Navigating the After at Dovetail Studios

"On average, there are 463,634 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States" Source: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2019 (2020).While these kinds of statistics are often discussed in media, they almost never ask the question: What happens after? Every survivor has a different recovery process. Some decide to involve authorities immediately, after a delay or not at all. Then there are others who are unable to name the violence that happened to them until years later. All must struggle to come to terms with their experience of this very intimate act of violence and their paths to recovery are incredibly diverse. In Navigating the After Eastman explores the multifaceted recovery process after sexual assault using live dance and anonymous interviews from survivors. From the initial grieving process to wrestling with the identity of a survivor, she uses gesture phrases and partnering to delve into recovering from sexual assault. As a survivor herself, Eastman went through the Title 9 process through her university to have her assailant expelled and was later able to help prosecutors put her assailant in jail for 30 years for an escalating series of assaults he committed against other women.To conduct interviews, Eastman reached out to her own network of survivors as well as posting on Instagram and in Facebook groups such as Chicago Queer Exchange, Chicago Art Community, VCU Dance Alumni, Chicago Dance Community and the Happy (?) Chicago Dancer. She also gave the option for survivors to fill out an online document answering questions about their recovery. The survivors responses are used as inspiration for different sections of Navigating the After and will be provided as quotes in the program. As a part of the performance, organizations such as &Rise and Self Reclaimed will be handing out information and collecting donations at the performanceEastman has been working in the Chicago dance scene for 4 years. Her dance vocabulary is a mix of modern and contemporary and she uses gesture phrases as the basis for her movement. With a mission to feature the unique physical qualities of the dancers she works with, she also creates to showcase her dance spaces. Eastman has a degree in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and has presented work at Arts on Site (NYC), Trifecta Dance Collectives A New Light (2019 and 2020), Simantikos Dance Chicago (2019) and Baltimore Dance Invitational. She has also produced two evening length shows during the pandemic, Patternalia in September 2020 and Caf Cortado in June 2021 which were both on virtual platforms. Mariah Eastman is the Creator of Chicagos annual Holiday Dance Carol.Photo Credit: Lumosco Photo