"People go to our shows and say, 'I can do that.' It makes being the star of the show very accessible, and the audience enjoys seeing people just like them dancing in a musical extravaganza."

UMBC: For the uninitiated, can you explain what Fluid Movement is?

KB: Fluid Movement is a community-based performance art group that uses a fun and crazy medium with serious subject matter as the basis of our performance work. We do original shows where we juxtapose something silly with something serious and then we get community people to perform in it.

UMBC: Where did your interest in performance art originate?

KB: It came from two things. I studied painting and drawing when I was in college and I had gotten to a point where I was struggling with spending a lot of time alone in the studio and never really connecting with people, so that when I got feedback on my art, it seemed that I was creating things that were really not relevant to anyone but myself and that really bothered me. I'd gotten to this point where I really wanted to do things that were for other people to enjoy. The more I started thinking about that, the more I started getting interested in things like murals. At the same time, I had started a reading group with some other students where we discussed the same idea of connecting with the community. Those two things went on simultaneously, and then I got to the point where I realized performance art was more immediate and would allow me to communicate the way I wanted to.

UMBC: What was your first show?

KB: The first thing I did was a puppet show called "Carmen: The Hot Dog Opera," and it was a ten minute version of the opera Carmen using tofu hot dogs. Right off the bat I had this idea of juxtaposing silly and serious, high and low culture and showing how it can be intelligent but be fun. That was a huge hit.

UMBC: What distinguishes your approach to performance art?

KB: I guess what really characterizes our stuff is that we use community people. People go to our shows and they see these people doing these things and they go, "I can do that." It makes being the star of the show very accessible, and the audience enjoys seeing people just like them dancing in a musical extravaganza.

UMBC: How do you get community members involved?

KB: It's a real mix. There're obviously a lot of artists who come to us to help out on costumes and sets and things like that. At this point, people see the show and want to do it, so they stay in touch with us. And we have a group of past performers that we've conned into performing. We had to beg friends and coworkers for the first water ballet, but after that it's been easier. People know that they aren't going to be laughed at for the wrong reasons. For the most part, it's people who have been in a show or had a friend perform and they see that it looks so fun.

UMBC: You organize special community outreach performances as well. Explain how those work.

KB: Basically, we partner with another organization, usually a non-profit, to present the show. In the wintertime we did a show called "The BUG Circus" [BUG is an acronym for the Baltimore Urban Gardening], an insect-themed circus with students performers from an afterschool program for city kids. We partnered with Baltimore Family Outreach Center, which is a homeless shelter, because they had a space. They let us perform in their space and we helped them fundraise because they got a portion of the proceeds from the show. It was mutually beneficial. We do that frequently with The Friends of Patterson Park, too. It's just another way of reaching out to a broader community.

UMBC: Why do you think it is important for art to be out in the community, not just in museums and theaters?

KB: I had a total revelation when I took a class in Italy right before I graduated, looking at a lot of Renaissance paintings. We got into a lot of the history and the politics of who the benefactors were of these artists. I realized that was what was missing for me was that give and take. I guess I came to the realization that art is, or should be, responsible to the community. I felt I had been in school where artists had this attitude where they expected others to "get" their work, and I felt it was up to the artist to communicate effectively.

UMBC: What have been your favorite performances?

KB: My absolute favorite performance is called "Cirque de L'Amour," (The Circus of Love). We made up this original story about this sad circus clown who isn't really good at being a circus clown and she falls in love with this cocky lion tamer and she gets knocked up by him and then he blows her off. Then this little sad dog trainer comes to town and he falls in love with her, so at the end, they're both trying to propose to her and the audience has to vote in the end. When the sad clown was pregnant, we got all these pregnant women to come out and do this fertility dance for her and it was just fantastic. The show was hilarious and everything about it was joyful. And the moms were ridiculously cute.

UMBC: Do you work as a team to come up with the story lines?

KB: Oh yeah. We're all about collaborating from the top down.

UMBC: Do you still find ways to incorporate your painting and drawing into what you do?

KB: It's funny because I just got a contract to do a mural with kids for Living Classrooms Foundation. But I think most of my visual education has been channeled into costumes and choreography. I think about choreography in a very visual way and I do a lot of the costume designs.

UMBC: Your whole life seems so fun. What do you do for fun off-stage?

KB: I work like a dog all the time! Actually, I do a lot on a solo side gig performing as a burlesque superhero named "Trixie Little," so I spend a lot of time working on my act. But we do work really hard. The fun part is the performing.

UMBC: Do you have a favorite behind-the-scenes Fluid Movement story?

KB: One of my favorite memories was a water ballet. We had talked a lifeguard into being Isis and he was dressing in drag for the part. We had two shows scheduled for a Saturday night and he told us on Friday that he wasn't going to be there. One of the other founding members stepped into the role. It was maybe 20 minutes before the show starts and she goes to get in costume and we realized he didn't leave his costume. This is Isis we're talking about here, an Egyptian goddess. It was one of our greatest moments when we just McGyver-ed this costume together. We were stapling things on her and draping her with anything we could find and it turned out to be fabulous.