The Swirl

The Swirl is a surrealist duet that explores the slipperiness of individuation created and danced by Emily Jones and Hannah Krafcik.

In many ways The Swirl is a reaction to the superimposed binaries and/or categories that hem us in. Binary options for political alignment—with one ideology and against another—preclude individual capacity to take in the complexity and nuance that might blur personal conviction. Through The Swirl, we are working with the notion of two bodies as a "set" (distinct entities with similarities and differences) rather than a binary or categorizable pair. In a set, qualities can converge and diverge, and differences can be present without existing in direct contrast.

More Ideas and themes: sensory / crafty cognitive dissonance / connective tissue / timing / intuitive / how do we ever really know if we are talking about the same thing? / syncopation / care / coercion / analytical / waves / nervous system / connected / zoom in / undulations / momentum / zoom out / stimming / energy shift / language approximations / individual / impossibilities / imperfect unison / delusions / power dynamics / failures / ground / questioning meaning and form / touch / multiple truths / sensitive / strange / spiraling / history / “two” is not a binary / lineage / how did we arrive here? / characters / daredevil cartwheel / set games / optical illusions

The Swirl presented by Velocity Dance Center as part of Next Fest NW: Total Chaos; images by Jim Coleman

Past Performances

Surrealist Cabaret, June 21, 2025 at Black Water

Public Nature, May 23, 2025 at Performance Works Northwest | a roving multi-disciplinary showcase curated by Danielle Ross

Club Alive, March 11 at Kelly’s Olympian | a variety show curated and hosted by Kye Alive

Next Fest NW: Total Chaos, DEC 6-7 + 12-14 in Seattle | This iteration of The Swirl was presented by Velocity and featured projections created by Hannah Krafcik, portraits of Emily and Hannah created by Ralph Pugay, drawings of eagles by Emily Jones, sound design by Juniana Lanning, and costume elements by Athena Kokornonis

Berm, a print contemporary arts magazine based out of Portland, OR | Berm commissioned a two-page spread of commissioned writing on The Swirl for Issue Five.

Reclaiming Artistic Research with Lucy Cotter, Book Launch and Performance at Stelo Arts April 27th, 2024 | Lucy Cotter launched the expanded second edition of her book Reclaiming Artistic Research. The event featured live performances by Hannah Krafcik and Emily Jones of DISTANCE RITUALS—a collaborative project by one of the book’s new artist contributors, Yo-Yo Lin, with Yidan Zeng—along with a showing of the first public iteration of The Swirl.

The Swirl has been supported in different ways by Chocolate Factory Theater, Lucy Cotter, Stelo Arts, Camp Colton, Berm, Velocity Dance Center, Subashini Ganesan and many generous individual donors and colleagues.