I am an artist and teacher, specializing in dance and video. My work has been presented in backyards, galleries, and theatre spaces across the United States, as well as in Colombia and New Zealand, with support from the Puffin Foundation, the Verdant Fund, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and the National Society of Arts and Letters. I am committed to the teaching/learning experience, and I believe that the exchange that happens in the classroom is integral to the expansiveness in my work. I have had the privilege to work with students at Birmingham-Southern College (Alabama), the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Danza Común (Bogotá, Colombia), Roco Dance (California) and various other institutions, festivals, and art centers. I hold an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Telecommunication and Film from the University of Alabama. I am currently a student of Body-Mind Centering ® under the guidance of Mary Lou Seereiter at Moving Within in Lorane, Oregon. My creative practice is influenced by my experience making with artists that I admire, including Jennifer Monson, Sycamore Toffel, Rebecca Salzer, and Lynn Bowman. Since 2022, I have served on the faculty in the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Alabama.
current and ongoing work
REVOLUTION WITH SYCAMORE
Syliva "Sycamore" Toffel and I are collaborating on a new videothing, titled Revolution with Sycamore. With support from the Verdant Fund, our project looks at intergenerational collaboration, being queer in the Southeastern United States, and the knowledge that accumulates in the body over time. Revolution with Sycamore combines dance film aesthetics with structures of the essay film, and so we digress and meander and chew on many other related and unrelated ideas. As we assemble the materials we create and collect, sections of the work begin to make themselves known. The first of these sections we are calling Other Time and includes new music from our friend Mae May.
Watch Other Time here.
Glaser/Speights Duo
Michael Glaser plays the drums. I dance. Michael and I met in 2011 and immediately started improvising together. We've performed at many venues in Birmingham, including Railroad Park, The Dance Foundation, Magic City Arts Connection, and the Moss Rock Festival. Our improvisation sets ask questions about structure, attention, and trust. Our most recent performance was November 3, 2024. Stop and say hi the next time you see us.
HIDDEN FREQUENCIES
Choreographer Rebecca Salzer recruited me to create video projections for a dance work she was making with students at the University of Alabama. This collaborative team also included composer Amir Zaheri, lighting designer Matt Reynolds, and costume designer Sarah Greene. Hidden Frequencies premiered February 27, 2024 on the campus of the University of Alabama.
teaching
My Contemporary Modern Dance class draws on a broad movement aesthetic with embodied explorations of anatomy woven throughout. Somatic practices at the start of class evolve into choreographed sequences with a playful approach to rhythm, balance, and direction. These dance phrases are influenced by postmodern dance, social and folk dance, vernacular jazz dance, and the modern dance techniques of Lester Horton and José Limón. I include an abundance of poetic imagery and use sounding breath. My movement sequences layer these methods, which the participants approach in accordance with shared class goals and their personal goals. I believe dance technique is an opportunity for each person to construct personal knowledge of their own body and to challenge the edges of their artistic capacity in order to discover new pathways toward growth.
In my Dance Composition classes, we approach art-making as an everyday activity, we quiet our inner-critic, and we each develop an individual practice. I offer concepts and methods from a variety of sources, some that I use myself and some that don't fit my purpose but might fit someone else. We create art through a practice of trust. Then, we examine what we have made to discover our internal motivations, to ask questions about how our work is in conversation with our audience, and to conceptualize new processes for the next iteration of making. I construct an environment that is both lighthearted and focused. My aim is to connect to and expand on the participants’ previous experience in a way that unearths surprises.
I am also available to teach workshops on somatics, improvisation, and videodance.
in the news
"...brought to mind images of Lake Michigan on a cold, rainy day. I could have watched and listened to this piece for hours."
"this potent work left nerves and emotions exposed, due not only to Speights' choreography, but to her riveting performance."