Artist in Residence: Emily Bate Wig Wag Workshop

Led by composer, theater maker, and choral music conductor Emily Bate, this workshop offers participants new ways to engage with voice, digging into the physical sensations produced by singing, and exploring the sensations produced by singing as a group. Designed for every voice—from the seasoned choir member to enthusiastic shower singers and those who’ve been told they “can’t sing”—the Wig Wag Workshop explores the literal and figurative impacts of “resonance,” seeking both palpable vibrations in our bodies, and more information about the complex ways we relate to each other as singing bodies. No experience required for this workshop. Expect singing mad-libs, vocal warm-ups, free improvisation, group discussion, and experiential anatomy work. 

Open to all ages 10 and up. 

Residency Plan:
I am making revisions to the script and score of my WIP show Wig Wag. Wig Wag is a hybrid music-theater piece, performed by a cast of four in collaboration with the entire audience. In Wig Wag, singing together transforms everyone present into one collective body, as we explore the tensions and pleasures found in the thick tangle of our interdependence. 

Bio:
Emily Bate is a singer, composer and performer interested in the transformative potential of the human voice. Emily is the founder and conductor of Trust Your Moves a 65-member queer community chorus in West Philly. She is a 2021 Pew Fellow, and her work has been supported by an Independence Foundation Fellowship, two Leeway Art & Change Awards, the MAP Fund, and more. Recent collaborations include: John Jarboe’s Rose: You Are Who You Eat, which premiered at the Guggenheim in 2022, and work with Pig Iron Theatre Company, Ragnar Kjartansson, and Third Side Records, on a collection of songs by Beverly Glenn-Copeland.