Troy practices mutual aid, dance improvisation, and participatory democracy in Lenapehoking, currently known as Brooklyn. This work involves free fridges, bulk food distribution, and free stores among other activities that prioritize solidarity, not charity. Troy's community organizing and choreographic work spring from her dance lineage of mentors Sidra Bell, Margie Gillis, Gallim Dance, Punchdrunk, Susan Misner, and Alexandra Wells. Recent choreographic work includes 'luzAzul' an immersive opera for 0-2 year olds with director Malena Dayen; 'Critical Dependency' a film installation about free fridges, food insecurity, and compost in collaboration with the Center for Innovation in the Arts at Juilliard; and 'The Ninth Hour' the Beowulf rock-opera which premiered at the Met Cloisters. She's also a team member on The Dance Union Podcast, a host for Emergent Improvisation with Omar Zubair, a volunteer with the Parole Prep Project, a graduate from The Juilliard School, and a parent.
Emergent Improvisation is intentional time and space to move in community with others. Troy Ogilvie and Omar Zubair offer frameworks and living sound environments to nourish the creative spirit. These frameworks often attempt to put into practice elements from adrienne maree brown’s “Emergent Strategy,” particularly ‘fractals’, ‘adaptation’, ‘nonlinear/iterative’, ‘resilience’, ‘interdependence’, and ‘creating more possibilities.’
Troy approaches the practice through an ever-expanding aesthetic lens originally shaped by her work with Sidra Bell, Punchdrunk, Gallim Dance, Susan Misner, and Margie Gillis, prioritizing the curious, playful, weird, joyful, quiet, messy, awkward, and exactly-what-they-are moments/movements that emerge during class; allowing space for digestion, observation, and integration.
Omar's improvisational sound collage acts as a mycelial web connecting the space—pulsing with and responding to the eventscapes that emerge and develop—providing an infrastructure for those present to find and stay in their power while also wandering into the wilderness of their own beings.
