals and organizations engaging in the work.
Video & edit: Rooftop, Beth Graczyk
Photos: Effy Grey
Photos: Effy Grey