InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2020: And then everything changed

Radha Blank in The Forty-Year-Old Version (photo Jeong Park/Netflix)

Poster for HBO's Lovecraft Country, starring Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett

 

Ruth Negga in Hamlet, St.Ann's Warehouse (photo: Teddy Wolff)

 

 

InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2020

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Not a best-of list but a kind of memory palace

of remarkable arts events from the year 2020!

[Read last year’s list here.]

 

 

Performances by Emily Johnson, Adrienne Truscott and John Jarboe at The Poetry Project’s New Year’s Day Marathon at St. Mark’s Church, January 1

Atlantics, directed by Mati Diop, released on Netflix, November 15, 2019

Women’s Resistance by Urban Bush Women at American Dance Platform, The Joyce Theater, January 7 and 12

Indestructible by Abby Zbikowski performed by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company at American Dance Platform, The Joyce Theater, January 7 and 12

Soundz at the Back of my Head by Thomas F. DeFrantz at Gibney, January 9-11

Afro/Solo/Man by Brother(hood) Dance! at Gibney, January 9-11

A Prophets Tale: Portrait of the Lyricist (work-in-progress showing) by 7NMS|Marjani Forté-Saunders + Everett Saunders at Live Artery, New York Live Arts, January 12

AIR by Mariana Valencia at Performance Space New York, January 9-11, 16-18

Five Hundred Years of Women’s Work: The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection at The Grolier Club, through February 8

David Vaughn’s The Dance Historian is In: Dyane Harvey Salaam at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, January 29

Letters To Marsha with Viewing Hours (a diptych) by mayfield brooks at JACK, January 30-February 1

Ode to Mother Earth (The dark divine) by Brother(hood) Dance/Orlando Hunter, presented at Wise Fruit 9.0: Mama Earth at Hudson, February 17

Jordan Casteel: Within Reach at The New Museum, February 19-May 24

Ruth Negga in Hamlet, Gate Theatre Dublin, February 1-March 8

Burnt-Out Wife by Sara Juli, Dixon Place, February 21-28

Ti’ed (The Solo) by Christine C. Wyatt, WorkUp 6.1, at Gibney, March 5-7

Postwar a sci-fi love rage by Glenn Potter-Takata a.k.a. Gorn, WorkUp 6.1, at Gibney, March 5-7

Hope Hunt and The Ascension into Lazarus by Oona Doherty at 92Y Harkness Dance Center, March 6-7

 

 

 And then, everything changed:

ARTS IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

 

 

Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis starred in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. (Netflix)

 

2020 Dance Magazine Award winner Camille A. Brown choreographed Netflix's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. (Photo: Whitney Browne)

 

Two Gentlemen of Verona presented by The Show Must Go Online, streamed live March 19

Fire in my mouth (2019) by Julia Wolfe, New York Philharmonic conducted by Jaap van Zweden, streamed on NYPhil site and viewed March 28

Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park, The Public Theater) aired on PBS/Great Performances, viewed March 29

Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (2016), directed by Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger (Netflix), viewed March 30

Revelations Workshop with Hope Boykin, Ailey All Access, viewed March 30

Afectos (U.S. premiere, 2014) by Rocío Molina and Rosario “La Tremendita” at Baryshnikov Arts Center, viewed April 9

Kathak: An American Story, Episode 4 by Leela Dance Collective, featuring Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith at 2006 Kathak at the Crossroads Festival, viewed on YouTube, April 11

The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show, Netflix, streaming from April 1

Present Laughter by Noël Coward, PBS Great Performances (November 2017), viewed April 12

John Prine and Bill Withers In Their Own Words, a special by Anna Sale, WNYC, aired April 14

Fleabag (National Theatre Live) written by and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge; directed by Tony Grech-Smith and Vicky Jones (2019), Amazon Prime Video, viewed April 15

all decisions will be made by consensus, a Zoom opera composed by Kamala Sankaram, libretto by Rob Handel, directed by Kristin Marting, presented on Zoom by HERE, April 24-26

Balcony Bar from Home by ETHEL, presented by Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 24

Metropolitan Opera At-Home Gala, April 25

Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, presented by Broadway.com on YouTube, April 27

Frankenstein by Nick Dear and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, National Theatre, streaming starting April 30

Ode by Jamar Roberts, presented by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on YouTube, April 30

Current and Former Ailey Women Dance Cry, video by Danica Paulos, Ailey All Access, YouTube, posted May 6

Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi: there is no Other, presented by MetLiveArts, May 16

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas, written and performed by Hannah Gadsby, directed by Madeleine Parry, Neftlix, streaming from May 26

Pass Over, written by Antoinette Nwandu, directed by Spike Lee (directed for stage by Danya Taymor), Amazon Prime Video, viewed May 30

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, directed by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch, streaming from July 8

The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, Netflix, streaming from July 10

Met Stars Live in Concert: Jonas Kaufmann in Polling, Bavaria with Helmut Deutsch, piano, viewed July 18

Welcome to A Bright White Limbo, directed by Cara Holmes, starring Oona Doherty, premiered Dance on Camera Festival 2020, July 19

Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance, directed by Khadifa Wong, premiered Dance on Camera Festival 2020, July 19

Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories, directed by Miguel Angel Rosales, streaming on KweliTV, viewed August 8

Beyond The Visible: Hilma af Klint, directed by Halina Dyrschka, streaming on KinoNOW, viewed August 27

Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007)

In The Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe (Duke University Press, 2016)

Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry, Beacon Press, 2019

The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang (2019), viewed September 10

Met Stars Live in Concert: Joyce DiDonato in Bochum, with Carrie-Ann Matheson, piano, and I’ll Pomo D’Oro, viewed September 13

Taina Asili: Joe’s Pub Live, YouTube, streaming from September 17

Process Memoir 6: thenowlater, Journey Two, Mind by Johnnie Cruise Mercer and TheREDprojectNY, presented by 92Y Harkness Dance Center, September 25

RBG, directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West. Magnolia Films (2018)

Herb Alpert Is…, directed by John Scheinfeld (2020)

The 40-Year-Old Version, directed by Radha Blank, Netflix (2020)

Schitt’s Creek, created by Dan and Eugene Levy, Netflix (2015-2020)

Julius Caesar, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Donmar Warehouse at St. Ann’s Warehouse (2016), streaming in October

David Byrne’s American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee, HBO/HBO Max (2020)

Lovecraft Country, created by Misha Green, HBO/HBO Max (2020)

King Lear--Virtual Reading, Crescent City Stage, October 17

Dancers on Film: Okwui Okpokwasili & devynn emory (with Kristin Juarez), The Getty Center, October 21

The School for Wives, starring Tonya Pinkins, Molière in the Park, October 24

The Tempest, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Donmar Warehouse at St. Ann’s Warehouse (2016), streaming in October

DEBATE: Baldwin vs. Buckley, adapted and directed by Christopher McElroen, BRIC, YouTube starting October 22

Macbeth (film, 2010), directed by Rupert Goold, starring Sir Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood, PBS Great Performances, streaming November

Between the World and Me (film, 2020), directed by Kamilah Forbes, HBO, streaming from November 21

 

Key & Peele (five seasons, 2012-2015), starring Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, HBO, viewed throughout November

Mangrove (film, 2020) in Small Axe, directed by Steve McQueen, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from November 20

Lovers Rock (film, 2020) in Small Axe, directed by Steve McQueen, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from November 20

 

Education (film, 2020) in Small Axe, directed by Steve McQueen, Amazon Prime Video, streainging from November 20

On the Sunny Side of the Street by Kayla Farrish, Louis Armstrong House, from November 29

Last Gasp WHF by Split Britches (Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw) at La MaMa, streaming from November 20-December 12

nevermore by Taylor Swift

 

Dear Artist by Kelly Tsai, YouTube, from December 9

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, Netflix, from December 18
 

Canvas, written and directed by Frank E. Abney III, Neftlix, from December 14

 

My Octopus Teacher, directed by James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich, Netflix, from September 4

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Laurel Lawson

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Laurel Lawson

In a rehearsal moment for Wired, Laurel is suspended in midair.
She looks joyfully to the right of the frame,
her hands extended below from pushing off the ground,
body diagonal to the gray marley floor.
A black cord at her waist leads upward and loops
of barbed wire are visible in the foreground.
(Photo: Grace Kathryn Landefeld, courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)

Dancer, choreographer, and engineer, Laurel Lawson found that dance combines her lifelong loves of athleticism and art.  Featuring liminality, synthesistic myth, and partnering, her work includes both traditional choreography and novel processes for extending and creating art through technology and design.

Laurel began her professional dance career with Full Radius Dance in 2004 and is part of the disabled artists’ collective Kinetic Light, where in addition to choreographic collaboration and performance she contributes costume design and leads technical innovation, including the Audimance project, a revolutionary app centering non-visual audiences, and the Access ALLways initiative. Beyond dance, Laurel is an advocate and organizer, musician, skates for the USA Women’s Sled Hockey team, and leads CyCore Systems, a technology consultancy specializing in novel problems.

Laurel Lawson is a 2019-20 Dance/USA Artist Fellow.  Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists is made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

In a moment from Wired, two dancers in wheelchairs
(Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned Black woman and Laurel Lawson, a white woman)
reach for each other while suspended above the ground by tethers.
The skin of their backs and arms is exposed and their faces overlap intimately.
If they let go of each other, the tethers will swing them like pendulums.
(Photo: Mengwen Cao)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

I am a dancer, choreographer, and engineer; a member of Kinetic Light, a leading disability arts ensemble; a member of Full Radius Dance; and an independent choreographer, artist, and educator.

In January, my 2020 calendar was fully booked, mostly on the road, with the next two years filling up quickly. In fact, I arranged to give up my lease at the beginning of March since I would be away from home most of the year. I moved a few bags of what I would need for residencies and touring to Kinetic Light’s New York City rehearsal hub and the rest went into storage with only a few necessities for short stays going into the house my partner and I are gutting and renovating to rehabilitate it and make it accessible.

Instead, with incredible foreshadowing, I began the year with a tour cancellation in Hong Kong, briefly visited Vancouver for as a member of the USA Women’s Sled Hockey Team, visited Kirkland the day their nursing home outbreak was announced and then went to NYC for a showing. I left NYC one day before Gibney closed--thinking I would immediately return, my dance chair and most of my rehearsal gear is still there, five months later. We are lucky to have been able to move into the un-renovated house--very much not accessible, but temporarily habitable. I have a few pieces of shower board taped up over the uneven floor in one room to make an impromptu video studio for taking class, teaching, and filming.

Five months later, and it begins to sink in. The original premiere date at the Shed for Kinetic Light’s new work WIRED has come and gone. Many of the touring dates for that work and for DESCENT may never be rescheduled, depending on how large venues fare and when people can return to indoor environments. My artistic life exists in brief flashes of video--instead of intensive day-long partnering and rehearsal; instead of choreographing for commissions; instead of the day to day of touring.

While I am happy to be able to make some work, I do not relish the technical aspects of producing film. I am grateful to be able to work with funders for program-building and to create necessary and innovative software and products, but my body is not made for  administration and constant long days at my computer. And I cannot help but grieve the commissions lost, very much at the beginning of my choreographic career.

Likewise, in this shifting time: I do not, cannot, resent my work as an activist, as a community organizer, in this time. I absolutely can resent the need for it. I am furious as all the people and all the systems found they could change and shift massively, people still made choices to exclude disabled people; even as it becomes easier to provide access, as the necessity of change makes space for the change, people are making choices to deny access and promote exclusion. No longer shielded by the excuses of convenience or cost, it is revealed as we always knew it to be--bigotry and lack of care. Nonetheless, I am beginning or continuing several major projects, accessible software, accessible community and teaching practice; and perhaps when we are no longer in crisis I can even get to some of the (many) writing projects I’ve needed to backburner.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

My professional work in the arts began in music. I was diverted from attending conservatory by sudden and severe repetitive stress injury; I successfully made the transition from classical music to folk and jazz and made part of my income gigging in college, also picking up theatrical tech & design along the way. Before grad school, I took a gap year and fell by chance (while working a physical acting job) into my first modern dance class with Douglas Scott of Full Radius Dance, who later invited me into his company.

As a dancer, I strive to remain grounded in the meeting of athleticism, precision, and storytelling. As a choreographer I make work that tells stories through ensemble, physicality, and partnering; liminal space, often structured with synthesistic mythology: old stories from a new angle. And as a designer and artist-engineer, my practice encompasses the fusion of technology and traditional work, creating entirely new ways of experiencing art.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning? How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

My practice is built on the synergy of collaboration and the exposure of deep stories. While I cannot, in this moment, practice in the way I would prefer, the purpose remains. I am working to understand how I can connect the diversity of my areas of practice to create new things and to extend the things I already do. In addition to what people might immediately think of as dance, as art: I am practicing the understanding of how people are influenced by systems and environments. Art is neither immune nor somehow above the still-rising tides of surveillance and covert manipulation; art is itself a means of communication and influence. So my work in exposing those aspects in tech, in art; my work in inviting people to think about community, about ethics, about equity: these take practice, work, commitment, time, and support.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

This is a time not of rest, but of building infrastructure--work that is traditionally undervalued in the dance world. Creating new systems, teaching, organizing. Not being a prophet, I am waiting to find out what world, what society, will emerge from this time--as well as working to bring about a society that shares my values. And moreover how the shifts that we can see happening, long overdue, will affect the arts: what does sustainability and justice look like? As remote work becomes normalized, how does that resonate outwards into geographic and economic equity? We are a vital and deeply interdependent part of the ecosystem.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

I am now practicing: Patience. Care. Struggling to stay present with both the passage of time and work which might not be my preference but is nonetheless both important and urgent.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Jacqueline Green

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Jacqueline Green

Jacqueline Green
(photo: Andrew Eccles)

Jacqueline Green (Baltimore, MD) began her dance training at the age of 13 at the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts. She is a 2011 cum laude graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program under the direction of Denise Jefferson. During that time she also received training at the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, the Chautauqua Institution for Dance, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In her career, she has performed works by a wide range of choreographers, including Wayne McGregor, Jiří Kylián, Elisa Monte, Ronald K. Brown, and Kyle Abraham. In 2016, she performed as a guest artist with The Royal Ballet. Ms. Green is a 2018 Bessie nominee for sustained achievement with the Company, a 2014 Dance Fellowship recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a 2015 Clive Barnes Award nominee, a 2009 recipient of the Martha Hill Fund’s Young Professional Award, and a 2010 recipient of the Dizzy Feet Foundation Scholarship. In 2018, she performed on BET’s Black Girls Rock, honoring Judith Jamison. Ms. Green is also a two time New York Times featured artist. She was a member of Ailey II in 2010 and joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2011, where she is currently a principal dancer.

Jacqueline Green on Instagram @jagreen711

Jacqueline Green
(photo: NYC Dance Project)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

I have several projects whose progress was affected by the pandemic.

My domestic tour with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was cancelled. My wedding was planned for January 2021 and has had to be postponed. Aside from various birthday celebrations for the older to new members of my family

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

My mother is the reason for my getting involved in the arts in this professional capacity. She found an arts high school in my hometown, Baltimore, that was great academically, and that ending up being the catalyst for me applying and auditioning for the dance department in the school. She choose dance simply because I was flexible and a bit dramatic. It is definitely not something I would have picked for myself at that time, but I am so glad for her guidance because it is my passion and how I feel I live in my purpose.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I practice becoming the best overall artist in the field of dance that I can possible be. That includes learning to execute multiple dance styles, being a role model for those who look like me who may not have been exposed to Blacks in dance, and passing down the information I know as an artist to those who are also aspiring artists in the field of dance.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

I care about representation. My life, and the life of my family, has changed drastically simply because I was exposed to a Black woman who was glorified in the dance world. I hadn’t seen the possibility of being a professional dancer as a Black girl from Baltimore until I saw it with my eyes. Dance has exposed me to things that no one in my family would have or has experienced. That dancer is Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, and she is still a mentor of mine.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

Dance has the ability to speak to many different types of people without verbal communication. I travel to many different countries and dance in front of people from many different backgrounds, social economic statuses, races, genders, languages, and they all have similar experiences to the pieces of art observed. That tells me that art, and my craft in dance specifically, has a way of uniting all types of people. If we can all relate to something, we can a agree on how the world should be.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

I work hard, so I like to do things to pamper my physical body to counter the intensity of my training. I get deep tissue body massages, cryotherapy, go floating, etc. I try all the new rehabilitations that major artists and athletes use.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Artists Reach Out: Michael Maag

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Michael Maag

Michael Maag, a white man,
smiles at the camera with twinkling eyes.
He has white/blond hair with an impressive long beard,
glasses and a light complexion.
(photo: Jenny Graham)

Alice Sheppard, Laurel Lawson, and Michael Maag
sit side by side in their chairs, on gray marley and lit by stage lighting.
Alice is a light skinned Black woman with short curly hair,
Laurel is a white woman with very short silver hair,
and Michael is a white man with long blonde hair
and a flowing white/blonde beard.
They are wearing casual and rehearsal clothing,
and all three are grinning at someone in the audience.
(photo: Chris Cameron/MANCC)

Michael Maag is the video, projection, and lighting designer for Kinetic Light, a project-based ensemble working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology. Maag designs at the intersection of lighting, video, and projection for theater, dance, musicals, opera, and planetariums across the United States. He sculpts with light and shadow to create lighting environments that tell a story, believing that lighting in support of the performance is the key to unlocking our audience’s emotions. Maag has built custom optics for projections in theaters, museums and planetariums; he also designs and builds electronics and lighting for costumes and scenery.

As a wheelchair user, Maag is passionate about bringing the perspective of a disabled artist to technical theater and design. He is currently the Resident Lighting Designer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His designs have been seen on the Festival’s stages for the last 20 years, as well as at Arena Stage, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, and the Henry Hudson Planetary, Albany.

Alice Sheppard, a light-skinned Black woman,
and Laurel Lawson, a white woman, are both in their wheelchairs
with a vibrant multicolor sunset in the background.
Alice is crawling on her forearms with her knees in Laurel's footplate,
and Laurel is arching her back on the ground as she is dragged along the floor.
Alice is exerting effort, and Laurel is in surrender.
(photo: M A N C C / Chris Cameron)

Laurel Lawson, a white woman, is flying in the air
with arms spread wide, wheels spinning,
and supported by Alice Sheppard.
Alice, a light-skinned Black woman,
is lifting from the ground below.
Behind them appear a dark blue sky and mountainscape;
figures appear in the key, bursting with light.
(photo: Jay Newman/BRITT Festival)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Yes. Like everyone in the entertainment industry, it seems like my work, my art, my life is on hold. I am a member of the project-based disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light and our residency work on a new piece, Wired, has been postponed as have the performance dates at The Shed, though some development and design work has continued remotely. Our piece DESCENT was supposed to perform in Hong Kong in February, and our US dates have been postponed. My work as the Resident Lighting Designer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is on pause, as is my mentoring practice with the FAIR Program.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

The Theater enticed me into the arts at a young age, and I became a Lighting Designer when I discovered that light communicates emotion directly to the subconscious of the audience. This happened the first time I touched a Lighting Control Panel. At that time, those were enormous panels of levers often labeled with the color of the gel in the lights. I had a dream that night in which the levers were labeled with the emotions the light conveyed. I have been living that dream ever since. My practice is to use light to tell the story, and to immerse the audience (all of them) in the emotional journey.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

My practice is collaborative and inclusive. I work with choreographers, directors, scenic and costume designers to create meaningful art. As a disabled artist, I am particularly interested in working from a disabled perspective, with a focus on access. To me, this means two things: to create accessible work for the disabled community that speaks to and reflects their experience, and to welcome the able-bodied into our environment.

At Kinetic Light, we work at the intersection of disability, race and gender. The horrific ongoing systemic racism in this country must end. We must interrogate the origin, meaning and reasons for the societal contracts we have made or have been forced onto us. Those societal contracts that no longer serve must be dismantled. We can come up with a better way to run a “free” society than one that uses principles like democracy and capitalism to perpetuate injustice. It is our job as artists to provide vision, hope and guidance for our society. Most importantly, we must act in an anti-racist, anti-ableist, anti-sexist manner throughout our process.

I envision art that helps our society realize our failures to others and ourselves. I envision art that heals. I envision art that shines.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

I am on a journey, someplace on the road to an inclusive, fair and just practice. In that way I feel like I am in alignment with my dreams. I also feel like I am personally at the bottom of a steep hill and need to keep pushing my wheels up the road to completely inhabit the world I want to see.

My work as a mentor continues with many young lighting designers out in the world. I am embarking on a new fellowship through Kinetic Light to mentor a disabled lighting designer. Even in these pandemic times, we can connect and collaborate.

My practice includes continual learning. I am never bored. There is always something to learn about, or something to be better at.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

By remotely collaborating, creating and even lighting from a distance, my art is becoming enhanced by better communication skills. At Kinetic Light, we managed to pull off one virtual, remote dance concert by “dancing in place” (you can view that event, hosted by the Rubin Foundation, on their website) and have another scheduled in July. I am spending time learning new tools and creating a library of visuals for Wired. So in a way it is not all that dissimilar to how I normally work; just a lot less time in Technical Rehearsals.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

I’ve been meditating about the meaning of the Japanese word ma and its relevance now. The word means something like space, gap or interval. But, more deeply, it is an awareness of place, a concentration of vision between form and non-form. Here we are in the shadows between structured time. Without these shadows, there can be no awareness of light. Which I guess is a long way of saying pause, create ma, and meditate on something meaningful to you.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Artists Reach Out: Gabrielle Civil

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Gabrielle Civil

Gabrielle Civil in
Experiments in Joy
(photo: Dennie Eagleson)

Gabrielle Civil is a Black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer, originally from Detroit MI. She has premiered fifty original performance art works around the world including in Puerto Rico, The Gambia, Ghana, Canada, Zimbabwe, and Mexico where she lived as a Fulbright Fellow. She is the author of the performance memoirs Swallow the Fish (2017) and Experiments in Joy (2019) and was lead contributor to Experiments in Joy: a Workbook (2019). A 2019 Rema Hort Mann LA Emerging Artist, she teaches creative writing and critical studies at the California Institute of the Arts. The aim of her work is to open up space.

Gabrielle Civil
(photos: above, Fungai Machirori. Below: Starr Rien)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

The project of living has been affected by the pandemic. The project of teaching, breathing, being, and being connected to loved ones. The project of keeping time. It’s been almost three months since these questions arrived, and I can’t believe how long it has taken me to respond--except that everything takes longer now. Things feel both sped up and slowed down. In my house, I swim through pools of time: dog paddling or trying to hold off a crashing wave but sometimes floating in memory or hope. Lately, I’ve been riding the swell of the Mississippi River from the headwinds of Minnesota all the way down to the crumbling confederate shores....

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

Maybe it was reciting a speech for MLK Day at church as a kid in a pink velveteen suit with a hat. Or poring over the “Sugar Plum Tree” in Childcraft Vol. 1 Poems & Rhymes (which I still have on my shelf). Or hearing my mother recite "Dreams" (Hold fast to dreams....) by Langston Hughes while she cooked in the kitchen. I’m not sure, but I know that literature, art, and performance have always been juicy to me.

In college, I trained as a poet. And I loved readings and open mics and slams and spoken word events but after a while, I grew restless.... I craved new cadences, new ways to circulate language in space. Despite my limited performance background--I had never seriously danced or acted on stage--I craved activating my body. In my book Swallow the Fish, I talk about turning to performance art as a way to make a different kind of poem, as a way to embody poetry itself. I move from figures of speech to figures of the body and back. That’s still the heart of my practice today.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

Right now, I am practicing performance / writing. My new book, the déjà vu, is about experiential echoes and Black feminist double vision. It’s due at the end of the year, so I’m practicing imagining, crafting and believing in my wild ideas! I’m practicing dreaming and trying to show up for a new, better world that might crack through this time. I’m practicing preparing.

I’ve got a rad performance residency at Automata in LA later this summer where I’ll activate the idea of living objects. In the fall, I’ll actually teach a class with this title on Black material culture, so this embodied exploration will be key. I’m practicing serious patience. I’m writing this half way through a 14-day self-quarantine in Michigan. Once I’m done, I’ll get to see my parents in Detroit and I will hug human beings for the first time in months! I am envisioning that hug with my entire body!

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

I love reading writing teaching performing art-making listening learning connecting Black people body hugging books poetry archives liberation and joy. My practice and visioning are about all of those....

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

It’s got to go deeper. The dual moment of pandemic and uprising is unprecedented and foretold. Creativity and imagination are the way forward—plus a lot of bravery. Hold fast, slow down and transform.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Mariana Valencia

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Mariana Valencia

Mariana Valencia
(photo: Charlotte Curtis)

Mariana Valencia is a New York based choreographer and performer. Her work has been presented by Danspace Project, American Realness, AUNTS, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Performance Space, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (OR), The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (DC), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), and internationally in England, Norway, Macedonia and Serbia. Valencia is a Whitney Biennial artist (2019), a Bessie Award recipient for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award to Artists grant recipient (2018), a Jerome Travel and Study Grant fellow (2014-15), and a Movement Research GPS/Global Practice Sharing artist (2016/17). She is a founding member of the No Total reading group and she has been the co-editor of Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence (2016-17). She has held residencies at Chez Bushwick, New York Live Arts, ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Gibney, Movement Research and at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (OR). Valencia has worked with Lydia Okrent, Jules Gimbrone, Elizabeth Orr, Kate Brandt, AK Burns, Guadalupe Rosales, Em Rooney, robbinschilds, Kim Brandt, Morgan Bassichis, Jazmin Romero, Fia Backstrom and MPA. In 2019, she published two books of performance texts entitled Album (Wendy's Subway) and Mariana Valencia's Bouquet (3 Hole Press). Valencia holds a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA (2006) with a concentration in dance and ethnography.

Mariana Valencia in Air (2020)
(photo: Jeenah Moon)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Yes. I've had about nine national and international engagements postponed to 2021-23 but, in my mind, that feels like 2034-35.... No one ever knew the future; projections feel silly now. Our community of dance artists, choreographers, tech and venue staff is undergoing a huge strain.

On a personal level, I'm not sure what the horizon holds, but I'm staying resourceful. Some institutions and organizations have offered me small video projects which I'm grappling with because the medium is not live, and I don't "make" video art. It's like asking a therapist to stop talking in session, but they can still meet with their patients. A big "HOW?" looms over me.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

I learn through example and by doing; I'm an observer. I grew up watching my family dance at social gatherings; I learned to dance. I was taught to cut and sew garments; I make some of my costumes. I was taught to memorize poetry at a young age, so I have skills in memorizing my scripts. I learned to build things, so I craft the sets in my shows from scratch and ready-made compositions. This learning from example and doing is what has revealed to me the art that I make, and it has helped me re-frame and devise the layers of my performances.

Above and below:
Mariana Valencia in Air (2020)
(photo: Maria Baranova)

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I'm practicing a daily mode of survival, one hour at a time, and it gives me a short scope of what is possible, since the possibility of what I've known is a bit impossible to envision in the future. I make the bed, cook, read, organize the spices, move the crystals and rocks from one surface to another. I take long walks. I Windex the mirrors.

Seeing these tasks through lends a sense of home, it honors where my body lives and moves and that care for me is similar to the care I give to my projects. So I'm grateful to blend the home/work space daily. I'm re-imagining the 40-hour work week, in particular how the 40-hour work week has impacted when and where I've presented my work.

Why are shows at night? Because we work during the day. Why do shows cost money? Because the arts have been established as a market that isolates entire communities from "it" within Capitalism. These shortcomings have given a price to the art I make, my time, my value.

I'm rethinking how I will continue to move through my community while questioning the scaffold that has stifled us/me. I'm feeling hopeful about this thinking; the need for each other and community has never felt so deep. I've been thinking about staying active and present so that I don't have to feel reactive and chased.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

I care about the people that I love, and that makes me think about love at-large and how if we all feel love for someone or something,  then the love web is wide and connected. I've been ruminating inside of the web and navigating it from this viewpoint and essentially, the goal is the path, and the path has many encounters, so let's honor each other.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

My work has been focused onto the personal/political and the abstraction of these subjects for some time now. I now imagine my work on some sci-fi frequency (on video because of the pandemic) of just me doing things that bring me joy, that frame me as I am in my daily tasks. If I make who I am visible as "I am," then maybe I don't have to keep railing about how "in the margin" I've been made to live.

I define who I am. I also often erase that vision and, instead, envision this daily "me" on video with a really clear political statement that continues to shine a light on the ugly, the unfit and the underserved-- so, as is my custom, it will probably be a blend.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

Do a day at a time. Don't try hoarding past or future time by dwelling and planning. Listen to right now and be with that. Reaction is different from action. Action gives me meaning, reaction shows me a deficit, a lack and a certain late sense of arrival.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Nelida Tirado

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Nelida Tirado

Nelida Tirado
(photo: Antonio G. Gamboa)

Nelida Tirado hailed  “magnificent and utterly compelling” (The New York Times) began her formal training at Ballet Hispanico of New York at the age of six. Barely out of her teens, she was invited to tour the US with Jose Molina Bailes Espanoles and work as a soloist in Carlota Santana’s Flamenco Vivo, soloist/ dance captain of Compania Maria Pages and  Compania Antonio El Pipa, performing at prestigious flamenco festivals and television in Spain and throughout France, Italy, UK, Germany and Japan. She has performed in Carmen with the Metropolitan Opera of NY, World Music Institute’s Gypsy Caravan 1, Noche Flamenca and was featured flamenco star in Riverdance on Broadway and touring companies.

Ms. Tirado was recipient of the 2007 and 2010 BRIO Award for Artistic Excellence, and opened with her company Summer 2010 for Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portoundo for the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival.  Some highlights include HarlemStage E-Moves,  Amores Quebrados at the Repertorio Espanol, Valerie Gladstone’s Dance Under the Influence 2011 and 2012 in collaboration with the Flamenco Festival USA and collaboration with jazz great Wynton Marsalis at Harvard University and the 2016 premiere of her solo show Dime Quien Soy in the Flamenco Festival NY. She was currently the recipient of the 2017 Rosario Dawson Muse Fellow through BAAD!, featured in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch," 2018/2019 recipient of Gibney’s Dance in Process Residence and will be seen in the Warner Brother’s film adaption of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, premiering Summer 2021.

Nelida Tirado
(photo: Chasi Annexy)

Do you have a current or planned project whose proress is affected by the pandemic?
Yes, all of my work has been put on pause which includes performance, teaching, arts-in-education work and one particular project I was excited about. May 2019 I was able to immerse myself into a project (thanks to a generous grant from Gibney as a DIP, Dance in Process artist) that kept presenting itself to me in various ways/places and experiences. The premiere of the work would have been this year.

Initially I was frustrated by what I thought was a standstill of time but, ultimately, it has appeared to be pivotal and given me more fuel to revisit the work and make adjustments. The pandemic has given me the time I wouldn’t normally have to reflect and stay still which has brought immense clarity. Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice. Dance and music was always a normal practice at home with family and in my culture. After a kindergarten graduation show, my teacher was impressed with my ability and suggested that I be enrolled in formal dance classes. That was the beginning of my mom’s journey to find what she thought was important--to learn Bomba/Plena, the traditional dance/music of my country to keep me connected to my cultural roots since I was born in New York City. However, during those years, that wasn’t easy to find. She opted instead to enroll me in a local dance program that offered classical ballet and Spanish dance from Spain. I continued with that program and the following year was bumped into the larger school of what is Ballet Hispánico. I continued my studies there, from 6 to 18 years old, following their curriculum at the time of ballet/Graham/classical Spanish dance/flamenco/Dunham technique, later leading me into the Apprentice Company without fully being aware entirely of what I was learning and its connection to me personally. And though it took me years to find which focus I would choose, Flamenco spoke to me more than any other form.

I loved the rhythms. I loved the feeling of beating my feet on the floor and being loud but was too young to find my voice. Then came an important phase in my life where I underwent significant difficulty on a personal level, and I dived into my art as refuge. I had a lot to say, but I found my power inside and out through Flamenco. As I kept searching, I was also able to make the connections with myself, my culture, my environment to Flamenco, and it has been life to me. In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning? In specific way, I am doing a lot of self-care practice which includes meditation, journaling, yoga/running and flamenco practice but, more so, I’m practicing being still and reflecting. Being still was difficult at first but has been necessary for me to remain grounded and calm amidst this uncertainty. Being still has also helped envision with clarity what I want and need to commit to at this present time. How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about? My practice is essential to who I am in the physical, psychological, and spiritual level. It is who I am as an artist onstage and that wellness is important to be able to continue to create, connect and reach audiences authentically and genuinely. As an artist of Puerto Rican heritage, I also need to keep showing up entirely as a worker and defender of an art form from Spain that is not always fully embraced in the general dance world, even less from a non-Spanish voice because of a lack of information or general misconceptions. Owning my authenticity is me confidently and unapologetically letting go of who the audience thinks I should be, owning my cultural reference/environment and experience of what has shaped me and committing to the art form honestly and wholeheartedly. How does your practice function within the world we have now? That’s a great question, and I’m eager to see how it will play out. There definitely is a need to be connected and see each other just as there is a burning desire to stomp out our quarantine emotion. So, we’ll see. Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now. I’ve always loved slow morning rituals but even more now. Quiet mornings, long coffee, meditating, being outdoors connecting with trees, the greenway where I live, sitting still and just breathing fill my heart and quiet my mind.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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