Mary Sheldon Scott/Jarrad Powell Performance (MSS/JPP) is the collaborative company of composer Jarrad Powell and choreographer Mary Sheldon Scott. For their latest work, Vessel, Robert Campbell has collaborated w/ the pair in scenic and visual design, and the lighting design is by Ben Geffen.  Vessel also features the talents of eight of the most charasmatic and highly skilled dancers in Seattle, Corrie Befort, Michelle Burgess de la Vega, Alice de Muizon, Beth Graczyk, Jess klein, Jessica Jobaris, Ellie Sandstrom and Allison Van Dyck.

(MSS/JPP) is a contemporary dance company at the core of which is the shared vision of a vibrant and relevant dialogue between dance and music. MSS/JPP is the outgrowth of a dedicated ten-year collaboration between composer Jarrad Powell and choreographer Mary Sheldon Scott.  The repertoire explores the human body as a resonant emotional voice and creates visceral images that probe internal layers of human experience. The choreography is highly technical and charged, touched by primordial and animalistic images, and infused with a deep spiritual undertow. The music, lyrical and haunting, uses voice, instrumental, and electro-acoustic resources to create a powerful response to the dance.

Scott (choreographer) and Powell (composer) began working in collaboration in 1993 and created MSS/JPP in 1994. Their collaborative work includes Tracing/River Sand (1994), The Ceremony of Desire (1996), Red Voices (1996), Ghost Voices (1997), when I was afraid (1997), Wait (1998), Or Can We Fly From Here (1998), Mister (1998), Glass (1999), This is a Circle (1999), Natura Abolita (2000, 2001), Boundaries (2001), Praying Mantis (2002), Time/Lines (2002), Tilt (2002) and Kingdom (2003).  They have also created commissioned work for the Cornish Dance Theater (Residue, 2000) and for the d9 Dance Collective (Compass, 2001), as well as many individual artist commissions. Projects of MSS/JPP have received funding from The Allen Foundation for the Arts (2002, 2004), Artist Trust, the Cultural Development Authority of King County, the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and the Washington Composers Forum.  MSS/JPP was supported by a Company Residency at Centrum in the fall of 2000 during the making of Natura Abolita, in September 2002 during the making of Kingdom, and in September/October 2004 during the final development phase of Vessel.  MSS/JPP is a project of the 501C3 non-profit organization Gamelan Pacifica.