Excess Incomplete: An Honors Thesis Concert by Nadia Piecyk

On March 26 & 27 at 7:30pm, dance major Nadia Piecyk will present an Honors Thesis Concert entitled Excess Incomplete. This is a free event and registration is not required. Read below to learn about Nadia's research and creative process. 

Excess Incomplete emerges from Piecyk’s research into ways of viewing disability through a queer lens and as a profoundly embodied approach to disrupting systems of normativity. Drawing from disability studies and queer theory, she work investigates how power structures create binaries of normality and deviance, and how dance might unsettle those assumptions through movement itself. 

She shares, “As an artist, I am increasingly interested in disability as fertile ground for body wisdom. I am drawn to relationships within and between bodies, moving in accordance with and against impulse and expectation, zooming in and out of the body, and exploring contrasts of effort and rest.” 

In the rehearsal process with her cast, Piecyk centers “dancer agency and voice” through improvisational scores, text, and proximity-focused movement explorations. Rather than privileging a single “correct” movement vocabulary, the work unfolds through generative practices that allow multiple interpretations to coexist. 

Reflecting on the process, Piecyk shares, “I was especially interested in treating rehearsal itself as research. What does it mean to lead rehearsal through a disability justice framework?” Inspired by concepts of “care webs,” the work positions community as an essential choreographic force. 

She hopes that audiences leave the performance with “more questions than answers,” feeling oddity, resilience, corporeality, and care, while challenging the assumption that bodies must conform to dominant norms to be worthy of attention. 

 

Thank you Nadia! Please join us on March 26 & 27 at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts for Excess Incomplete.