CLUTTTER by Luis A. Lara Malvacías & Jeremy Nelson. Music by Nick Kuepfer. Through a series of fleeting events the work situates us in an unfamiliar dimension, inviting the audience to reflect on how becoming oneself and the other offers a way of escaping a cluttered reality.

Luis A. Lara Malvacías: I am a Venezuelan experimental and trans-disciplinary artist and dance teacher whose body of work includes creating multidisciplinary works with a great focus on movement practices. My research and process reflect my experience as part of the larger diaspora of Latinx brown queer immigrant artists. I continue my exploration in the interaction between dance, design, new media, installations, sound, and the visual arts questioning preconceived ideas of choreography and modes of production and presentation. Besides choreographing and performing, I also designed and created the costumes, set, props, and visuals for my works. I have danced in the work of Jeremy Nelson, David Zambrano, Mark Tompkins, John Jasperse, and in my own choreography. I regularly teach and present work in countries in Europe, South America, North America and Asia. My work is presented under Luis Lara Malvacías / 3RD CLASS CITIZEN

Jeremy Nelson is a dancer/choreographer and former member of the Siobhan Davies Dancers and Second Stride Dance companies in London, and Stephen Petronio Dance Company in New York. He has also danced in the work of Mia Lawrence, David Zambrano, Susan Rethorst, Luis Lara Malvacías, as well as in his own work. He received a New York Dance and performance “Bessie” Award for outstanding performance, and a Guggenheim Fellowship for choreography in 2004.

man/Mother by Valerie Green Dance Entropy. Performers: Fumihiro Kikuchi, Jonathan Matthews, Richard Scandola. Set Design by Valerie Green. man/Mother is a trio, which composes three separately made solos to original music by Philip Butta. The solos translate emotions, specifically connected to each dancer’s experience of the global COVID-19 pandemic, into movement initiated from emotionally resonant bodily regions. The dancers maintain a separateness of focus with a simultaneously intense awareness of each other in space, as well as a deep reliance on one another for timing – quite literally together while apart. A thick branch, suspended down stage center, makes its way into each of the three physical trails. Both an obstacle and a comfort, it confronts us with hard truths that demand reflection and action. Why would mother nature create such an affliction? What have we done as humans to contribute to bringing it into being? How can we mend our fragmented relationship with that which made us?

Valerie Green has been an active dancer, choreographer and teacher in the New York City dance community since 1995. She created her own company, Dance Entropy in 1998, adding a permanent company home in 2005 called Green Space. To date Ms. Green has created 41 dances and 10 evening-length works. Her choreography has been seen throughout NYC and has also toured to various venues throughout the US. Internationally, Green has toured to Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, India, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Cuba both as VG/DE’s artistic director and an individual teaching and performing artist. As a teacher, Green integrated classical modern technique with her own somatic based movement practice to develop an individualized style called Dance Your Frame. She also leads movement workshops for non-dance populations rooted in the philosophy that all bodies can benefit from dance. www.DanceEntropy.org

Fumihiro Kikuchi is a New York City based interdisciplinary dance artist from Japan. Kikuchi has presented his works at various festivals and venues including Chez Bushwick, Center for Performance Research, Flux Factory in NYC, Tempe Center for the Arts, Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona to name a few. He has been invited as a guest artist at Sichuan Arts Festival – Contemporary Arts Performance Season in China and as a guest choreographer at California State University, Fresno. Kikuchi has been selected as a presenting artist at Performática in Mexico and as an artist-in-residence at Marble House Project in Vermont, Lake Studios Berlin in Gemany, Pinea-Linea de Costa in Spain, Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation in NYC and [nueBOX] in Arizona. As a dancer, he currently works with Barkin/Selissen Project. He holds his MFA in Dance from Arizona State University. Kikuchi began working with Dance Entropy in 2019.

Jonathan Matthews is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied with Phyllis Lamhut, Gus Solomons, Jr., and Stephen Petronio, contributed to original works by Pamela Pietro, Kendra Portier, and Deborah Jowitt, and now directs the Alumni Choreographic Mentorship. Jonathan co-founded and artistically directs BREAKTIME, a multimedia, collaborative performance duo. He additionally performs with Darrah Carr Dance, mishiDance, and This is Not a Theatre Company, for which he is also the company’s choreographer. His writing can be found at Eye On Dance, The Dance Enthusiast, The Journal of Dance Education, Time Out NY, and Dance Magazine. In 2020, Jonathan was named one of four Fellows for SMUSH Gallery’s inaugural Curatorial Fellowship in Dance. An avid teacher of wee ones, licensed to teach yoga by the Perri Institute for Mind and Body, he seeks to share multidisciplinary study through physical practice. Jonathan began working with Dance Entropy in 2015, and now sits on the Green Space Artist Advisory Board.

Richard J. Scandola became a dancer and ventured into the art of dance at the age of 18, after realizing that sciences were not his path in life. Since moving to New York about 9 years ago, he has attended different dance programs including Cunningham’s summer intensive, and Limon’s PSP programs, where he discovered a special affinity with this technique and met Jim May who became his mentor. He soon became one of the dancers of Anna Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble. His professional experience extends through illustrious New York based dance companies, such as Barkin/Selissen Project, Brice Mousset OUI Danse, Overground Physical Theater, Shadow Box Theatre as co-director, dancer and puppeteer for the show The Earth and Me, as a Guest Artist with Eva Dean Dance Company in 2017 & 2018. His interests for performing arts and his eagerness of always learning new skills led him to become the Theater and Stage Manager of the KnJ Theater at Peridance Center in 2017, directing all of the in-school shows and working with outside dance companies and showcases all year long. Passionate about spirituality, healing, yoga and teaching, Richard became certified in Reiki in 2013 at Mind Body Spirit in NYC and in Yoga in 2017 at Loom Yoga Center in Bushwick. Richard began working for Dance Entropy in 2017.

Philip Butta is a New York composer, musician, poet, and award winning artist. In 2018, he was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame and can be seen and heard throughout the state on local radio and in performance. Philip has three albums out available via Apple Music, Amazon, CDBaby, and most other streaming and download sites. His fourth album, Little Bee, due early 2021, will focus primarily on the pandemic and will include the soundtrack to man/Mother. Signed copies of CDs are available through his website, philbutta.com. Philip Butta donates all profits from his music and art ventures to local animal rescue.

Artifacts of Enthrallment by Elise Knudson. Performers: Jenni Hong, Randy Burd, Eryn Rosenthal, Elise Knudson. This piece uses improvisational structures to investigate patterns of mind and body. Elise Knudson is a NYC based movement artist currently interested in the stuff that emerges when effervescent impulses meet historical patterns as tools to investigate systems of power. She teaches and facilitates contact improvisation around the world and has worked with several NYC based choreographers including Risa Jaroslow, Jody Oberfelder, Koosil-ja/Dance Kumiko, and most recently as a member of the community cast in Bill T. Jones’ Deep Blue Sea.

Image Credit: Stephen Delas Heras

DIEZ by Carmen Caceres DanceAction. Music by Emilio Teubal (piano) and Sergio Reyes (violin). In this dance-theater piece, Argentinian artist Carmen Caceres will be exploring a dance journey that started in this same venue and performance series 10 years ago. Inspired by influential choreographer Merce Cunningham, this project features a series of dances from Caceres’s repertory presented in an event-like format. The artist will navigate multiple dance styles and practices that shaped her dance language and choreographic approach and will reflect on her personal experience as a Latina immigrant to the US to share a dance story of the last 10 years.

Carmen Caceres is a New York-based dance artist, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received a BA in Dance and Education at SUNY Empire and deepened her studies at the former Merce Cunningham Studio in New York. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and the National University of the Arts UNA. With her company, DanceAction, she produces performing artworks in collaboration with multidisciplinary artists. DA has participated in numerous local and international festivals and performance series including the “Women Center Stage Festival” in New York, “Ticino in Danza” in Ticino, Switzerland, “FIDCDMX” in Mexico City, and “Human Lights Festival” in Atlanta. She has performed and presented work at multiple prestigious venues like Center for Performance Research, Green Space Studio, Dixon Place, the Mark Morris Dance Center, Judson Memorial Church, and St. Marks Church. Her works have been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund Community Grant, the Dance/NYC Emergency COVID-19 Grant, and most recently the City Artist Corps Grant. This fall DA participated in the second consecutive residency at the Center at West Park developing “Welcome to Imagi*Nation: Part 2.” Carmen also produces her new performance & improv-lab series Lo De Carmen in collaboration with Silvana Brizuela-Weigel. These bi-weekly events taking place at her home’s Rooftop in New York City during the summer months bring together dancers, musicians, and theater performers to showcase their work while exploring core principles of Argentine Tango. As a performer and collaborator, Carmen has worked with artists Ines Armas, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Lisa Parra, Elia Mrak, Jody Oberfelder, and Sarah Berges among others. Carmen also works as a dance educator and program director for different art education programs in New York City, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. www.carmencaceres.com

Emilio Teubal is a pianist/composer/arranger from Argentina based in New York. He has recorded over twenty albums, both as a sideman and as a composer/bandleader including the 2018 Latin Grammy Winner album Vigor Tanguero by the Pedro Giraudo Group. Emilio identifies his artistry and creative search to the music of Latin America and the permanent elasticity of its stylistic limits. Prior to Tides, he has released albums Memorias de Otro Tiempo (2018), Música Para Un Dragon Dormido (2013), La Balteuband (2006), and Un Monton de Notas (2009). Emilio has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in the United States such as The Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Blue Note, and Joe’s Pub. He has been touring Japan regularly since 2018 performing in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and other cities. He has also been an essential member of multiple ensembles such as the Pedro Giraudo Quartet, Pablo Lanouguere Quintet, Sergio Reyes’s Romancero Latinoamericano, Erik Friedlander, and Satoshi Takeishi. Emilio is a recipient of the 2007 Meet The Composer’s Van Lier Fellowship and has been commissioned to write music for Saint Peter’s Church, for Dan Lippel, and for the Adam Tully Tango trio. 

Passionate about the arts, literature, and Guatemalan history, Sergio R. Reyes M. addresses Guatemalan and Latin American current issues and societal challenges as the core inspiration for his original orchestra, chamber music, and choral compositions. He studied music at the National Conservatory in Guatemala City and at Guatemala’s Youth Symphony Orchestra. He continued his studies at Manhattan School of Music and Brooklyn College. As a violinist, Mr. Reyes has performed in New York’s most important halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Blue Note. He has shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as soprano Frederica Von Stade, vocalist Lucía Pulido, singer-activist Danny Rivera, Pablo Ziegler, and Raúl Jaurena among others. Along with Emilio Teubal, Mr. Reyes has co-founded several ensembles and didactic projects, such as Los Chantas Tango Quartet and Romancero Latinoamericano duo. Since 2015 the National Symphony of Guatemala has performed his symphonic and chamber music.

Washerwoman by Etienne Decroux, re-staged by Selma Trevino. Video by Erika Barbin. Etienne Decroux is considered the father of the Modern Mime. The technique he developed, Corporeal Mime, brought to the performer a very structural movement training and initiated the category of Physical Theater. Washerwoman is one of his most known compositions. In this presentation, Selma re-stages the composition with elements from Brazilian culture.

Adapted and Performed by: Selma Trevino
Original Choreography by Etienne Decroux
Video Director: Erika Barbin
Editor: Márcio Rosa
Images extracted from: Rhythms (2011), directed by Elisa Cabral and Laurita Caldas with music by Chiquinho Mino; Lavadeiras de Tibau do Sul – RN / Praia da Penha – (J.P. – PB) / D. Dora (Mandacaru – PB); Espaços Lavadouros (1999), directed by Laurita Caldas, advised by Elisa Cabral; Por do sol by Danil Shostak
Music: Mandei Caiar meu Sobrado by Lavadeiras do Vale do Jequitinhonha
Special Thanks: William Trevino and Ximena Garnica
This project was supported by LEIMAY Incubator Residency

Selma Trevino is a Brazilian performer/choreographer/artistic director and co-founder of Corporeal Arts Incorporated in New York. She holds a BA in Theater Arts from UNICAMP, Brazil( 1992); Specialization in Corporeal Mime with Thomas Leabhart in Paris and California (1997-2001); and MA in Performance Studies from NYU (2009). Selma develops works based on the Corporeal Mime technique for dance as well as for academic research in the field of Performance Studies. In New York she had her work performed at: Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lincoln Center, Dixon Place, HERE, Center for Performance Research – CPR. Her work was also performed in venues in California, Brazil, France, Finland and Canada