WATERWORKS

by Jessy Layne Tuddenham

developed and performed in residency at Agatha’s, January 2024

Jessy borrows aesthetics and tactics from stand up comedy, contemporary dance and embarrassing feelings to lull her audiences into unassuming explorations such as: what is it to live in this world in these bodies, favorite numbers, menopause hacks, children’s wisdom, power ballads and wedding dances: the full Waterworks!

Jessy Layne Tuddenham is a dancer, writer, and performer, and a pillar of the Berlin independent dance scene. She creates performances that mix stand-up comedy with audience-centered choreography, using humor as both genre and artistic device. Jessy has toured widely producing and performing works by Tino Sehgal. She helped build Ponderosa Dance, which attracts artists from all parts to a farm outside Berlin. Her signature solo works have been the object of commissions, fellowships, and awards on four continents. Alongside her career as dancer and performance maker, Jessy has taught yoga, dance, and performance arts, inter alia, at Mills College, Oakland, University of the Arts, Berlin, Xingwei College Shanghai, and dOCUMENTA (13). Since 2021, Jessy has helped run the dance research and residency center LAKE Studios Berlin.

Jessy’s mission as an artist is to create spaces where she and her audience can abide joyously together in the ordinary.