Crane House & Historic YWCA Performance Project
Premiere: 9.20.25 in partnership with Montclair History Center

Performances: September 20, 2025 (Rain Date, September 21)
Crane House & Historic YWCA
110 Orange Rd, Montclair, NJ 07042

Work in Progress Community Showing
May 16, 2025 @ 7.30pm
Union Congregational Church, Assembly Room
176 Cooper Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043

Follow the process: Project Blog
Read more about the project: Crane House Preview Media Kit

The Project
The Moving Architects’ performance project brings the rich history of Montclair History Center’s Crane House & Historic YWCA to life. In partnership with Montclair History Center, this site-immersive performance weaves dance and music together with the spaces and historical narratives of the building. Audiences are guided through the house and grounds to witness intimate and captivating dance performances by the intergenerational and all-female cast. By engaging deeply with the site’s history and incorporating the diverse voices and stories of those who lived there, the performance transforms the site into a living celebration of its storied past, offering audiences a profound and intimate connection to the area’s rich heritage.

Artists – current roster
Choreographer: Erin Carlisle Norton
Dancers: Mariah Anton, Nicole Arakaki,  Emily Cicio, Kelly Guerrero, Karma Chuki, Cecilia Mitchell

Historical Overview
Montclair History Center’s Crane House & Historic YWCA holds the history of three generations of the Crane family and the enslaved people and servants who were part of the household (1796-1900), the period when the home was a segregated YWCA for Black women and girls, including boarders (1920-1965), and the early preservationists who saved this piece of Montclair history in the formative years of America’s historic preservation movement (1965-1970). The Crane House & Historic YWCA uncovers America’s history from its early years as an independent nation to a country embroiled in the civil rights struggle.

This project is made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. For more info: The Moving Architects Grant Press Release

This project is made possible by funds from the Essex County Division of Cultural Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

SpringUP! Dance Festival
sponsored by Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange with Cedar Crest College

April 5, 2025

Erin Carlisle Norton Dance Workshop
SpringUP LIVE! Guest Artist Concert featuring The Moving Architects

Cedar Crest College
100 College Drive, Allentown PA 18104
Workshops: Steinbright Hall Dance Studio
Performance: Samuels Theatre is located in the Tompkins College Center (TCC)
Campus Map

To purchase class packets and tickets: LVDE

Thursday, April 3, 2025 / 7.15pm + 7.45pm performance

Performing at MAM in 2017, photo gwen charles

Montclair Art Museum – Free First Thursday Nights
Leir Hall
3 South Mountain Ave.
Montclair, NJ 07042
More info: montclairartmuseum.org
FREE EVENT!

Essex County Teen Arts Festival (NJ)
Thursday, March 27, 2025

South Mountain Recreation Complex
(includes Turtle Back Zoo, Education Building, and the Codey Arena)
West Orange, NJ

Essex County teens are invited to participate in classes and workshops dedicated to fine and performing arts with the opportunity to meet other artists and peers from across Essex County.

TMA Artistic Director Erin Carlisle Norton will be teaching workshops in Dance Improvisation/Choreography and adjudicating dance performances.

More Info: HERE

THE MOVING ARCHITECTS PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP WINTER WARMUP

return to your love of dance and performance

This Performance Workshop is for adults who want an opportunity to dance and perform again! Designed for female-identifying adults of all ages, this program welcomes individuals who have a strong dance foundation from experiences dancing in high school, college, and/or professionally. Through a 5-week series of weekly rehearsals, we will create, rehearse, and dance together, culminating in a community dance performance. Come as you are!

Sundays, 1:45-3:45pm: March 9, 16, 23, 30 + April 6, 2025
Performance Showing: April 6 @ 3.30pm*

Location: Yoga Mechanics, 107 Forest Street Montclair, NJ 07042

*Additional opportunities are available to perform alongside The Moving Architects!  More details will be provided upon registration.

Cost: $250, Registration opens Feb 17 HERE

List of Q & A’s: HERE

Making Art Outside the Academy
January 26, 2025 / Virtual

Dancers in Graduate School (DiGS) presents a Q&Q/panel with four Ohio State University MFA alumni who are working artists for an open conversation around building your life as an artist outside of higher ed!

Featuring Erin Carlisle Norton (The Moving Architects), Sarah Ramey (Perennial Dance), Orlando Zane Hunter Jr (Brother(hood) Dance), Vik Abbot-Main (Boy Friday).

ArtsQuest + Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange
presents Dance Exposure Showcase

January 18, 2025 @ 8pm, Doors open 7.30pm
Price: $15 regular | $14 ages 25 and under & senior* | $13.50 ArtsQuest Member
Venue: Fowler Blast Furnace Room
Ages: All Ages
Tickets: HERE

Fowler Blast Furnace Room
ArtsQuest Center
101 Founders Way
Bethlehem, PA 18015

Dance EXPOSURE, presented by ArtsQuest and the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange (LVDE), serves up a cornucopia of exciting, engaging and captivating dance works by the region’s most talented choreographers and dance companies, including The Moving Architects (LVDE/Cedar Crest College Artists in Residence 2024) with an excerpt of “O my soul”.

Dance EXPOSURE is a curated showcase that provides established and emerging dance artists with a platform to share their work and expand their audience reach. Artists are provided with full technical support and publicity to bring their visions to life in the unique, intimate setting of the Blast Furnace Room set against the breathtaking backdrop of the SteelStacks blast furnaces.

Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Artist Residency

April-August 2024

Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange in partnership with Cedar Crest College
Allentown, PA
More info: HERE

The Moving Architects have been selected to receive the 1st ever LVDE Artist Residency. The LVDE Artist Residency Program provides a space grant, informal showing, teaching classes in the Cedar Crest Dance Program, and performance in the Dance Exposure showcase during the residency period.

The Moving Architects
presents O my soul

May 2-3, 2024, 6:30pm & 8:30pm
Arts On Site
Studio 3R, 12 St Marks Pl
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $30 HERE
.

Where fierce femininity and intergenerational dance meet: ‘O my soul’

O My Soul is a vigorous dance project weaving together an intergenerational cast of feminine bodies with a lifetime of raw and real sensations, grounded in THE MOVING ARCHITECTS‘ signature aesthetic of strong and fiercely feminine dance. The dance work interconnects compelling solos, duets, and dynamic group performances with intriguing interactive props and memorable live violin and electronic sound scores. Step into a captivating journey through life’s real and profound emotions with O my soul, a one-of-a-kind dance project featuring a diverse cast of women aged 16-70’s

O my soul artists
Artistic Director: Erin Carlisle Norton
Visual Artist: gwen charles 
Violinist: Grace Liu Anderson
Company Dancers: Mariah Anton-Arters, Emily Cicio, Kelly Guerrero 
Guest Dancers: Hannah Liu Anderson, Meg Regan, Barbara Whitehill
Dance Film: Created/Edited/Performed: Erin Carlisle Norton

photo: Whitney Browne Photography featuring collaged fabric works by gwen charles

Essex County Teen Arts Festival (NJ)
Saturday, March 23

Essex County Payne Tech
West Market Street
Newark, NJ

Essex County teens are invited to participate in classes and workshops dedicated to fine and performing arts with the opportunity to meet other artists and peers from across Essex County. TMA Artistic Director Erin Carlisle Norton will beteaching workshops in Dance Improvisation. High schools and home-schooled students are invited to participate and individual teens can register with the help of their parents (if under 18 years old).

More Info: HERE