HWS News
5 September 2025 Exploring Womanhood Through Art and Dance
Professors Kelly Johnson and Kirin Makker partner for a performance that weaves movement, installation and reflection on identity.
Associate Professor of Dance and Movement Studies Kelly Johnson and Professor of American Studies Kirin Makker are developing a 60-minute performance to be featured at the Rochester Fringe Festival in September. “Four Echoes” is a collaborative project featuring choreography and performances by Johnson, along with three local dance artists Caitlin Mahon, Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp and Michelle Prichard.
The evening-length work of dance and storytelling additionally features Makker’s visual art installation "Womb Chair Speaks" -- a participatory art project that sponsors stitching sessions where women come together to talk about women’s health. They share stories about bodily changes growing up, navigating reproductive care and how and why medical misogyny exists. Participants talk and stitch together, engaging in the timeless forum of the “Stitch ‘n Bitch.” The goal of the piece, organizers say, is to expand awareness and enrich connection.
“The chair’s surfaces are slowly getting covered with embroidery and fiber structures, each participant leaving their individual mark to represent their contribution to the continuing discussion,” Makker explains.
Previously displayed at HWS, Harvard University and the Winterthur Museum of Decorative Arts, the artwork also was featured on “Good Morning America” in 2021 for its “Inspiration List: Who’s Making AAPI History Right Now," celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Johnson’s piece "Price of Eggs," one of the works in the concert, premiered in this year’s Faculty Dance Concert featuring alum Hannah Bixby ’23 and will tour in Colorado this November.
Developing “Four Echoes,” has been illuminating, Johnson says. “Welcoming Kirin’s "Womb Chair" into our creative process has been deeply enriching, generating conversations that feel deeply personal and yet universal. Holding space for conversations about female lived experiences has inspired each of the four choreographers in truly meaningful ways.”
The annual Rochester Fringe Festival, now in its 14th year, describes the “Four Echoes” piece as a powerful work that explores womanhood and “dives into identity, body and the tensions between self-expression and expectation.” The dancers in "Four Echoes" had two working sessions with Makker as they prepared their choreography for the performance.
The Rochester Fringe Festival is a multidisciplinary event that combines comedy, theatre, dance, music, film and other art forms. It runs from Tuesday, Sept. 9 to Saturday, Sept. 20. Now one of the largest fringe festivals in the country, the event has brought more than 5,770 performances to Rochester from all over the world.
“Four Echoes” will be staged at the Allen Main Stage Theatre at the School of Arts in Rochester on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 20 at noon.
Tickets and more information are available at https://rochesterfringe.ticketleap.com/four-echoes/dates
