the body I gave it
Saturday, May 23, 2026, 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
a solo movement work about loss, the body’s odd insistence, and what gets left behind when everything else falls away.
choreographed and performed by Leah Misano.
I first dreamed of the body I gave it in May 2023. I was celebrating my 24th birthday and feeling the foundation that I had built myself on shaking.
I had given everything — my time, my training, my body, my belief — to something that didn’t last. When it ended, I found myself standing at the edge of a life I no longer recognized, preparing to return with nothing but the question of what comes next.
What followed wasn’t something I ever expected. I found myself questioning things about myself and my work that I had previously felt secure about. My definition of success radically changed. My values shifted. Working through this stage of my life and work has taken longer than anticipated. I originally thought I would be premiering this in summer 2024, but I kept needing to dig deeper and digest.
the body I gave it is a solo movement work about grief, identity, and the body’s odd insistence on continuing. My original questions surrounding this work centered on love, loss, and grief, and my belief that life is a cyclical journey of these three motifs. And this exploration began with a character study. This is when I created MATILDA. Anyone who has discussed my work with me in the past 3 years has probably heard of Matilda. She is a character that became how I processed my own inner world into something that felt sharable. Matilda has been present in many scenes and iterations over the past 3 years as I’ve explored and experimented with different ways of presenting her. Now, her story has evolved beyond being a character for me to hide myself in, but a specific story I am ready to tell.
Now, on my 27th birthday (May 22, 2026), I am going to present Matilda and her many forms in the body I gave it. This show will include some scenes that I’ve performed before; many now redeveloped into something that feels very different from before.
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