DANDELION is a full-evening interdisciplinary solo memoir by Cat D. Olson/ CAT + THE COYOTE that explores memory, aging, and the evolving perception of the dancer’s body over time. The work invites audiences to reflect on how life shapes performance and meaning, while examining how age and lived experience influence both artist and audience perception.

 

Structured as a non-linear memoir, DANDELION is composed of distinct solos representing different stages of life. Solos are added, revised, and removed over time, allowing the work to evolve alongside my aging body and lived experience. Work on the solo began in Fall 2022.

 

DANDELION examines the changing body in performance, revealing how movements read differently at different ages and how audiences respond to those changes. It also follows how memory shapes the performer, how emotions shift with age, and how audiences experience these transformations.

 

DANDELION* was first developed through an initial solo presented in May 2023 at the Cobblestone Arts Center, which has since been performed five additional times including at Nazareth University, the American College Dance Association Conference (Rutgers University), and Dances at MuCCC in Rochester, New York. The work was later performed as a full-evening production in Fall 2024 at Arts on Site in New York City, and a new solo premiered at Dances at MuCCC in June 2025. The Fall 2026 Rochester presentation continues this ongoing development, with the intention to revisit and perform the work throughout my career. *First presented under the working title, Memoir.

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