Produced by ThruLines Dance Initiative, Danza: A Fish Out of Water is an exploration of dance in the unfamiliar. Formerly known as the Danza Highbridge Festival, this virtual showcase will feature traditional and cultural movement that is reflective of the unconventionality of 2020. The event will serve as a fundraiser for the Broadway Advocacy Coalition*, an NYC-based nonprofit focused in creating social change through the arts. Danza: A Fish Out of Water is made possible in part with funding from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation and administered by LMCC.

Selected artists will receive a stipend of $475 to create a brand new piece to premiere before an online audience. Pieces must be new, never before released, and created specifically for Danza: A Fish Out of Water 2020. Dance artists will be responsible for filming their own projects. Pieces will be limited to 6-minutes unless special arrangements have been made with the director. The prerecorded pieces will be broadcast to an online audience on August 23rd (time TBD).

The safety of all artists and their collaborators must be considered and accommodated throughout the execution of the project.  In order to participate, all dancers, choreographers, and their collaborators must follow the social distancing guidelines set by the State of New York. All participants must wear masks and remain 6-feet from each other. (Cohabiting dancers are exempt from social distancing.) Even the perception of a violation of these guidelines should be avoided, especially in groups of three or more.

     *** PROMPT ***
"A Fish Out of Water: an exploration of dance in the unfamiliar." The task is to create a piece that reflects this extraordinary moment in history. Some themes that may inspire you: unorthodox, abnormal, novel, adaptive, trapped, liberation, evolve, change, community, distance, uncomfortable, unconventional, stagnant, limbo, abnormal, new....

Another approach may be: if we were creating a time capsule of 2020 thus far, conveyed entirely through dance, what would your contribution be? What story or experience would you want to be remembered? If you are a dancer or mover with a physical disability, how has this moment uniquely affected you?

     *** THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION IS SUNDAY, JULY 11th at 11:59PM. ***

The application is available at https://www.thrulines.fyi/danza-2020.
Selected artists will be notified by July, 13th. Artists will have a month to complete the project with the final video due on August 12th. A virtual showing is scheduled for Sunday, August 23rd (time of broadcast TBD).

Special consideration will be given to BIPOC. Additional consideration will be given to dance artists whose permanent address is in Upper Manhattan, as is stipulated in our UMEZ grant agreement. (This does not mean dances must be filmed in Upper Manhattan if you are sheltering elsewhere.)

*For more information about the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, please visit: https://www.bwayadvocacycoalition.org/.

Please email thrulinesfyi@gmail.com with any questions.