Motion State Arts presents

laila j. franklin
babybabybaby

November 8, 2025 . 7pm
wilbury theatre group . providence, RI

A dance about dances about love.

Interested in the human impulse for connection, BABYBABYBABY (2024) taps into feelings of budding romance, when falling in love is silly and fast and sexy and devastating and you are brilliant and stupid and spellbound. With reference points ranging from early aughts romantic comedies and So You Think You Can Dance duets, to archival footage of live performances by Roberta Flack and Nina Simone, to obstacle course TV game shows and clowning, the work stumbles through shades of silliness, irrationality, passion, and grief, calling into question the role of sincerity, earnesty, and truthfulness in performance, and the power of physical states.

BABYBABYBABY seeks to explore how we contend with the precarity of trust, impulsivity, and continuity via malleable agreements and disagreements, in its physical acts and in its overarching theme. It is a work that is interested in companionship and partnership, exploring the ways we give and receive care.

Performers: Michael Figueroa, Laila J. Franklin, Jenna Gross, Andrea Muñiz, Marissa Molinar, Sarah Pacheco, Sasha Peterson and Marcel Santiago Marcelino, with contributions from Alexander Davis.

Lighting Design: Anne Dresbach
Dramaturgy: Kate Gow & Eliza Malecki
Rehearsal Direction: Mira Göksel
Rehearsal Assistance: Abby Fuller & Justine Schmaltz

Motion State Arts is thrilled to present the only Rhode Island performance of this piece.

contemporary forms (and functions)

DANCE WORKSHOP WITH LAILA J. FRANKLIN

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, Time & Location TBA
$20; space limited, advance registration encouraged

This class is interested in excess, fatigue, virtuosity, and care, leaning away from preciousness and leaning into curiosity and risk-taking. Drawing from her background in Limón, Countertechnique, and contact improvisation, the class will explore moving in and out of the ground, with and through space, and amongst one another with deep bodily and spatial awareness. The class develops through improvisatory and guided skill-building and conditioning exercises, and culminates in phrase work utilizing the skillset cultivated through class.

ARTIST BIOS

Laila J. Franklin is an independent, multidisciplinary dance artist based in Boston, MA, by way of Washington, DC. Featured as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2024), Laila's work is interested in meta-commentary, deconstruction, and bits, approaching themes surrounding the human experience with complexity, nuance, curiosity, and humor. Her work has been commissioned by Brown University, Salem State University, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and shared through Public Space One (IA), Loculus Collective’s Sideways Door Festival (MA), Cotuit Dance Festival (MA), School of Contemporary Dance and Thought (MA), and Movement Research at The Judson Church (NY). Her performance credits include projects with Miguel Gutierrez, Stephanie Miracle, and Melinda Jean Myers. She is an archival assistant to Jennifer Harge and research assistant to Stew Stewart. Laila holds an MFA from the University of Iowa, a BFA from The Boston Conservatory, and is a proud alumna of Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Image: Cameron Kincheloe