t last, a moment between the September ‘back to school’ rush and jumping full swing into the holiday season to write of the past year’s news, the opportunities that lay ahead, and to ask for your new and renewed support.

Our January season seems long ago but when I look at the vivid photographs it still feels very alive. Thank you to all who braved the cold and attended. The success of the performance was evidenced not only in the sold out houses, but also in the half-page photo in the New York Times, positive reviews in Explore Dance and Dance Spirit, and in new possibilities for performances. Your donations and support made it possible!

While the economic storm is not over, and one may think it folly to make art in a time of crisis, there is more and more evidence of the importance of art-making and community-building in helping people make sense of their lives. The coming year will be one of creation for TERRAIN as we embark on making our first evening length piece with live music. Initial funding for the process has been generously granted by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc., please consider joining them to become an economic collaborators! Your support employs an artist, as all donations will translate directly into hours in the studio with dancers and musicians. Online donating is now easier than ever as we, and our fiscal sponsor The Field, have updated our websites. (Please note that Canadian and other Foreign donors must donate online.) Donations of all shapes and sizes make a difference and all of your gifts are tax-deductible!

While the focus of last year was the January season, we also had an active performing schedule with events at Symphony Space, Jacob’s Pillow and recently at Rutgers University. We were also invited to join the Gallery Roster of Pentacle, a stellar agency that has supported choreographers for over thirty years. Visit their website, www.pentacle.com, for more information and to see our lovely photos. We will be represented at regional conferences and the annual APAP conference in New York. Jennie Scholick will join Terrain as an administrative assistant/grant writer/development associate. A recent Princeton Alum, Jennie brings a passion for dance and a knowledge of Terrain’s choreography in addition to being an accomplished academic and performer. Together we have outlined a plan to move forward on establishing our own 501(c)3 not-profit status thus gaining access to a wider range of grants and increasing our fundraising potential.

Princeton continues to focus on bringing the arts to the heart of the “Princeton Experience” and has placed a special focus on dance with the recent hire of MacArthur Genius, and my mentor during Joyce residency, Susan Marshall. As part of the infusion of support for dance I was promoted to a Senior Lecturer. (I hope the ‘senior’ doesn’t imply I have crossed the imaginary line between young and old!) On February 19-21, 2010 Princeton students will perform a new work of mine on a program with Twyla Tharp’s The Fugue and new dances by Susan Jaffe and Camille Brown. In addition, I have been commissioned to choreograph the restored version of the French composer Claude Debussy’s final masterpiece, the ballet The Toy-Box (La Boîte à Joujoux) to premiere at the Berlind Theater April 8-10. Conceived for his daughter Emma, The Toy-Box offers a poignant look back at the composer’s favorite musical things. It dates from 1913 and it was left partially un-orchestrated at the time of Debussy’s death in 1919. This production will be based on the version of the score premiered in 1918 by the Moscow Chamber Theater that includes an unknown “jazz overture.” The scenario was written and gorgeously illustrated in watercolor by André Hellé a prominent children’s writer. The Toy-Box is about a child’s imagination but is also an attempt to return music and dance to a more innocent state. Charles Baudelaire, the French Symbolist writer, suggests in his essay “A Philosophy of Toys” that toys are a child’s first exposure to art, to the power of enchantment and, at its heart, The Toy-Box expresses a similar belief. In it, Debussy wanted to return us to that realm of wonder, innocence, and playful imagination.

On the home-front, Jasper started 2nd grade and recently corrected my use of the word “theory” he said I should be using “hypothesis.” Sylvia and Grace are running as fast as they can to catch up with Jasper and attempt to do everything he does. They continue to develop completely independent personalities and it is fascinating to watch them alternate between caring for each other and crying because the other has a toy she wants.

Wishing you the best for the coming year and hope you will be part of the economic collaboration that is dance-making.

Thank you again for your new and continued support.