Mayeline Peña

The Project

As a culmination to the dance major at Smith College, students create a final piece for their senior concert. My piece also had to be created as a culmination of my research for my honors thesis project. My honors thesis is titled Seeing the Seeing:
Audience & Choreographer Collaboration through Eye-tracking where I investigated how audiences watch dance by using a device called an eye-tracker. To read the paper I wrote on my findings, and the way it influences my piece for the concert click here.

My culminating piece is called Patchouli Oil. It invites you to ask yourself where do your moves come from, who is in your body, what moves have names, and which ones don’t. It was created over a school year with its first draft being created in the fall of 2020. After that, it was further developed through many rehearsals and the addition of a cast member. The work truly transformed into what it was meant to be. Through my process logs, you’ll get the scoop of what I was working on through each rehearsal, what changes were made, and what I was thinking about while in the making. I invite you to watch the piece grow and end at the last blog where you’ll be able to watch the piece in concert.

Quick Facts

• Title of Dance: Patchouli Oil
• Choreographer: Mayeline Peña in collaboration with Isabel Gomez
• Performers: Mayeline Peña & Isabel Gomez
• Music:
  • Merengue Narrative by  Mayeline Peña & Arris Moise
  • El Farolito by Juan Luis Guerra
  • Hip-Hop/Reggaeton Narrative by: Isabel Gomez
  • Impacto by Daddy Yankee
  • La Clave by Jake Meginsky
• Design Credits:
  • Sets: Alan Schneider, Aboni Rosemond, Mayeline Peña
  • Costumes: Mayeline Peña, masks by Emily Springer
  • Video/Media: Sean Buenaventura
  • Lighting design: Amber Tanudjaja

Acknowledgments

I want to acknowledge Smith College and the Dance Department for the space to let me grow until the artist I am now. I also want to thank the crew and production team for their incredible commitment to making my ideas come through. Secondly, I want to thank the faculty and fellows that were integral to my most recent growth, Angie Hauser, Chris Aken, and Nikki Carrera. Your unwavering trust and your words allowed me to discover my own artistry and for this, I can not thank you enough.