At its root, Will It Last Forever (2026) is grounded in intersectionality, community, identity, and the weaving of individual and collective experiences.

It explores what it means to move through the world as women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ individuals in spaces where “joy” and the act of “letting go” are intended while still feeling the impulse to stay on alert, monitor safety, and the toggle between states of regulation/dis-regulation. It lives in that constant back and forth between ease and tension, joy and exhaustion. The movement in this project blends together folk, club, and modern concert dance. It is created through improvisational, collaborative practices as well as communal, discussion-based research processes.

Together, it holds desire, vulnerability, chosen family, rejection, and acceptance.

The Artists

Jaicee Partridge – Choreographer, Dancer

Maria DiMarzio – Choreographer, Dancer

Bella Brown – Dancer, Production

Erika Ruch – Dancer, Photographer, Media Creation & Direction

Michael Zimmer – Pre-Glow Live Music

The Production Team

Eden Lauren Cope – Lighting Designer

Gabby Heabeart – Stage Manager

Maddy Petz – Production

Amanda Zawisza – Production, Media Management

Special Thanks to

Andy Arts for providing fellowship and space throughout the creation of this project.

“I was motivated by an interest in the ways we experience longing, attachment, and uncertainty, particularly the desire to hold onto something even when we know it may not be ours to keep as well as denied experience.

“I ended up exploring what happens when love, identity, memory, and desire exist oftentimes in contradiction. How do those contradictions shape the way we relate to ourselves (and others.)?” – Jaicee

About Jaicee

Jaicee Partridge (they/them) is a Detroit-based movement artist, choreographer, behavior therapist, and educator whose practice sits at the intersection of movement, psyche, experience, and human connection.

Jaicee holds a BS in Psych from Eastern Michigan University and is currently pursuing a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Wayne State University. They currently work as a Registered Behavior Therapist in the ABA field. They have been an ensemble member of the Chicago-based dance company Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak since 2021, dancing in long-term projects such as Ex/Body: Strike, Vibrate, Shatter and Ex/Body: de/fame, de/position, de/liberate. Jaicee is also a resident choreographer and instructor for the 43 Performing Company at IlluminaTe Dance & Arts Center based in Tecumseh Michigan.

Jaicee’s work continues to center curiosity, relationship, and exploration, with their current creative practice extending into Will It Last Forever.

About Maria

Maria DiMarzio (she/they) is a creative whose process is infused with child-like wonder, whimsy, and play. As a movement, visual, and textile artist, Maria strives to never lose the side of her that is still just a kid and works meticulously to bring this feeling out in her work. Receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Dance Performance at Wayne State University, it is here she trained under career movement artists such as Meg Paul, Biba Bell, and more. Most importantly, her undergraduate landscape is where she first began working with Dr. Molly Shanahan.

After graduating, Maria began a long term collaboration with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak performing across the midwest as a member of the ensemble. As a certified essential level Spiral Body Techniques teacher, the research and movement quality that comes from this work and her experience with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak is where she feels most at home. It is here she finds fulfillment, where she can truly be herself.

“This work is special to me because it comes from genuine questioning. There was/is so much unknown that was discovered and reflected upon during/after the creation process. I’m interested in the parts of myself that don’t always have clear answers or endings. As a genderqueer artist, I’m particularly drawn to the ways we navigate connection, desire, self-understanding as well as both denial/acceptance of self/experiences. This work gives me space to sit with those questions rather than solely resolve them.” – Jaicee

Will It Last Forever

Jaicee Partridge & Maria DiMarzio