HYPERBATON
The one with the dance, for twenty minutes the gang does.
Choreography: Taryn Lavery, Alex Miller
Dance Performance: Carissa Topham Fisher, Taryn Lavery, Katie Lowen, Alex Miller, Lisa Schreck
Musical Composition: Michael Brown, Brett Marcom
Lighting Designer/Technical Director: Steven Myers
BLiPSWiTCH is an Austin, Texas project-based, site-specific-focused dance company established in 2015 as an inclusive platform to unite artists in creation, unbound by individual mediums, to share in the cultivation of a more multifaceted arts community. Founded and co-directed by Taryn Lavery and Alex Miller, and with the help of countless collaborators, they have produced nine evening length works, an original collaborative series— “Offbeat”— currently upon its 11th installment, six long-form movement installations, two short films, one four-part documentary (premiered at SXSW 2024), many short-form pieces, and set commissioned choreography for local performance companies, music festivals, films, and music videos. BLiPSWiTCH offers the most financially accessible ongoing weekly contemporary dance class in Austin, taught regularly by Alex, which hosts guest artists from both Austin and beyond.
Together, through BLiPSWiTCH, Alex & Taryn’s deep collaborative history has refined their artistic styles and firmly rooted them in their focus on collaboration and site-specific performance works as an avenue to community expansion. In 2023, BLiPSWiTCH received a Best of Austin Critics Award for “Best Choreography of Human Kinesis”.
photo by Jade Skye Hammer
BLiPSWiTCH DIRECTORS
Alex Miller is a Louisiana cajun based in Austin, Tx. She is a dance artist, educator, and Pilates instructor who holds an MFA from Hollins University and BFA from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is the co-founder of BLiPSWiTCH, a project-based dance company focused on collaboration and site-specific works as an avenue to community expansion and utilizes this platform as a way to engage dancers of various backgrounds within the Austin dance scene. She has taught at many studios across Austin since 2010, and currently resides at First Street Studio leading BLiPSWiTCH class on Thursdays from 10-11:30am (everyone is welcome!)
photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete
Taryn Lavery, a Utah native, is a freelance dancer, choreographer and cross-disciplinary design artist with a creative philosophy rooted in the belief that presentation and performance is an extension of process, deserving equal care and holding equal weight. She is co-founder and co-director of Austin's BLiPSWiTCH, a project-based dance company focused on collaboration and site-specific works as an avenue to community expansion and she fuses her classical background with a desire to revitalize modern dance for broader audiences, extracting a new form of contemporary performance.
photo by Joi Conti
HYPERBATON COLLABORATORS
Michael Brown is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Austin, Texas whose musical background includes live music performance, production, and band development, as well as composition for dance and film. His writing involves genre-bending flavors inspired by folk, contemporary, and electronic music, often implemented through synthesis and psychedelic coloring.
photo by Jade Skye Hammer
Brett Marcom is a musician and audio engineer based in Austin, Texas. He has recorded and played in various bands in and around the Austin area for the last 10 years. The inspiration for his work comes from electronic music and indie rock, focusing on creating surreal and atmospheric sounds with guitar effects.
photo by Beth Monahan
Katie Lowen is an Austin based movement artist. She was born and raised in NYC, where she trained and performed with East Village Dance Project. Since moving to Austin she has had the opportunity to work with some amazing folks such as BLIPSWITCH, Sea Legs Dance, Ventana Ballet, Early Era Collective and local burlesque group ‘Malum Malus’. Last summer she had the opportunity to share her passion for movement working as a Mentor for the Bates Dance Festival’s Young Dancers Program. Most recently you can find her working and collaborating with Emily Rushing and Emily Tolson (ET), performing with local band ‘TC Superstar’; or working and learning from the wonderful kids at her job as a preschool teacher!
photo by Elysia Perkins
photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete
Lisa Schreck is a midwesterner at heart who’s spent the last four years living in Austin. Since then, she’s met and danced with some of the coolest people like Alyson Dolan, Early Era Collective, KDH Dance Company, and BLiPSWiTCH in their work on Long Time Sun. You can find her in the HBO series Love & Death and at events around town with A-Max Entertainment. Lisa further shares her love of movement as a youth dance educator and fitness instructor.
Carissa Topham Fisher is an Austin based movement artist. She values authenticity over perfection, and is passionate about being present, curious, and open to the senses during every performance, rehearsal, and even while taking class. Carissa has danced for, trained with, and learned from the Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance company from 2010-present. During her time as a KDH company member she has performed in several works that have been either nominated for, or won Austin Critics Table awards, and in the last year she has contributed to the choreographic process of the newest company works as well as gained experience teaching several KDH classes. Carissa has also teamed up with Austin dancer Emily Rushing to create works that have been seen in Austin Dance Festival, Dance Carousel, Austin Community College Guest Artist Show, and they produced their own show in 2023 SMORG. Carissa holds her BFA in dance from the University of North Texas, a STOTT Pilates certification and continues to learn and deepen her movement practice through both taking class and teaching. She is so excited for this new opportunity to perform with BLiPSWiTCH!
photo by Stephen Pruitt