About Ashley Menestrina

bio.

Ashley Menestrina is a movement artist with deep connections to improvisation. She has performed her work around the world since 2016. Her self-choreographed work, "The Human Condition: Absent Presence" premiered at The Martha Graham Theater in April 2018 and has since toured in New York City, Los Angeles, Turkey, Mexico City, Portugal, Oklahoma City (received ‘Best Creation’ Prize at Solocoreografico Festival), and Israel, taking home 3rd place at the International Choreography Competition in Jerusalem. Her newest work, "Combative Echoes” was created for Die Wolke Art Group’s Unit Motives: GRM festival in Thessaloniki, Greece (2019), and has since been accepted into the 24th International Solo-Dance-Thetare Festival Stuttgart in 2020, and the 39th Edition of Battery Dance Festival held in NYC. Ashley is looking forward to the creation process of a new solo work titled, “The Woman in the Wire Suit”. Since relocating to Seattle, WA in 2021, Ashley has received the following opportunities: 2022 recipient of Velocity Dance Center’s Bridge Project residency, a role in the new musical “Afterwords” at the 5th Avenue Theatre, a residency/commission at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and an opportunity to collaborate and choreograph for the Amazon Artist in Residence, Anna Mlasowsky.

artist statement.

We live in a challenging world. Art is simultaneously loud and soothing, imaginative and factual; and especially as a dancer, we house all of our lifetime experiences in our instrument. They are always being granted space to be felt in some capacity. For that reason, my priority as an artist is to take my body, my experiences, my successes and failures, and create a relatable narrative for whomever wishes to see it. Performance starts in the research, incubates in the daily routines, and hatches into a fully imagined environment.

Influenced by circumstances pertaining to sensation, my work is built with the intention to challenge perspective. I enjoy creating movement languages that defy tradition and invite components of oddity, play, and interruption into the space. I find it engaging to tap into wide variances of physicality in order to simultaneously unravel the inner workings of mystery and revelation as they unfold in present time. Hence, improvisation is a key element in my everyday routine as well as my creative processes. The aim of my performative engagements is to open pathways for audiences of all backgrounds to insert their stories into. As a mere conduit for human exchange, my goal as a choreographer and performer is to effectively explore and showcase all kinds of effort. We as humans can better relate to one another by experiencing first hand the physical tenacity of dance.

Movement is a sacred excavation of one’s own body, mind and soul. That buzzing sensation is all we need in order to appreciate its capabilities. Energy is never created nor destroyed, and the past, present, and future are simply that....energy. Collaborative manipulation, in context to our energy spheres, suggests an organic form of consent. As a result, I strive to capture and utilize this naturally occurring exchange, harbor its enriching qualities and use it to embody the art of storytelling. After all, what is art but the manipulation of space, bodies, perspectives, sound, energy, and stories.