Live Artery 2023 - Theater Show Programs

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We acknowledge and pay respect to Lenape people, elders, and ancestors past, present, and coming in the future. We acknowledge Indigenous people who may be present right now. We acknowledge and offer deep gratitude to Lenapehoking where we are now - the land, and waters of the Lenape homeland.

BLACK HOLE: Trilogy & Triathlon, photo by The Adeboye Brothers

FUNDING

BLACK HOLE was developed with the kind support of Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), American Dance Abroad, gloATL, PearlArts Studios, CrossAward (Italy), Dock 11 / Eden (Germany), Derida Dance Center (Bulgaria), Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Artis, New York Live Arts, and 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. Additional TRIBE commissioning, development and core operating support is provided by the Mellon Foundation; Arison Arts Foundation; the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; The Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance/NYC’s Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the Howard Gilman Foundation and Ford Foundation; 92Y Harkness Dance Center; National Performance Network (NPN) Creation, Development & Artist Engagement Fund Project. The Creation, Development & Artist Engagement Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency); New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

TRIBE is a Brooklyn/NYC based arts collective dedicated to creating, developing and sharing original multidisciplinary art projects. Understanding that performance art and live art are practices of human connection, TRIBE acts nationally and internationally by developing art exchanges and performances in collaboration with institutions and artists, with a focus on the African diaspora.

With artistic direction by Shamel Pitts (2020 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow), TRIBE was created in the end of 2019 with the dream to soon become a synonym of artistic experiences that connects gifted individuals in our present era to re-imagine and cultivate an alternative collective future.

Shamel Pitts: 2020 Guggenheim Fellow Shamel Pitts is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shamel

began his dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is 2003 YoungArts Finalist and a first prize winner of the YoungArts competition. Shamel then went on to receive his BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Martha Hill Award for excellence in dance. He began his dance career in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and BJM_Danse Montreal. Shamel danced with Batsheva Dance Company for 7 years, under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin and is a certified teacher of Gaga movement language. He is an adjunct professor at The Juilliard School and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a 2019 NYSCA/ NYFA Artist Fellowship Award winner in Choreography, a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow artist in residence and a 2021 New York Dance Award winner (The Bessies). Shamel is the Founding Artistic Director of TRIBE, a Brooklyn-

based multidisciplinary arts collective. TRIBE is a 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Artist In Residence for the 2020-2021 season. Shamel Pitts | TRIBE is also a New York Live Arts Live Feed artist in residence. Tushrik Fredricks (Performer) recipient of Princess Grace Award (Chris Helman dance honor), nominated by TRIBE in 2021 is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. Growing up he found himself drawn towards the style ‘KRUMP‘. He graduated from the Peridance Certificate Program in NYC in June 2015 and has had the opportunity to work with Ate9 dANCEcOMPANY (Danielle Agami, Artistic Director), Sidra Bell Dance New York and UNA Productions. Tushrik was an assistant lecturer to Sidra Bell at The University of the Arts Philadelphia for Sophomore students (2016-2018). In May 2021 Tushrik received 3rd prize for dance at the SoloTanz Festival in Stuttgart for his self choreographed solo (territory) of the heart and in November 2022 it will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. instagram.com/tushrik

Marcella Lewis (Performer), recipient of the 2018 Princess Grace Award in Dance, hails from Los Angeles, CA, where she began her dance training at the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. She then continued her studies at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts(LACHSA). She later received her BFA from the Purchase Conservatory of Dance in 2016, where she was awarded the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship. She joined Abraham. In.Motion in fall 2016, as a dancer, soloist, and company liaison. Marcella was featured with Abraham.In.Motion in Dance Magazine in August 2017 and was mentioned in the New York Times for the Abraham.In.Motion Joyce season in May 2018. Marcella is currently a performer with TRIBE multidisciplinary visual performances and is a freelance artist exploring choreography in Los Angeles and New York. instagram.com/marcellalewis_

Lucca Del Carlo (Video Mapping & Lighting Designer) is a graphic designer and video artist from São Paulo, Brazil, currently based in LA/NYC. Lucca is a founding member of the Brooklyn/New

York based multidisciplinary arts collective known as TRIBE. He has created the lighting and video mapping projections for numerous performance works and has toured and performed live with the collective in many countries all over the world. He specializes in transmedia, mixing cinema techniques, concepts of architecture, visual arts, light design, and technology, and integrating those into the direction and creation of scenography, immersive environments and visual live shows. In his view, all ways of visual communication have interlacing points, not only using technology but also using human cognition and its related censorial illusions. Del Carlo’s specialty is mixing it in new ways to inspire and break common patterns in visual expression. luccadelcarlo.com

Sivan Jacobovitz (Original Musical Score) is a producer/ musician living in NYC. Dance collaborations include: Kimberly Bartosik’s I Hunger For You (BAM Next Wave) and Through The Mirror of Their Eyes (NYLABessie Outstanding Production

Honoree); Shamel Pitts’ Black Hole (touring internationally), MENAGERIE (with Gibney Company) and Touch of RED; ASSEMBLY with GREYZONE. instagram.com/sivan_daniel

Rus Snelling (Artistic Production Manager & Lighting Designer):

AN AUSTRALIAN ARTIST with a career continuing over 30years, Rus has worked as a production, stage, site and tour manager, lighting and set designer, consultant, technical director and fire sculptor with arts organizations, institutions & freelancing on events and installations around the world ranging from intimate theatrical works, shows on and off Broadway in NYC and on London’s West End. His work includes large scale indoor and outdoor festivals, the Sydney Olympic Ceremonies, the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Ceremonies & Cultural Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Montreal Just for Laughs, Edinburgh Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Vancouver Winter Olympics Cultural Festival, Centennial celebrations, river &

street parades, tours & various music festivals. Some artists Rus has worked with are Merce Cunningham, Laurie Anderson, John Leguizamo, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Tim Robbins & The Actors Gang, Taylor Mac, Patti Smith, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Bandaloop, Camille A Brown & Dancers, Abraham. In.Motion, Streb & Phantom Limb Company among many and on projects & tours in Australia, USA, Canada, Tunisia, Europe, Asia & South America. Rus worked at PS122 in NYC many moons ago and was the founding Production Manager & Resident Lighting Designer at Oz Arts Inc in Nashville TN for 6 years before moving to Miami to continue freelance work and is proudly working on the tour of And So We Walked featuring DeLanna Studi and is excited and honored to be part of the creation of Touch of Red with TRIBE.

Mirelle Martins (Costume Designer, Creative Director). Originally from Brazil, Mirelle Martins received her Bachelor Degree in Social Communications (UnB 2002-06). She has worked as an artist, independent curator

and art producer since 2010. In 2013, Mirelle started to research her own artistic expression in performance art with the intensive summer course of Gaga. people.dancers in NYC. Since 2015, she has been producing Gaga courses yearly in Brazil, so far reaching over 1200 students. In 2016, as a 32-year old, Mirelle made her dancing debut in BLACK VELVET, a duet by Shamel Pitts, with light designer Lucca Del Carlo. The show toured in the US and internationally from 2017 to 2020, and has received the Audience Choice Award in Stockholm Fringe Festival (Sweden, 2017), and Best out of Town Production by ArtsATL (Atlanta, 2018). The partnership with Pitts continued with BLACK HOLE (2018), where Mirelle has collaborated as performer and costume designer. Since 2019, Mirelle is one of the founding artists of TRIBE, Brooklyn-based arts collective led by Pitts, where she also acts as Creative Director. mirellemartins.com

Naomi Maaravi (Black Tarp Designer) is a Dutch-born, Israelbased EcoFashion Designer with over 30 years of experience

creating upcycled re-designed fashion pieces. Naomi made her first piece for her daughter out of worn out jeans. Her garments are fashioned from either her own collection of high end materials, or out of materials supplied by her clients. Her brand line has since evolved into a high-end recycled – albeit high fashion –line worn by Israeli artists and celebrities. “Memories, events, joy, happiness, sadness are all parts of the materials I use, blended to create a unique garment with a story on its own,” Maaravi says. naomimaaravi.com

Itai Zwecker (Photographer, Cinematographer) is an Israeliborn director of cinematography, photographer, and video editor, collaborating with Shamel Pitts and later TRIBE since 2018. His photography has been featured in The New York Times ,The Brooklyn Rail, and other outlets. Zwecker is based in Brooklyn and Tel Aviv, where he works shooting film, dance, music, documentary and commercial projects. vimeo.com/zwecker

The Adeboye Brothers

(Photographer & Cinematographer): PALETTE, Founded by The Adeboye Brothers in 2017, is a creative agency focused on producing films, animations, and live experiences for campaign activations both online and offline. Their background is rooted in thoughtful storytelling, art, and pushing the boundaries within the film space. They’re currently focused on building out their Production house internationally. Their production house develops, produces and writes branded and original documentaries, narrativebased shorts, and animations. This organization stands with creatives, the humans connected to culture, the communitymovers, the society shapers. thepalettegroup.com/projects

‘lectric Eye, photo by Maria Baranova

Joanna Kotze

‘lectric Eye

JAN 15, 830PM; JAN 16, 2PM

Choreography by Joanna Kotze in collaboration with the performers

Featuring dancers Wendell Gray II, Molly Heller, Symara Johnson, Joanna Kotze, and composer/musician Ryan Seaton, with Mary Lyn Graves, Ani Javian, Ariel Lembeck, Jennifer Nugent, Devin Oshiro, Ambika Raina, Ariana Speight, Marion Spencer, Hsiao-jou Tang, and Lex Vautrin

Music composed and performed by Ryan Seaton

Original song ‘Black Fly’ by Circuit des Yeux

Lighting design by Kathy Kaufmann

Costumes by Christian Joy Writer in residence: Lauren Slone Booking contact: Sara Procopio

Marketing & producing support: Laura Nicoll

Production assistance: Julia Antinozzi

Movement research and performance contributions by Leslie Cuyjet, Maya Lee-Parritz, and Anna Thérèse Witenberg who performed in the excerpt experiment at Judson, and Jordan D. Lloyd who performed in the premiere at The Space at Irondale.

Runtime: 60 mins

FUNDING

‘lectric Eye premiered in February 2022 at The Space at Irondale in Brooklyn. The performances during Live Artery 2023 are supported in part by New York Live Arts and the Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant. The development of ‘lectric Eye was made possible by The Bogliasco Foundation, The Yard, EtM Choreographer + Composer Residency, Loghaven Artist Residency, Dance Programme Malmö, the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, Mount Tremper Arts through funding from the Alan M. Kriegsman Creative Residency at Dance Place, the Resident Artist Program at Movement Research supported by the Rosin Fund, and The Nathan M. Clark Foundation. Special thanks to all our Kickstarter backers for their support!

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you to everyone at New York Live Arts who helped make these performances possible, especially Janet Wong, Kyle Maude, and Hannah Emerson. You are the best! Thank you to this amazing cast of performers for coming back together to restage this work. You all ARE this piece and you are incredible! Ryan, Molly, Symara and Wendell - thank you for the years of dedication to this process, for your energy and vulnerability, and your phenomenal performances. There’s more to come! Ryan, thank you for your genius scores that continually blow my mind. Kathy and Christian, thank you for your brilliant creative collaborations. Lauren, you’re still in this with us and you always will be. Thank you for your magical words and endless feedback. Laura and Sara, thank you for ALL that you do to help me keep this ship running and moving forward. Thank you to all of the funders listed above for the support of this work over the last four years and especially to The Space at Irondale for premiering ‘lectric Eye last year. And thank you to Jon, Mom, Dad, Jaye, Chris and Theo for your love and steadfast support.

BIOGRAPHY

Joanna Kotze is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, dancer and educator who has been part of the New York dance community since 1998. She creates highly physical dance performances through a collaborative, multidisciplinary process, presenting ways to look at effort, labor, humor, violence, unpredictability, and beauty through movement as well as the body’s relationship to sound, light, physical materials and space. Her evening-length piece, ‘lectric Eye, premiered at The Space at Irondale, in Brooklyn, New York, February 9-12, 2022. She also recently finished a short film project called Nothing’s changed except for everything with Tallahasseebased filmmaker, Chris Cameron, and New York-based composer, Ryan Seaton. Her previous evening- length work, What will we be like when we get there, was nominated for a 2018 New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for Outstanding Music Composition and Sound Design by collaborator Ryan Seaton. Joanna received the 2013 New

York Dance and Performance Bessie Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer. Her work has been supported by the Nathan M. Clark Foundation, City Artist Corps, New Music USA, the Jerome Foundation, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, New York Foundation for the Arts, BUILD, Brooklyn Arts Council, Yellowhouse, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant. Her choreography has been presented at Wanås Konst Sculpture Park in Sweden, The Irondale Center, The Yard, Bates Dance Festival, Stonington Opera House, New York Live Arts, The Wexner Center, Velocity Dance Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Danspace Project, American Dance Institute, Bard College, Industry City, Show Room Gowanus, Lu Magnus gallery, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Dance New Amsterdam, Roulette, Dixon Place, 92nd Street Y, WAXworks, Soho20 gallery, and Movement Research at the Judson Church.

Joanna was recently an artistin-residence at Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC) in Knislinge, Sweden in June/July 2022 and performed a new sitespecific solo, this is the beginning, this is the end, created in and for Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, also in Knislinge, as a joint commission between MARC and Wanås Konst. She will return to MARC/ Wanås in summer 2023 as the curator of dance for the park’s summer performances. Joanna also recently set her large group work, BIG BEATS, on professional dancers in North Carolina through the American Dance Festival, and on students at University of the Arts, The Ailey School, and Bates Dance Festival. Her ongoing project, LONG DISTANCE DANCE DIALOGUES, has engaged with twelve dancers/choreographers around the world and will continue to develop over the next couple of years.

Joanna has had residency support from the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, the Alan M. Kriegsmann Creative Residency at Dance Place in

Washington, D.C., Dance Program Malmö (Sweden), Exploring the Metropolis, Loghaven (Tennessee), The Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), The Yard (Martha’s Vineyard), New York Live Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council , Movement Research, The 92nd Street Y, Milvus Artistic Research Center (Sweden), Jacob’s Pillow, Bennington College, Sedona Arts Center (Arizona), Marble House Project (Vermont), The Camargo Foundation (France), Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Djerassi (California). Joanna currently dances for Kimberly Bartosik/daela (2009-present) and Stacy Spence, and has worked with Wally Cardona, Kota Yamazaki, Netta Yerushalmy, Sam Kim, Sarah Skaggs, Christopher Williams, the Metropolitan Opera ballet, Daniel Charon, Nina Winthrop and others. She has taught at Universities and festivals across the U.S. and around the world. Joanna is originally from South Africa and has a BA in Architecture. joannakotze.com @jrkotze

Wendell Gray II is a dance artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He has worked with artists including Joanna Kotze, Tere O’Connor, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Kevin Beasley, Pavel Zustiak, Maria Bauman, Jonah Bokaer, Christal Brown, J Bouey, and more. As a maker, Wendell has shown his work at Kinosaito Arts Center, Gibney, Center for Performance Research (CPR), Movement Research at Judson Church, Chez Bushwick, La Mama Galleria, and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. He’s been a resident artist with STUFFED at Judson Church, Work Up 6.0 at Gibney, and Chez Bushwick. He has additionally set work on companies including Michiyaya Dance, Pennsylvania Ballet II, Philadanco II, and Periapsis Music and Dance. He received his BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in 2015 under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield and was raised in Atlanta, GA.

Molly Heller is an Assistant Professor within the School of Dance at the University of Utah. She is also the Director of Heartland, a multi-disciplinary collective centralized in Salt Lake

City. Her choreography has been presented by the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Urban Lounge (SLC), Eccles Regent Street Blackbox Theater (SLC), Kingsbury Hall for TEDx Salt Lake City, Gowanus Art + Production, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Green Space, DUMBO Dance Festival, The Mahaney Center for the Arts (Middlebury, VT), and the Ladies’ Literary Club (SLC). Molly has had commissions to create new works by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Repertory Dance Theatre, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center (Berkeley), Balance Dance Company (Boise, ID), Boise State University, Westminster College (SLC), and Sugar Space Studio for the Arts (SLC). Molly holds an M.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of Utah and has certifications in Pilates and Reiki. As a performer, she has worked with Joanna Kotze, Katie Faulkner, Naganuma Dance, Netta Yerushalmy, Stephen Koester, and Satu Hummasti.

Symara Johnson, a Portland Oregon native currently residing in Crown Heights

Brooklyn, has immersed herself in interdisciplinary and choreographic studies globally. Her work varies due to the different influences she’s embraced throughout her life. She is a recipient of the Dai Ailian Foundation Scholarship based in Trinidad and Tobago. The scholarship led her to Beijing, China where she spent two years gaining an associate in modern choreography at the renowned Beijing Dance Academy. Symara is a graduate of SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Dance program. She was a resident artist for Bearnstow, Gibney 6.2 Work Up, Gallim moving Artist and currently is a BAX Fall space grantee and CPR 2022 AIR. She has had film works commissioned by Berlin based choreographer, Christoph Winkler. Johnson has presented work at the WIP Showing at Bates Dance Festival, Smush Gallery, Judson Church, BAAD, CreateArtXGallim, WIM Salon, Mount Vernon Community Theatre, ACMA, The Forum Art Space, Moving Art Exchange, Chez Bushwick, The Beijing Dance Academy Theatre and venues throughout NYC and Germany. She is an Urban Bush

Women company member and is grateful to have freelanced with artists such as Jasmine Hearn, Ogemdi Ude, Ley Gambucci, Pioneers Go East Collective, Rena Butler, Slowdanger, Joanna Kotze and more.

Ryan Seaton is a Bessie nominated, New Yorkbased composer and multiinstrumentalist. Seaton has created compositions for many acclaimed recording and performing artists, including Joanna Kotze, Lingua Ignota, Jean Butler, Grey Reverend, Zsuzsa Rozsavolgyi, Lance Gries, Liz Gerring, Dark Sky, Ictus, Beth Gill, Vision Control, Rachel Comey and Mara Hoffman. His work has been featured at BAM, New York Live Arts, Dublin Theater Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Kitchen and Danspace among many other venues. Seaton also composes for film, podcasts and TV. He recently composed the score for David Peter Hansen’s award-winning film Militiaman. ryancseaton.com

Mary Lyn Graves (she/her) is a dancer and teacher. Her recent performance credits

include the Mark Morris Dance Group, Megan Williams, and collaborations with composer Caroline Davis. From 2012-2018, Mary Lyn was a member of RirieWoodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City, UT. She originated roles in over 25 new works and toured across the United States and internationally. She has also worked extensively with Molly Heller, Cheyla Chandler, and the Nikolais/Louis Foundation. Mary Lyn is currently on faculty at Ballet Tech in Manhattan where she facilitates movement exploration and conversation with young dancers. A sixthgeneration Oklahoman, Mary Lyn was born and raised in Tulsa, OK.

Ani Javian (she/her) is a movement artist whose research is rooted in her views about humans as story-tellers, storyholders, and story-makers. Her choreography has been shared in NYC, Los Angeles, the Midwest, Paris, Bangkok, and Yerevan, with support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Dance New Jersey, the Ohio Arts Council, and an Emergency Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. As a

performer, Ani has worked with Paige Phillips, Molly Lieber, and Gladys Bailin. She is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Rutgers University, with an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University and a BA in Dance and English from Connecticut College. anijavian.com Ariel Lembeck is a dance artist and interdisciplinary maker whose artistic practice incorporates installation, performance scores and video. Her work has been presented by Triskelion Arts, WaxWorks, Judson Church (STUFFED), The Jack Crystal Theater, The Footlight, Ruth Page Center for the Arts (Chicago, IL), The Floor on Atlantic, The Wild Project (IHRAFestival). Since graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she has worked with artists Meredith Monk, Stefanie Nelson, Douglas Dunn, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Eva Dean, Nattie Trogdon and Hollis Bartlett, Elisabeth Motley, Jessica Gaynor, Joanna Kotze and more. Ariel was part of the Creating New Futures Phase 2 group and is Creative Producer for a canary torsi. ariellembeck.com / IG: @ariellembeck

Jennifer Nugent has been performing in NYC since 1999, most notably with Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Company from (20092014), David Dorfman Dance from (1999-2007), and Paul Matteson (2002-2020). Her practices are profoundly inspired by Linda Rogers Albritton, Ann Cummings, Patricia Cummings, Beatrice LaVerne, Bambi Anderson, Dale Andree, Gerri Houlihan, Daniel Lepkoff, Wendell Beavers, Lisa Race, David Dorfman, Patty Townsend, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Paul Matteson, and Janet Wong, Nugent is a teaching artist at Sarah Lawrence College, Gibney Dance NYC, and the virtual platform freeskewl. Jennifernugent.com

Devin Oshiro (she/her), originally from Los Angeles, CA, is a Brooklyn-based dancer, teacher, choreographer, and arts administrator. She earned a BA in Dance from California State University of Fullerton. Since moving to New York, Devin has had the pleasure of working with Edisa Weeks, Mike Esperanza, Sumi Clements, Joanna Kotze, Reggie Wilson, Maija Garcia, Patrick Corbin, and more. Devin

works as the Senior Community Action Artistic Manager at Gibney in utilizing the arts for social justice, specifically genderbased violence. She teaches movement workshops that promote self-care and well-being and engages young people in conversations around healthy relationships across NYC. IG: @devinoshiro

Ambika Raina is a choreographer and dance director working in dance and theatre. Her work has been presented by NYU Skirball, The Chocolate Factory, Issue Project Room, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and more. She has earned two Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation fellowships and the 2022 BAX Space Grant, and she choreographed the new musical production The Jury. As a dancer, Ambika has performed in work by Bill T. Jones, Joanna Kotze, David Gordon, Jordan D. Lloyd, Maya Lee Parritz, Netta Yerushalmy, and Catherine Galasso at venues like Museum of Modern Art, Park Ave Armory, the Shed, and Madison Square Garden. Upcoming: Choreographer &

Assoc. Director of A Nice Indian

Boy at Olney Theatre Center.

IG: @ambika.raina Ariana Speight (she/her/ hers), is a contemporary dance artist invested in researching the curiosities of life through various mediums. Originally from Los Angeles and currently based in Brooklyn, she has had the opportunity to work with a number of artists including Kayla Farrish, Joanna Kotze, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Kyle Marshall, Anna Sperber, and Jessie Young. Her freelance journey has led her to perform at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Chelsea Factory, Coffey Street, Dancewave, Irondale, Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza, Pageant, The Shed, Webster Hall, among others. She is a BFA graduate from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and is a certified Yoga and Pilates instructor where she continues to nurture her teaching practice.

IG: @arianamariespeight marion spencer (she/her/hers) is a dance & interdisciplinary artist. She builds choreographies that are poetic ecosystems

from her imagination and dreams, excavating the personal, the unknown, the weird, the systemic, the rigor, the felt, the beautiful, the real. Her work has recently been presented by Roulette Intermedium, Center for Performance Research, New Dance Alliance, Gibney & Danspace Project. She has held residencies at The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Field Center, Mana Contemporary and Amherst College, among others. As a performer, she has had the pleasure of collaborating with Laurie Berg, BAND|portier, Laura Peterson, Larissa Velez-Jackson, Michelle Boulé, Tyler Rai and Joanna Kotze. Hsiao-Jou Tang was born and raised in Taiwan. In 2008, she graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. Hsiao-Jou was a company member of Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion (2010-2012) and Doug Varone and Dancers (2012-2019). As a freelance dancer, Hsiao-Jou has had the pleasure of working with Trisha Brown Dance Company, Netta Yerushalmy, John Jasperse, 2nd Best Dance Company,

Nancy Bannon, Xan Burley+Alex Springer, Shen Wei Dance Arts, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Luke Murphy- Attic Projects, and The Pharmacy Project, among others.

Lex Vautrin graduated with a BFA in Dance and a Minor in Creative Writing from the University of the Arts in May 2022, under Dean Donna Faye Burchfield. At the University of the Arts she performed works by Tommie Waheed-Evans and Katie Swords Thurman, Shayla-Vie Jenkins and Jesse Zarrit, Sidra Bell, Thom White, Helen Simonaeu, Merce Cunningham, and Joanna Kotze. Lex participated as a field study intern with PHILADANCO and in the Merce Cunningham Fellowship Workshop and performed a restaging of Loosestrife. Lex is based in Philadelphia and currently works as a freelance dance artist and teaches Pure Barre classes.

Kathy Kaufmann is a New York City native and two time Bessie recipient. She has been a resident designer at the Danspace Project at St. Marks Church for over 20 years and has

toured extensively throughout the world. She designs regularly for Dorrance Dance, Sally Silvers, Mina Nishimura, The Bang Group, Rebecca Stenn, Mariana Valencia, Music From the Sole, Ephrat Asherie, and Joanna Kotze. Recent projects include designs for Vicky Shick, Jon Kinzel, Nami Yamamoto, Valerie Green, Iele Palompis, and Silas+Rashaun.

Christian Joy is a costume designer and artist living and working in New York City. Christian has created performance looks for artists such as Karen O, Brittany Howard and Childish Gambino. Her designs have appeared on stage at the Oscars and Grammy Awards as well as music festivals around the world. Christian’s work has been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Mode Museum in Hasselt Belgium as well as galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Lauren Ree Slone (writer-inresidence) is an internationally recognized expert in grant making systems design, cultural equity strategy, and

programmatic leadership. To date at MAP Fund, she has overseen the distribution of $13M+ dollars to 590 multidisciplinary performance projects. Most recently, she was proud to serve on the program team that operationalized Artist Relief, which distributed close to $23.4 million in emergency grants to 4,680 artists over 15 months, and was appointed as Co-Chair of Grantmakers in the Arts Support for Individual Artist Committee. She is also a Live in America Festival Support Team member and an advisor to Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA). As a lifelong student of dance, she has created education curricula, youth mentorship programs, presentation platforms, and performance projects that democratize access to the art form throughout the United States. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in Philosophy from West Virginia University, and an M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from Florida State University School of Dance where she was the first Mellon Arts Administration Fellow at Maggie Allesee National Center

for Choreography, a Ballet Pedagogy Fellow, and pursued choreographic research in Israel, Spain, and France.

LIVE ARTS CONTRIBUTORS

New York Live Arts is deeply grateful to all the individuals listed below for their vital gifts to New York Live Arts over the last year:

$1MM and higher

Slobodan Randjelović & Jon Stryker

$500,000-$999,999

Anonymous

$100,000-$499,999

Anonymous

Eleanor Friedman

Ruth & Stephen Hendel

Alex Katz Foundation

Ellen M. Poss

Jane Bovingdon Semel & Terry Semel | Semel Charitable Foundation

$50,000 - $99,999

Jody & John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation

Lorraine Gallard & Richard Levy

Helen & Peter Haje

Suzanne Karpas Barbara & Alan D. Marks Matthew Putman

$25,000 - $49,999

Ylva Cavalli-Björkman & Willard Ahdritz

David Dechman & Michel Mercure

Zoe Eskin

Adam Flatto

Agnes Gund

Michael P.N.A. Hormel in memory of Linda Grass Shapiro Charla Jones

Colleen Keegan Darnell L. Moore

Amy Newman & Bud Shulman

Alanna Rutherford

Jennifer & Jonathan Soros

Starry Night Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation Diana Wege | Wege Foundation

$10,000 - $24,999

Caroline & Paul Cronson

Claire Danes & Hugh Dancy

Alexes Hazen

Julie Orlando

Andrea Rosen

Nina & Gabriel Stricker

Pat Stryker

$5,000 - $9,999

Patricia Blanchet | Ed Bradley Family Foundation

Paula Cooper & Jack Macrae

Joan Davidson

Anne Delaney

Laura & Richard Hunt

Glenn Ligon

Jeffrey B. & Wendy Liszt

Robert Longo

Margaret Morton Jeffrey Schneider

Melissa Schiff Soros

Cindy Sherman Catharine R. Stimpson

Kristalina & Jack Taylor Billie Tsien & Tod Williams Steve Wilson

$1,000 - $4,999

Derrick Adams

Rosio Alvarez & Jennifer Brody

Anonymous Alberta Arthurs

The Brant Foundation, Inc.

Jill Brienza

Catherine & Paul Buttenwieser

Reggie Browne

Carmine Boccuzzi

Rose C. Cali in Memory of John J. Cali Jeannie Colbert

Joan Davidson

Lil & Jim DeMarse

Beth Rudin DeWoody

Dobkin Family Foundation

Margaret Doyle

Terence Dougherty & Pierre Duleyrie

Gina Duncan

Nancy & Stephen Gabriel Mimi Garrard

Michael & Deborah Goldberg

Thomas & Barbara Gottschalk

Deborah Hellman & Derek Brown

Tom Hennes

Jenny Holzer

Scott Hudziak

Joanie Johnson

Judy Johnson

The Joyce Theater Foundation Emil Kang Amir Karby

Hedy Klineman

Oscar Mack

Nancy Meyer & Marc Weiss

Susan Micari

Linda Murray

Wangechi Mutu

Samira Nasr

Richard Plepler

Randy Polumbo | Plant Construction

Margaret Selby

Jeffrey Seller

Céline Semaan & Colin Vernon

Caroline Shapiro & Peter Frey

Shinique Smith

Temple St. Clair & Paul Engler

The Susan Stein Shiva Foundation

Mickalene Thomas

Robyn Trani

JP Versace

James J. Williams, III

Jacqueline Woodson Timothy Wu & Eric Murphy

$500 - $999

Stewart Adelson

Mary Ann Ashley

Arthur Aviles

Carol Bryce-Buchanan

John Fitzgibbon

William Floyd

Jeremy Henderson

Karen B. Hopkins

Brinton T. & Francis C. Parson, Jr

Robert Ross

John Sansone

Ellynne Skove

Deborah Swiderski Wade Turnbull Gilbert Williams

Gifts and commitments between 7/1/2021-6/30/2022

Support for New York Live Arts is provided by the Arnhold Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ed Bradley Family Foundation, The Brant Foundation, Inc., Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Dance/ NYC, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Marta Heflin Foundation, Alex Katz Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Alice Lawrence Foundation, Samuel M. Levy Family Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Performance Network, New England Foundation for the Arts, NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund in the New York Community Trust, One World Fund, The Poss Family Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, San Francisco Foundation The Semel Charitable Foundation, Scherman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Tides Foundation

Corporate support for New York Live Arts includes Con Edison, Google, Tito’s Handmade Vodka.

Public support for New York Live Arts is from Humanities New York, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Correction, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Front

Board of Directors

Stephen Hendel Co-Chair

Richard H. Levy Co-Chair

Helen Haje Vice Chair

Slobodan RandjeloviĆ Vice Chair

Alan Marks

Treasurer Bill T. Jones

Artistic Director Ex-Officio Kim Cullen

Chief Executive Officer Ex-Officio Bjorn Amelan

Willard Ahdritz

Sarah Arison

Aimee Meredith Cox

LaToya Ruby Frazier

Charla Jones

Colleen Keegan

Darnell L. Moore

Amy Newman

Randy Polumbo

Ellen M. Poss Matthew Putman

Jane Bovingdon Semel Ruby Shang Catharine R. Stimpson

Board Emeritus

Derek Brown

Terence Dougherty Eleanor Friedman Advisory Council

Margaret Doyle, Chair Alberta Arthurs

Beverly D’Anne Lisa Frigand

Jenette Kahn Susan Micari Alton Murray Lorraine Gallard Lois Greenfield Martha Sherman