still here
This piece explores a relationship between two women who have distinctly different emotional backgrounds, but both seek commitment and companionship. Through the push and pull of the relationship they grow to trust each other and persevere through the inevitable highs and lows of loving one another. This concept is put into movement with dynamic partnering choreography emphasizing risk-taking, connection, and instability. still here has been performed at Stomping Ground LA, Brockus Project Studios, and in Orange County Dance Festival at the Rose Center Theater. See excerpts here:
Ferrets Around a Rabbit Burrow
This piece, choreographed to recorded passages from Janet Frame’s novel, Faces in the Water, calls attention to themes of both alienation and solidarity experienced in mid-twentieth century women’s mental hospitals. These women, with symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, fainting, loss of appetite, and sexual desire, were routinely diagnosed with “hysteria,” a “women’s disease,” and treated with electroshock therapy, sedatives, and lobotomies. “Ferrets” has been presented at Atwater Village Theater and in Mashup’s IWD Festival at LA Dance Project. See the full piece below:
Tumbalalaika
An evening-length work created and premiered in New York City in early 2020 sharing Stephanie’s grandparents’ Holocaust story and her family’s experience after immigrating to Canada. See excerpts of the piece here:
Tethered
Created and filmed in June 2021, "Tethered" explores a relationship between two women who have experienced a trauma together. They are uniquely able to support one another, but simultaneously keep each other from moving forward. This duet examines how the two women navigate both safety and danger, helping and hurting, trust and fear, and try to break free of a cycle that keeps pulling them back in. See excerpts of the piece here:
There Must Be More
Check out Stephanie’s dance film, created for Zoetic Dance Ensemble’s Mixtape 2020 Festival. All footage was filmed during quarantine, with dancers from across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
Directed, choreographed, and edited by Stephanie Mizrahi, in collaboration with Michaella Barron, Melina Bezanis, Hannah Howell, Coriselle Martinez, Lauryn Masciana, Morgan McDaniel, Reché Nelson, Sophie Qin, Samara Steele, and Kayla Thomas.
Quarantine Projects
During the pandemic I only had my body to create work on, so here are two examples of solo work.
Photo Credit From Top to Bottom of Page:
Denise Leitner, Kelly Mustapha, Sarah Takash, and Kassandra Carrettini