Carlson returns to MANCC in March to continue work on Yellow Bud, a movement-based performance experience for children 18 months to 3 years old which she has been developing and workshopping since last spring. The underpinnings of the piece derive from European performance and theater for the very young and her research is part of a larger project commissioned by the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis.
 
During her September MANCC residency, Carlson prepared for her spring Yellow Bud residency by considering local options for casting, space and other logistics, which also helped her explore the possibilities of making the work adaptable for a variety of venues. Carlson imagines including a miniature horse in the final Yellow Bud performance and staging the piece in a local park or preschool. During the Yellow Bud residency, Carlson will continue developing the work and engage with early childhood specialists, landscape architects, and pre-schoolers.   

Ash and Artifact: What the Body Knows is an exploration of the way a body of work becomes re-framed over time. While in residence Carlson explored the following questions while re-learning her own pieces created between 1984 and 2003.

What if I just try to remember work from my body (refuse to look at documentation)? 
Where does past work (choreography/text/image/costume) live in the body? 
What am I remembering exactly in rebuilding the work -- documentation or performing or the process of making the work? 
What impact does work made in one time (say 20 years ago) have on the contemporary moment and visa versa? 
What should I do if I don’t like the work anymore? 
What should I do if I can’t do certain parts of the work? 
How will the work be different and how will I know? 
How does the present re-frame work that was made in the past? 
How does a new generation perceive work that was made in another time? 
Does that matter? Is temporal work really timeless? 
What if I invite another choreographer into these questions and dialogue while re-learning the work?

Carlson engaged in daily reflections with faculty and community members to discuss the impact of historical context upon the material. 
 She also rehearsed the material through short, impromptu “bursts” in dance, theater, and performance art classes across campus, enabling opportunities for reflection with another generation of audiences and art-makers. The residency culminated with a public showing and dialogue of six solo pieces; Balcony, Blanket, Grass, Bird, Rodeo, and Premiere, that had never previously been presented together in one evening.

During the residency, Carlson also met with a multitude of prospective partners (day care centers, horse farms, puppeteer and theater directors) who will help with her Spring 2012 Yellow Bud residency.