WELCOME HERE

CHOREOGRAPHY / DANCE – I performed my piece Welcome Here for Korea Art Forum’s Woodside Dance Project, four consecutive Sundays April 21 through May 12. The Open Streets gathering took place from 2 to 4 p.m. on 62nd Street between Woodside Avenue and the LIRR Woodside Station, Queens. See it on the map here.

My site specific piece is approximately 10 minutes in length, danced by two performers: myself, accompanied by my wife Ana Cordeiro as Liberty. The dance traverses the length of the city block, with some key interactive moments along the way.

The piece was initiated through a casual email conversation between Heng-Gil Han of Korea Art Forum and myself, referencing my use of the word “dancer” in the bio of an NEA grant proposal his organization had sponsored. To that effect my bio for Welcome Here reads:

Thomas Gallagher is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist. He has lost track of the number of times he has been asked “do you dance/are you a dancer?” A compliment masquerading as a question. It took him years to dispense with the obligatory reply “not professionally,” and simply say “YES!” And now one step further to reply “Yes, and so are you.” Similarly, his new piece WELCOME HERE questions our hierarchical status quo, asking us to reconcile our identity as a free society, with the collective punishment of those who heed freedom’s call. Who decides what level of fear and suffering is enough to deserve refugee status? Who decides who gets to be free?

Brandon King curated the Woodside Dance Project, and provided audio support at the performances. Audio for Welcome Here is a sound collage edited & mixed by yours truly.

Welcome Here is dedicated to my mother (mia mamma) Nunziata Archimede – Nancy Gallagher, who came to America from Scoglitti, Sicilia when she was 9 years old.