Leaves²⁰¹⁵

Leaves began with a shared longing for a “proper” autumn in New Orleans—changing colors, crisp air, and the emotional interval between the dinner tables of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The collaborators set out to hold that missing season inside an art space, then turned toward the more vulnerable questions beneath it: how identity forms in relation to family, and how confusion, memory, and belonging move between generations.

Daniel Miller’s paintings and Pilar Poeschl’s choreography developed in parallel, with painter and dancers sharing the studio and responding to one another in real time. Five paintings were arranged across a floor covered in leaves. Jeff Pagano’s experimental compositions occupied the same emotional field and drew the visual and choreographic elements into a single live event.

An eight-piece orchestra led by Pagano performed the score live, allowing its structure to change with every performance. The choreography responded to both the music and the audience: each mover worked from structural cues, while the order of the piece shifted according to what the orchestra played.

Gathering together Leaves

A video document of the weeks of shared studio work leading to the performances in November and December 2015.