Claire Porter / PORTABLES

Pronouns for Dinner (2023)

A restaurateur conducts a dinner theater of a medley of feisty pronoun dishes. Commissioned by dancenownyc.

Lost Stories (2023)

Eleven travelers get lost as they share their stories of loss. Initially performed by 11 dancers, it has also been performed by 7 dancers as well as by 26 dancers. Made possible by a grant for Creative Aging from the NJ State Council on the Arts through The Center of Modern Dance, Hackensack NJ.

Sexy Grammar (2022)

An earnest librarian tries to arouse her audience to the love of grammar, performing burlesque to get their attention. It’s a strip.

Falling for Prepositions (2013/2022)

On Preposition Awareness Day, a librarian replaces the scheduled singer to celebrate the songs composed by the one man who devoted his life to the preposition.

Diorama Moment AKA Tour Guide (2012/2021)

A tour guide leads her unruly group into an ever-changing view of history until arriving at the present as part of history.

Modern on Modern on Modern (2012/2021)

A group of 10 engage in a panel discussion of “What is Modern Dance?” As they debate and define Modern Dance they move inside it becoming it. For groups of 8-12.

Hats (2021)

Ten dancers address who they are under their hats. Created for Hofstra University, text by Porter, music by Mary Ellen Childs, choreography by Porter and the dancers.

Sentenced to Sentences (2019)

A writer with an idea struggles to express that idea in one simple sentence. In doing so, she becomes what she writes as she invents it.

Fortuna Tella (2019)

A fortune teller in a booth delivers improvised fortunes while reading each individual’s palm.

Witnessing Adverbs (2014/2018)

Varied views of a singular event (in a courtroom), reveal the humor and tragedy of bias.

Overruled (2017)

Created for Cynthia Williams (Hobart William-Smith College). The Chair of the Search Committee holds a meeting. Her expertise unravels as they vote to suspend the rules.

Interview (2007/2013/2016)

An eager potential employee finds himself caught in the throes of a surreal interview. Created on Trey Gillen. Performed by Porter, André Koslowski, Bill Evans, Mary Chase, Amy Ragsdale, Sally Wallace.

Pronoun Emergency (2013)

With a text of only pronouns, six survivors scurry about shouting to one another. During their escape they board the same boat. Just as pronouns are about something else, nouns, the dance is also about something else, the us of us.

It’s About Time (2002/2006/2013)

A group explores time. For university groups and the over-70 quartet, Irving Burton, Stuart Hodes, Alice Teirstein, and Shirley Ubell.

At The Gate (2008/2012)

Five officious flight employees address recalcitrant travelers.

Looking for the Remote (2011)

An hour long piece, text and movement, for 12 actor/dancers examining how we are so easily dissuaded from attending to what is important. Music by Guy Klucevsek. Created for Wagner College, Staten Island.

Lady Lamp (2011)

A lamp comes to life, enlightening her audience. First performed by Jen Katz.

Matter of Influence (2010)

A group of friends are drawn in to behave like each other. They discover they have no choice, and that imitation is natural and infectious.

On the Map (2010)

Three travelers find that reading a map and actually being at the location are not as they seem. A trio performed with Susan Thomasson and Sabatino Verlezza.

In Gloves (2010)

Two people who know each other well converse about the everyday. Gloves by the hundreds fly in, representing life’s events. Created for Bill Evans & Don Halquist.

Play (2009)

An hour-long play about play — rules of play, the balance of structure and spontaneity, and discipline and freedom. Created for Rowan College NJ.

Breaking News (2009)

Four newscasters belittle today’s alarming news while exaggerating the frivolous. A dark commentary on today's news media and the drive to alarm. A quartet with Jen Katz, Jim Martin and Bill McKinley.

Ordering Greens (1998/2009)

A metaphor for the search for simplicity in our complicated lives.

Happen Chance (2008)

A solo of the social connections that shape who we are and how much we are each influenced by one another and by chance.

Lecture Circuit (2008)

A professor giving a lecture on … For Sherry Saterstrom of St. Olaf College MN.

See You Around (2008)

Two people get on and off an elevator, addressing their company’s descent into corruption.

Home Stretch (2007)

The stretch of the moment before arriving home, with memories of home, garden, weeds.

Connecting Flights (2006)

Three strangers at an airport confront delays, cancelations, and bag searches amidst a flurry of flying suitcases. Performed with Irving Burton, Susan Thomasson.

Jobs to Geraniums (2005)

An hour-long dance for 60 performers performed in private and public gardens as audiences travel through the garden. Live music by local musicians.

Namely, Muscles (2002)

A full-evening piece where Porter portrays Dr. Nickie Nom, Forensic Orthopedic Autopsy Muscular Anatomical Surgical Specialist for the county, as she gives a reading from her new book of poems, Namely, Muscles. Her 30+ poems enact 68 major muscles of the body and then some.

Lost in The Modern (1998)

A woman returns to a museum to find her lost keys. As she searches, she gets lost in the Directory, lost looking for the Lost & Found, lost in the 20th Century and then loses her voice. But finally, she loses herself in art, finding her way out.

Slipping Into Weather (1995)

A TV weather newscaster succumbs to her prediction, becoming an angry storm.

Green Dress Circle (1989)

A theater owner orients her audience beginning in the space we’re in, then traveling progressively out to the theater, town, state, country, hemisphere, globe, and finally the universe. It adapts to the place it is performed in, including the NSEW orientation.

Piano (1988)

A concert pianist (think Wanda Landowska) arrives to give a concert but whose piano has not yet arrived.

Fitness Digest (1988)

A fitness instructor sitting atop a high stool directs the audience in an aerobic workout of the digestive system.

Fund Raiser (1985)

A fundraiser tries as many tactics as she can to elicit money from her audience.

Sweeps (1985)

Many variations of one to two minute “in-betweens” that connect one theme to the next, between Porter’s solos.

Panel (1983)

Four panelists meet to decide on whether or not members of a panel discussion can arrive at a decision.

Dining Out (1979)

A woman dines alone, drinking a bottle of wine. Violin music by Fritz Kreisler, performed by Itzhak Perlman. She loosens up along the way as the music gets faster and faster.

If My Words Wore Boots

Created with In Young Sohn, this piece grapples with the languages of Korean and English and the difficulty in being understood. Created for In Young Sohn at Teachers College Columbia University, If My Words Wore Boots was performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC.