s(oft is)hard (2014)

s(oft is)hard is a solo that continues my interest in writing as part of choreographic thinking. Starting at age nine, I kept a journal to hear my own voice. Journaling is a form of repetition, but also change: at some point, I no longer needed it. My last journal dates to 2000, when I landed my first contract with a professional dance company. As I birthed a public identity as an artist, a private writing self became less necessary. The process of making s(oft is)hard involved sifting through 89 journals spanning twenty years. I kept the first and last, but the rest went into the recycling bin.   

Collaborators
Performer: Peiling Kao
Sound: Ben Juodvalkis
Video: David Szlasa

Performance History
Premiere: Joe Goode Annex, Sept. 26 & 27, 2014
Additional performance: Alvin Ailey Center, NYC

Press
"Mohr’s own brilliantly conceived and excellently realized s(oft is)hard is grounded in the inevitability of time passing. Ben Juodvalkis’ click sound track complemented a recitation of dates inspired by Mohr’s journal writing. In these non-chronological sequences from the 1940’a to the future, time bunched up, curled in on itself and stretched from before Mohr’s birth to beyond the present.The choreography is intense, full of unexpected trajectories, increasing in complexity with phrases both telling and abstruse. It started with a young Kao looking at herself; it ended with her on her back and the sound of bells tolling."
-- Rita Felciano, Dance View Times, VOL. 31, No.4 ‐ AUTUMN 2014