This film is inspired by Mary Elizabeth Garrett and her collaborators—M. Carey Thomas, Mamie Gwinn, Elizabeth “Bessie” King, and Julia Rogers—whose collective efforts helped transform women’s access to education and medicine. Filmed in Garrett’s original home, now Hotel Revival, the piece explores the relationships that fueled their work, lingering on collaboration, intimacy, and the tensions of power, while offering their legacy as inspiration for women of today.

Director/ Choreographer: Amber Daniels with collaboration from Dancers

Producer:  Ania Flanagan

Film: Kap2ure

Music: GRL PWR

Dancers: B&B Collective

Location: Hotel Revival (Baltimore, MD)

Beer and Ballet is a core part of my community engagement practice in Baltimore City, focused on expanding access to dance, supporting local artists, and activating nontraditional spaces as sites for creative connection. Founded in 2017 and rooted in the belief that dance belongs everywhere—not just on formal stages—Beer and Ballet brings professional-level movement experiences into unconventional venues such as breweries, community hubs, and small businesses.

Through Beer and Ballet, we hire independent professional dance artists and teaching artists to lead classes, workshops, and collaborative events, providing paid opportunities while reaching audiences who may not otherwise engage with dance. Our mission is to break down traditional barriers to entry, cultivating a welcoming, joyful environment where seasoned dancers and curious beginners alike can move, connect, and build community together.

Since relocating the project to Baltimore in 2019, Beer and Ballet has grown through partnerships with local breweries and organizations, adapting through virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic and re-emerging with sustained in-person engagement across the city. Today, the project continues to function as both an artist-led platform and a community connector, emphasizing accessibility, collaboration, and creative placemaking. We re now located in DC, Maryland, and Florida. 

More information about current classes, artist collaborations, and community partnerships can be found at beerandballet.com.

That’s All is a movement-based work inspired by the life and legacy of Hedy Lamarr—visionary inventor, risk-taker, and innovator whose discoveries underpin modern wireless communication. The choreography draws from the mathematical logic of frequency-hopping technology, translating numbers, coded sequences, and spatial patterning into physical form.

Movement was generated through structured improvisation and risk-taking, with dancers navigating repetition, interruption, and shared pathways. Throughout the work, performers continuously speak the word “falling,” signaling both vulnerability and trust, while relying on one another to listen, respond, and catch. This exchange mirrors the unseen labor of innovation and the collective systems required for ideas—and bodies—to stay connected.

That’s All reflects on communication, invisibility, and interdependence, honoring Lamarr’s contributions while examining how connection is built through risk, presence, and mutual support.

Choreographer: Amber Daniels

Music: I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling by Annette Hanshaw & end of december by Lily Gelfand

Performance History: Peabody Dance Festival (Baltimore, MD), University of Maryland at College Park (College Park, MD) , Florida State College at Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)

The Crossword Experiment was created and performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, using Zoom as both stage and medium. Developed over two months with artists working from across the United States, the project began as an itch—to create, perform, and test new possibilities for dance in a moment of physical separation. Through exploring Zoom’s visual language, the work reaffirmed a deeper truth: artists crave community. Even across screens and internet waves, we continue to move together. Shaped by generous collaborators—Cue Percussion’s responsive score, music by Michael Wall, words by Maryanne Aycock, engaged dialogue with the Crossword Board, and the dedication of the dancers—this project stands as a testament to our collective longing for movement, connection, and being seen during a time when stages and studios stood empty.

In collaboration with Chelsea Hilding (Greensboro, NC), Entry One is an exploratory film of the tussling embodiment and entrapment of the female body. This film will continue in multiple entries and eventually a larger performance.

Composition: Michael Wall