ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS OF THE FIRST CHOREOGRAPHER + COMPOSER RESIDENCIES AT JAMAICA CENTER FOR ARTS & LEARNING
Redtail Artist Residencies is the new residency program that is an outgrowth of the Exploring the Metropolis Choreographer + Composer Residencies. Redtail will continue to provide choreographers and composers with three months of free rehearsal space at Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning in Queens.
New York, NY - November 30, 2020 Panels of choreographers and dance professionals met virtually in May to select an eclectic group of New York City-based choreographers and composers . The panels met during the transition of the Exploring the Metropolis (EtM) residency program led by former EtM Program Manager Katie Cox to Redtail Artist Residencies, which Cox now heads. The grant provides each artist with a three-month residency in dedicated dance space at Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) plus a $1,250 stipend plus an additional $750 for the completion of a public program.
Two collaborative teams of choreographers and composers and two individual choreographers will create and develop new work and present one free public program in coordination with JCAL later in 2021 either virtually or in person pending city regulations. “It was a really busy and emotional time” says Cox regarding the pandemic and the shutdown of EtM. “As it became clear that we had to shut our doors, we came up with the idea to continue one of the programs and run it as a fiscally sponsored project. Even though artists have been hit hard by the pandemic making it challenging to make plans for future projects, we still had a large applicant pool. It was really inspiring reading the proposals in panels, many written in the first month of the shutdown. It reminded me of how resilient artists are and hungry for creation; it confirmed the importance for this program to continue.”
“The Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning is thrilled to welcome Redtail Artist Residencies to our institution. We are determined to provide a safe and inspiring environment for the artists to grow and share their craft with the community. It is our mission to deliver on the promise of diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility, and this partnership represents a deepening and reaffirmation of that commitment.” Leonard Jacobs, Interim Executive Director & Courtney Ffrench, Interim Artistic Director at JCAL
“At a time where most studio work is at a complete stop, this residency will be invaluable, giving us space to continue exploring ideas and creating new work, without the pressure to produce a finished piece, as well as crucial financial support. We are so grateful to Redtail and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning for their trust in us and their commitment and flexibility in supporting tap, a Black art form that speaks to our community's boundless strength and creative spirit.” - Leonardo Sandoval, 2020-21 Redtail Artist-in Residence
REDTAIL ARTIST RESIDENCIES BACKGROUND:
Redtail Artist Residencies grew out of the EtM Choreographer + Composer Residencies. This program was developed as a response to EtM’s 2014 study, Queens Performing Artists and Workspace: “I Want to Do More than Survive – I Want to Thrive.” Funded by the David Rockefeller Fund, this study analyzed the workspace needs of Queens-based performing and interdisciplinary artists. One significant finding of the study was the identification of Jamaica as an area of great potential growth in arts and cultural activity.
After 38 years of dedicated service to the workspace needs of New York’s performing artists, Exploring the Metropolis (EtM) closed its doors in June 2020. To preserve EtM’s legacy and vision in resolving workspace issues for NYC’s performing artists, Redtail Artist Residencies is pleased to continue one of EtM’s most impactful residency programs at Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning. Read EtM’s press release for shutdown by clicking here. The residency is open to NYC-based choreographers, at any stage in their career, applying with or without a composer.
Redtail Artist Residencies is a project fiscally sponsored by Foundation for Independent Artist, Inc. a non-profit organization administered by Pentacle (Dance Works, Inc.). Pentacle is a non-profit management support organization for the performing arts. www.pentacle.org. For more information about Redtail Artist Residencies please visit our website www.redtailarts.org or contact Redtails Executive/Program Director Katie Cox at katie@redtailartis.org.
2020-21 REDTAIL ARTIST RESIDENCIES RECIPIENTS:
Ivy Baldwin, choreographer
Maria Bauman-Morales, choreographer
Burr Johnson, choreographer & Roarke Menzies, composer
Leonardo Sandoval, choreographer & Gregory Richardson, composer
Ivy Baldwin is a NY-based choreographer and founder of Ivy Baldwin Dance. Since 1999, she has created 17 works for IBD, including most recently, commissions from BAM, Philip Johnson Glass House, The Joyce Theater, Abrons Arts Center, The Chocolate Factory, and Manitoga. Keen [No. 2] was nominated for a 2018 Bessie for Outstanding Visual Design. Baldwin has received many awards and residencies including from the Guggenheim Foundation, Bogliasco Foundation, Jerome Foundation, NYFA, TMU, MacDowell, Yaddo, Marble House, MASS MoCA, LMCC, Kaatsbaan Dance Center, and Gibney (DiP). Recent AIR positions include 92Y, CPR, Manitoga, Movement Research, Abrons, and BAM. IBD has also been presented in Germany and Romania, and nationally at Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, American Dance Institute, REDCAT, La MaMa, E.T.C, and New Museum of Contemporary Art, among others. Baldwin has taught around the U.S., including Bard College and The New School. www.ivybaldwindance.org.
Maria Bauman-Morales is a Bessie-Award-winning, Brooklyn, NY-based, multi-discipli nary artist and community organizer from Jacksonville, FL. She creates bold and honest artworks for her company MBDance, based on physical and emotional power, insistence on equity, and fascination with intimacy. Bauman brings the same tenets to organizing to undo racism in the arts and beyond with ACRE (Artists Co-creating Real Equity). In particular, Bauman’s site-responsive dance work centers the non-linear and linear stories and bodies of queer people of color in multiple ritual settings. Currently, she and MBDance are Urban Bush Women (UBW) Choreographic Center Fellows and BRIClab residents. She has also been Community Action Artist in Residence at Gibney Dance, Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and DiP Artist Resident under the direction of Eva Yaa Asantewaa. In New York, Bauman-Morales’s work has been showcased at Harlem Stage, SummerStage NYC, Danspace at St. Mark's, BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, Dixon Place, and more. Bauman Morales and MBDance have also shared artworks across the U.S., in South Africa, and in Singapore. Bauman-Morales is a Core Trainer with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond and she is a mentor with Queer Art. Previously, she was Associate Artistic Director of Urban Bush Women and Danced in addition to helping develop UBW’s community engagement methodology. Bauman-Morales has also danced with Paloma McGregor, Jumatatu Poe, Vincent Thomas, Nia Love, Kathy Westwater, Mendi + Keith Obadike, and jill sigman/thinkdance, and apprenticed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Learn more at www.mbdance.net.
Burr Johnson is a NYC-based choreographer whose work has been presented through Movement Research, Dixon Place, Abrons Art Center, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, Danspace Project, New York Live Arts, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, The American Dance Festival, GIBNEY, and Works and Process at the Guggenheim with Reid and Harriet Design. He has danced for John Jasperse Projects, Helen Simoneau Danse, Kimberly Bartosik/daela, and Shen Wei Dance Arts. He has also worked for Marina Abramović/Givenchy, Walter Dundervill, Ryan McNamara, Yozmit, Boris Charmatz, Isabel Lewis, Nick Mauss, Peter Sellars, Christopher Williams, Bill Young, and Jack Ferver. In Winter/Spring 2018 he participated in Nick Mauss' exhibition "Transmissions" at the Whitney Museum. In April 2019 he performed four solos choreographed by Merce Cunningham for Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event in Los Angeles. He holds a BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also works as a gardener with CF Gardens.
Roarke Menzies is a New York City-based musician and composer who incorporates his voice, mouth and body with audio tools and toys to craft deeply human electronic music (or deeply electronic human music). His work has been described by The New Yorker as “a layered electronic throb, coming and going, always enhancing but never overpowering.” In addition to solo performances and sound installations, Menzies creates scores for contemporary dance, games, television, and film, with work appearing in the New Museum, SF MoMA, the Tribeca Film Festival, IFC Films, the ICA Boston, VICE Media, the Kitchen, the American Dance Institute, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, and many others. With four albums to date, Menzies’s music has been featured on the BBC Radio 3 series, “New Year New Music: exploring iconic masterpieces, avant-garde experiments and the next generation of talent.”
Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval has become renowned in the dance world for blending America’s great tap tradition with Brazil’s rich rhythmic and musical heritage. With composer Gregory Richardson, he directs Music From The Sole, a tap dance and live music company that celebrates tap's African-diasporic roots and embraces its unique blend of sound and movement. In addition, he is a core member of acclaimed company Dorrance Dance, performing across the United States and abroad. A true dancer-musician, Leonardo has presented work at both dance and music venues, including at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, National Folk Festival, The Yard, Caramoor Jazz Festival, and Battery Dance Festival. He is currently the National Dance Institute’s inaugural artist in residence, and also holds a residency at the American Tap Dance Foundation.
Gregory Richardson is a composer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist focusing on upright, electric bass, and guitar. Along with Leonardo Sandoval, he's the co-creator and artistic director of Music from the Sole, an Afro-Brazilian tap dance and live music group, as well as the co-musical director of the award winning tap dance company, Dorrance Dance. As a composer for dance, he’s participated in creative residencies at Lincoln Center Education, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, and The National Dance Institute. He’s received grants from New Music USA and premiered original compositions at The Guggenheim, BAM, The Joyce, and several times at The City Center of New York, most recently in collaboration with actor Bill Irwin. Other credits include Toshi Reagon, Darwin Deez, and The Aaron Marcellus Collective. To hear more of Music from the Sole, you can find their debut studio release, Samba do Sol, on all major music streaming platforms.
Redtail Artist Residencies would like to acknowledge Mertz Gilmore Foundation for their support of the EtM Choreographer + Composer Residencies, over the lifespan of that program. We would also like to thank the founder of EtM Eugenie Cowan for her generous support.