Penelope and I began working together in 2011 after receiving a Live Music for Dance Grant from the American Composers Forum. Our first large-scale work, Slippery Fish, exhibited a breakthrough in my creative process and an openness to aleatoricism, as well as an elasticity of spirit that would continue to inform our work together. This work received my favorite review of all time: “completely original in all respects,” from the Minnesota Star Tribune, a coveted compliment and boon for my budding career. Through my work with Penny I gained a new confidence in my ability to explore and challenge myself.
We self-produced several performances over the next 10 years, including one of our most vulnerable and intimate works Prelude (for Penny), a duet that we performed together. It was at this point that in my career that I began performing again, which was something I didn’t foresee in my twenties. Our collaborations peaked with our dance opera Test Pilot in 2014, which subsequently won the American Prize in Composition(Opera/Musical Theater Division).
Jocelyn
Reflections on Collaboration
“Ruminations from inside and outside a dance” (Penelope Freeh, Knight Foundation, 2013)
“My Collaborations with Penelope Freeh: A Brief History” (Jocelyn Hagen, American Composers Forum, 2014)
