Jacqui M Dugal 
they/them 

I am a NYC based artist who believes creating is essential to the human experience and dance is necessary for our personal and collective healing. From South Florida I moved to NYC in 2015 on a whim to find belonging and artistic opportunities. Now in NYC I perform, choreograph, collaborate, stage-manage, produce, explore, and stay curious. I also practice pottery; selling and bartering ceramic goods and exploring movement in a tactile form. Currently I live in lower Manhattan with partner Eden & dog Osita. 

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About my process and my work: 

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I dance and choreograph to understand myself, my relationships, my brain's inner workings, feelings not yet processed, external effects, and in turn how these factors are impacting not only me but my communities and the human experience at large. I believe creating is essential to the human experience and dance is necessary for our personal and collective healing. Dance honors the movement in our bodies which honors our ability to change and expand. Dance has aided comfort and healing in my own body, especially as a genderqueer person. My style is raw, contemporary, dance-theater performance telling specific stories that ultimately bridge common human experiences such as hope, fear, resistance, exploration, acceptance, and love. I like to approach my work with playfulness and try to not take it too seriously. More recently I’ve been drawn to work that is silly, comedic, and playful with undertones of serious themes and impacts. My work brings light & dark in the same room to examine our relationship with all shades of it.

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I'm interested in making work that encourages curiosity, conversation, introspection, and connection. Most often that is revealed in the shape of dance work, sometimes it's pottery, visual art, or performance art. As a genderqueer artist, I want to offer a queer non-binary perspective to the world. Queering up one's thinking doesn't have to mean being homosexual, it means seeing more possibilities that may not be obvious to the mainstream. Creating art that pushes the boundaries of possibility and offers reminders that our existence is multiplicitous and full of potential is incredibly important to me. 

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In addition to queer work, I enjoy making fun, silly, enthralling, physical, intense, comedic, and entertaining work that encourages our full spectrum of feeling and being. It is within that full spectrum of feeling that we find further connection with ourselves and others.