Danspace Project

Platform, performances and eventsdanspace Project revisited platform 2016: lost and found, which focused on intergenerational loss due to the hiv/aids pandemic and the alternative care and kinship practices that emerged, especially in the bipoc lgbtqia+ dance community. As part of this revisitation, Danspace presented two weeks of sold-out performances of a reprisal previously commissioned for the platform, entitled "variations on themes from lost and found: scenes from a life and other works by john bernd." This evening-length work, conceived by ishmael houston-jones and co-directed with miguel gutierrez, with music by nick hallett, reconstructs bernd's dances, images, and music from the last seven years of his life, offering an historical recuperation of a choreographer lost to aids. The performances were accompanied by a free outdoor public open rehearsal at the new york city aids memorial and a free, day-long "conversations without walls" event which included screenings, discussions, panels, hospitality, and shared practice with the directors, cast, and curator/research specialist kristen juarez from the getty research institute. Danspace also revisited the platform by publishing a 2nd edition of the sold out 2016 platform catalogue & engaging with 2016 platform curator and artists in new submissions to the online journal; see 'publications programs' for more detail in other program costs.danspace Project commissioned new works from choreographers mina nishimura, christopher "unpezverde" nez, dean moss, jordan demetrius lloyd, and, in partnership with baryshnikov arts center, co-commissioned a new work from tere o'connor. Both nez and lloyd's work were nominated for 2023 bessie awards. In addition to these premieres, Danspace partnered with castelli gallery for an historic, cross-disciplinary collaboration between eiko otake and joan jonas. "drawing in circles" featured four sold out performances, a post-performance discussion, and two weeks of an installation with video works including "with the earth at my waistline", a 2021 Danspace commission. Danspace also partnered with stephen petronio company, which commissioned new works from several artists first introduced to the company in a residency initiated by Danspace Project with support from the nys danceforce. These new works were performed by the artists at Danspace, along with the company performing a new work by petronio and an historical dance piece by steve paxton, remounted on the company. Draftwork, our work-in-progress series curated by ishmael houston-jones and featuring post-performance discussions and hospitality, continued with presentations from mayfield brooks, stacy spence, tess dworman, nora alami, and donchristian jones.

Artist research fellowshipsdanspace remained engaged in a long-term dialogue with artist research fellows devynn emory, okwui okpokwasili, samita sinha, and david thomson, identifying needs and hopes for the field. This work with the fellows led to the public launch of Danspace's center for dialogue & exchange in the arts (cdea) on june 10, 2023. This day-long event, titled "assembly," gathered artists, scholars, and audiences for participation and conversation around cdea's focus on artistic practices centering kinship, care, sustainability, artistic transmission, and collective practice. Audiences were offered artist-prepared home-made food and brewed tea from native cedar, engaged in dialogue, participated in a site-specific embodied land acknowledgement, and learned vocal practices creating a spontaneous choir. The event was an important first step in actualizing and sharing cdea with a broader audience.

Residenciesdanspace's renewal residency program provided artists ogemdi ude, andros zins-browne, mayfield brooks, and yo-yo lin with process-focused and highly flexible residencies, resources, and curatorial support over the course of a year including artist fees, two or more weeks in the space, opportunities to show their work in open rehearsals, invitations to contribute to the online journal, and full support in all areas of curation, production and administration from the Danspace staff and network of artists. The artists had varying needs and interests which Danspace accommodated, from public & private work-in-progress showings to facilitated conversations with other artists.danspace provided creative residencies for leslie parker (presenting new work at Danspace in 2023-24) and tere o'connor, leading up to the premiere of his new work in december 2022 at bac, a partnership Project. Samita sinha conducted a research residency continuing her work with a series of investigations titled "breathing room".

Danspace Project's publication programs continued with a reprint of the sold-out & in-demand "platform 2016: lost & found" catalogue as well as a new issue released in our online journal, a free digital multimedia publication, with journal contributions by artists and writers including mayfield brooks, mina nishimura, devynn emory and yo-yo lin, noa weiss, malcolm betts and nora thompson. Danspace Project continues to offer affordable office space to independent choreographers as well as partner with peer organizations and artists regularly, comprising the remainder of our program services.