Pairings: Collaborations in Movement and Music

Bebe Miller and Lori Goldston from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Bebe Miller from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Nicolle Swims and Nia-Amina Minor from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Kole Galbraith, Nia-Amina Minor, and Una Ludviksen from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Stephanie Skura from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Alyza Delpan-Monley from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Kole Galbraith, Nia-Amina Minor, and Una Ludviksen from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Stephanie Skura from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Stephanie Skura and Salma Zenia from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Kole Galbraith and Una Ludviksen from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Sue Ann Harkey from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Stephanie Skura from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Alyza DelPan-Monley, Bebe Miller, Stephanie Skura, Lori Goldston, Salma Zenia, and Sue Ann Harkey from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Alyza Delpan-Monley and Sue Ann Harkey from the Summer Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Nicolle Swims, Nia-Amina Minor, Una Ludviksen, and Kole Galbraith from the Spring Edition of Pairings ‘26, Photo by Allina Yang.

Pairings inquiry form

Made possible through community support of Base’s Flourish campaign, our 2025-26 pilot program, Pairings: Collaborations in Movement and Music, continues as a recurring program for the 2026-27 season.

Pairings brings together movement artists and musicians to explore improvisation, collaboration, and what becomes possible when working across disciplines. Each edition includes two movement artists and two musicians, who are brought together to form two cross-disciplinary Pairings, each made up of one movement artist and one musician. Together, each Pairing spends time experimenting, following their curiosities, and discovering new ways of working through movement and music. Each artist receives a $250 fee, and each Pairing has 15 hours of space at Base to work together over two to three months. Midway through the process, artists meet with Bebe and Lori to share what they’re exploring, exchange ideas, and talk about their approaches to improvisation and collaboration. Each edition culminates in a showing at Base, where both Pairings share their inquiries and the work that has emerged from their time together.

Interested in taking part? Submit an inquiry to be considered for an upcoming edition.

Winter Edition: February 20, 2027
Summer Edition: July 24, 2027

About the Curators:

Bebe Miller's vision of dance resides in her faith in the moving body as a record of thought, experience, and beauty. Her aesthetic relies on the interplay of a work’s idea, its physicality, and the contributions of Bebe Miller Company members to fashion its singular voice. Seeking to expand the language of dance, BMC’s creative work encompasses choreography, writing, film, video and digital media. Archival projects aim to share its creative practice, including two ebooks: Dance Fort: A History and How Dancing is Built: The Making of In A Rhythm. BMC also convenes gatherings to facilitate inter-artist dialogue and exchange, such as Vault (vault-project.org). Bebe formed Bebe Miller Company in 1985 to pursue her interest in finding a physical language for the human condition. Since then, she has created more than 50 dance works for BMC that have been performed worldwide. BMC has been commissioned and presented by leading venues including 651 ARTS, BAM Next Wave, DTW, Jacob’s Pillow, Joyce Theater, PICA, REDCAT, Walker Art Center and Wexner Center for the Arts. Her choreography has been performed by A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet, Philadanco, Repertory Dance Theater, the UK’s Phoenix Dance Company, PACT Dance Company of Johannesburg, South Africa, and others. Named a Master of African American Choreography by the Kennedy Center in 2005, Bebe is an inaugural Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, a Movement Research honoree, and a Danspace Project Gala honoree. She has received four New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” awards, the David R. White Award from New York Live Arts, and honorary doctorates from Ursinus College and Franklin & Marshall College. Bebe is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in The Ohio State University’s Department of Dance and is currently living in a forest on Vashon Island, WA.

Lori Goldston (classically trained and rigorously de-trained, possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit) is a cellist, composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist, amplified or acoustic, is full, textured, committed and original. A relentless inquirer, her work drifts freely across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography. Current and former collaborators and/or bosses include Earth, Nirvana, Mirah, Jessika Kenney, Ilan Volkov, Eyvind Kang, Stuart Dempster, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jherek Bischoff, Malcom Goldstein, Steve Von Till, Lonnie Holley, Cat Power, Ellen Fullman, Maya Dunietz, Mik Quantius, Embryo, O Paon, Tara Jane O’Neil, Natacha Atlas, Broken Water, Ed Pias, Christian Rizzo and Sophie Laly, Threnody Ensemble, Cynthia Hopkins, 33 Fainting Spells, Vanessa Renwick, Mark Mitchell, Lynn Shelton, and many more. Her work has been commissioned by and/or performed at the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Cineteca Nacional de México, Tectonics Festival, Frye Art Museum, Time Based Art Festival (TBA), WNYC, The New Foundation, Paris Fashion Week, Northwest Film Forum, On the Boards, Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Bumbershoot, Crossing Border Festival, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Joe’s Pub, the Stone, University of Chicago, and venues large and small throughout North America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.