Photo: Bridget Koehler
Joy Cosculluela, MFA, RSME/ MT
Joy Cosculluela is a performing artist, choreographer, somatic educator, and professional bodyworker.
She is a Filipino immigrant working with themes of migration, decolonization, belonging, and interconnectedness.
Joy is founder and artistic director of Wayfinding Performance Group, a multicultural ensemble of performing artists in the SF/ Bay Area.
She has produced, directed, and choreographed full-length performances: Homing Devices, a dance theatre piece exploring stories of home, All that Remains, a series of physical journeys delving on themes of loss and resilience,
Soil (a dance honoring where we come from), and The Space Between (a multi-media performance on borders and belonging)
Her work has been presented at NOH Space, SF Safehouse for the Performing Arts, fools fury Theatre Factory Festival, and many more.
Joy has studied extensively and performed with Anna Halprin and The Sea Ranch Collective in Seasons Awaken, Spirit of Place, and Parades and Changes.
She was lead performer in Daria Martin's film Minotaur.
She has performed with international groups such as Inkboat and BodyCartography.
Joy has collaborated with several Bay Area artists and performed in YBCA, Red Poppy Art House, Stanford University, CIIS/ University of Chichester, Dance in Revolting Times, NextNOw Festival, Women on the Way Festival, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and many more.
She has presented at Body-Mind Centering Symposium, SF State University, University of Washington, and Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants.
Joy's core practice weaves dance in the natural environment to remember that we are not separate from nature.
Inspired by the wayfinding practices of Indigenous Cultures, Joy aims to develop our sense of intimacy with nature as embedded within us, as reflections of our creativity, and as healing forces.
Joy's work is rooted in somatic awareness and improvisation.
In dancing with the unknown, we hold the capacity to learn, create, and transform while emerging in the process.
Joy loves sharing her passion for movement with a deep respect for human potential.
Curiosity, courage, and compassion are keys to learning and loving movement.
Joy's art-making involves the metaphor of composting, to dance with difficult questions and hold complexity.
Expressive arts, creativity, and ongoing reflection support us in our path towards liberation.
Performance is a metaphor for how we show up in the world.
Ritual performances are symbolic acts of transformation that recreate our identities -- it opens our eyes, hearts and imagination to see and be seen in new ways, to deepen connection with self and others.
Joy loves to collaborate with other artists to cultivate creativity and build relationships.
The gifts of interconnecting and sharing human experiences are part of her cultural DNA.
Collaboration is essential to surviving and thriving in current fragmented times.
Joy is co-director with Jamie McHugh of EAR to the Ground Productions, a group dedicated to responding to current social events through embodied actions via street performances, marches, and happenings in the SF/ Bay Area.
Joy holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. She is core Faculty at Tamapla Institute in Kentfield and teaches movement and embodied performance.
wayfindingperformance.com