Megan Sipe might have the coolest job description around. She’s a Choreographer/Chocolatier and she’s melded both of her passions, dance and chocolate making, into one exciting company: Chocolate Dances. Through Chocolate Dances, Sipe and her creative partners create multi-sensory performances paired with handcrafted chocolates, which they serve to the audience during each performance. The result is a natural connection between performers and audience members.
This week Chocolate Dances’ newest performance is coming to Greenpoint, and you can be part of it! The Chocolate Dances Costume Party Tasting Performance will be in the Muriel Schulman Theater at Triskelion Arts (106 Calyer Street) Tonight (10/11) and Saturday (10/14) at 8pm. The performance is sure to showcase Chocolate Dances in all its decadent glory, and promises to be an event that “taps into your gustatory cortex, that mysterious part of your brain that allows you to taste the deepest, darkest (or milkiest) chocolate truffles we’ll be serving and provokes the question, what if you could let yourself fully live out your chocolate fantasy without reservation?”
Shy about your chocolate fantasies? Fear not, it’s a costume party, so you can enjoy the anonymity of a masquerade. If you don’t have a costume, Megan has them on hand so everyone in attendance can be part of the experience.
The show is both a cohesive narrative performance, and a series of vignettes paired with chocolate. But which came first, chocolate or dance? Megan says dance was her first passion. She started creating dances when she was a child, and learned chocolate making from her grandmother. Then, chocolate making became a hobby when she moved to New York. Her first digs in the city were here in Greenpoint, and she makes her chocolate nearby at Entrepreneur Space in Long Island City.
You can buy Chocolate Dances Chocolate online or at Indie Food and Wine at Lincoln Center. Chocolate Dances uses the proceeds from chocolate sales to support dance making and performances, and Megan sees a connection between both creative pursuits. She says, “chocolate making and choreography both require a lot of practice and rehearsal. You need to know the chocolate and the body, but also you need breathing room to improvise, which is necessary in any creative practice.”
Chocolate Dances confections, choreography and creativity will be at Triskelion this week. You can buy tickets here!