During a recent recording session with The Defiance Project’s resident filmmaker Jason Segal, director Sophie Needelman reflected on the concept of defiance and the way it inspires the dance work she does within the scope of this company. Defiance is not just the product she strives for- it is the process through which she hopes to evoke change.

 “Our dance is an expression of the relationships we build with one another- it is an expression of our growing relationships with ourselves. We build these relationships to change how we exist in the world around us. They serve the creation and expression of the work we do. Our dance is our defiance, and our process is the new regime against which we one day will no longer have to defy.

 Defiance is not just open disobedience- it is not just a reaction and it isn’t an innately negative thing. Defiance is power and empowerment; it is an action- our action- and dance is the form it takes. Through the creation, practice, and performance of dance we employ defiance as the means to an end of a world where defiance is no longer necessary.”