Matter of Reaction Movement Project
Matter of Reaction Movement Project creates experimental art in response to our current state of being through site specific performances, interactive concerts and multidisciplinary events. By employing a collaborative, investigatory and improvisational approach, MRMP creates and develops works with a focus on human nature.
Matter of Reaction Movement Project was founded in 2006 by Reneé Murray, Kathleen Hickey and Kristin Balsamo. MRMP works within a cooperative and imaginative environment while utilizing feedback from artists and non-artists alike, to create and develop dance with physicality and a focus on individual sentiment. They consistently collaborate with artists from other disciplines to realize their visions. The choreographers and dancers of MRMP are continually examining the inherent connections between life and art.
Artistic Directors
Kathleen Hickey, artistic director, choreographer and dancer of MRMP is incredibly passionate about bringing art to the masses. She currently teaches Chicago's youth in the Youth Guidance program at Alcott School in Chicago Public Schools and has previously facilitated dance improvisation workshops/master classes for teens and young adults. Creatively, Hickey has worked closely with sound designer and composer, Mark Jamerson, combining improvised dance, sound technology and the Nintendo Wii to develop a continuing exploration in C-Sound technology for Matter of Reaction Movement Project's repertoire. Hickey uses unconventional methods to create art that pushes the emotional availability and physical limits of her dancers. Hickey graduated from Purdue University in 2005 with a BA in Political Science, with minors in dance and women's studies. While at Purdue she created and performed with the Purdue Repertory Dance Company. She also has an impressive background in color guard and marching band, winning Bands of America Grand National Championship with Marian Catholic High School in 1997 and 2000.
Reneé Murray, artistic director, choreographer and dancer of MRMP, just received her MFA in Dance at California State University, Long Beach where she has studied and danced with Keith Johnson, Susan McLain, Cyrus Parker-Jeannette, and Colleen Dunagan. Her thesis work investigated how an awareness of our environment can affect the process of creation and the performance of dance. She is fully invested in creating work through collaboration with her dancers and artists from varied disciplines. While in Long Beach she also created work with dancer Sara Pfeifle that has be shown at The Queen Mary, CSULB, in the Summer Performance Festival 2009 in San Francisco at The Garage, and at The Hamlin Park Auditorium. Murray has also performed works by various artists at the Dora Stratou Theater in Athens, Greece, Sushi in San Diego, San Fransisco Art Institute, Highways in Santa Monica, the Orange County Museum of Art, New Jersey, and throughout Chicago. In 2007 she performed in Tino Sehgal's "Kiss" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Murray has also facilitated workshops/master classes in improvisation and contact improvisation. She has taught Modern and Jazz in the Dance Department at CSULB. Murray graduated from Purdue University in 2006 majoring in Communication with a minor in Dance. While there, she danced and choreographed for the Purdue Repertory Dance Company. She has also performed with RTG Dance and T J & Company Dance Theater.
