BOCA TUYA announces its breakthrough fall season, led by artistic director and choreographer Omar Román de Jesús. The organization’s fall highlights feature an international touring engagement in Panama, the appointment of their first Executive Director and Company Manager, and BOCA TUYA’s first full-length, solo bill performance at the historic 92NY Harkness Dance Center at home in New York City. For more information visit bocatuya.com.

 

BOCA TUYA’s landmark fall 2024 season launched the final week of September with a sold-out triple bill performance at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. Román de Jesús’s seminal duet Like Those Playground Kids at Midnight shared the Kaatsbaan stage with the world-renowned Limón Dance Company and Music From the Sole. An ode to love, defiance, and individuality, Playground Kids champions self-expression and individual freedom, encouraging all to embrace their uniqueness and the boundaries that confine them.

 

Artistic Director Omar Román de Jesús is no stranger to the demands and excitement of building a life in dance in New York. Over the last two years alone, he has amassed recognition as a Princess Grace awardee in choreography, a Harkness Promise Award recipient, an inaugural Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellow at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, and a persistent voice advocating for the place of Queer, LatinX leaders in dance.

 

Omar Román de Jesús approaches the fall 2024 season with vigor:

 

“Since the growth in our leadership, we have the bandwidth to seek innovative collaboration for stage, film, and our other interdisciplinary projects. I’m grateful for the ongoing partnership with 92NY here in New York whose support and continued belief in our work and mission is critical for our development. We’ve begun our 92NY Harkness Dance Center residency for a long term engagement that will allow us to dive into new works and to refine the details of signature repertoire like Los Perros del Barrio Colosal. What a pleasure to return to 92NY for a performance of our own at the Buttenwieser Hall after choreographing & performing alongside Ailey II (work by Hope Boykin), The Martha Graham Company (work by Jamar Roberts), and The Limón Dance Company at the 92NY 150th anniversary celebration earlier this year.”

 

This enhanced capacity comes largely due to the company’s two new administrative appointments – Executive Director Lindsay Clipner and Company Manager Rachel Secrest.

 

Clipner is BOCA TUYA’s first Executive Director. Her breadth of knowledge spans experience as a cultural producer, filmmaker, dance photographer, choreographer, dance educator, administrator and leader of multiple arts organizations including her own platform, RISE ARTS.

 

“This is such a vibrant moment for BOCA TUYA and the company’s influence in the landscape of contemporary dance. It is an honor to join Omar in the leadership of this company and further champion the voices of LatinX and Queer artists in New York,” says Clipner who enthusiastically notes that she is “thrilled to witness the company bloom artistically and grow collaboratively as we reach across industries to curate interdisciplinary work for projects encompassing installation, film, stage, and beyond. We invite the arts community to celebrate BOCA TUYA right here at home as we present our first full evening, solo billed program at 92NY this November.”

 

The company returned to Panama on October 17 for a performance with Festival PRISMA - Internacional de Danza Contemporánea de Panama featuring the international premiere of Román De Jesús’s Caress them in a way that hurts a little – a work that embraces the simultaneous desire for gentle intimacy and the need for a touch that stirs the soul. The 2024 edition of PRISMA featured a global cohort of high-caliber contemporary dance artists with representation from Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Israel, The United States, Argentina, Italy, Chile, Germany, Paraguay, Brazil, The Czech Republic, and Japan.

 

A celebratory homecoming marks the apex of BOCA TUYA’s autumn activities:

 

“We are so proud to be ending our fall season with a series of premiere events right here in New York in partnership with 92NY Harkness Dance Center,” said de Jesús. The New York stretch denotes a pivotal moment in BOCA TUYA’s future - highlighting Omar Román de Jesús’ hallmark rhythmic prowess, memorable characters, and surrealist stories, the 92NY Harkness Dance Series program features:

 

Caress them in a way that hurts a little

 

Like Those Playground Kids at Midnight

 

Los Perros del Barrio Colosal

 

92NY Harkness Dance Series presents BOCA TUYA at Buttenwieser Hall in the Arnhold Center on November 14 & 15, 2024. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased through the 92NY events page. https://www.92ny.org/events

 

To keep up with BOCA TUYA’s momentous fall season and be the first in line for upcoming events like the 92NY solo bill program premiere, join the company’s mailing list and follow the brand new BOCA TUYA Instagram page.

 

BIOS:

COMPANY MANAGER: Rachel Secrest (sher/her) began her training in Carmel, Indiana, under the instruction of Suzann DeLay. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from the Fordham/Ailey BFA program with degrees in Dance and Political Science. Rachel worked as an apprentice for River North Dance Chicago, and Parsons Dance. In 2017, she joined Jessica Lang Dance as a company member, where she danced for three seasons. She went on to perform with LA based dance company BODYTRAFFIC for their 2019/2020 season. Rachel has also performed as a principal dancer and soloist at the Washington National Opera and the LA Opera, while working as dance captain. She has been a performer and collaborator for contemporary dance company Boca Tuya since its founding. bocatuya.com/rachel-secrest

 

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Omar Román de Jesús is a queer Puertorriqueño choreographer and the director of the NYC-based dance company Boca Tuya. A current Artist in Residence at 92NY, his choreographic achievements have also been recognized by the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Dance Media, The Princess Grace Foundation, and Jacob’s Pillow, among others. He has been commissioned to create works for over 20 companies and pre-professional schools including The Paul Taylor Dance Company, Charlotte Ballet, The Juilliard School, Ballet Hispánico, BalletCollective, Limón 2, SALT Dance, St. Louis Dance Theater, MOVE NYC, Bruce Wood Dance, Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, Whim W’Him, Parsons Dance, The Ailey School, Kennesaw State University, James Madison University, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.Over the past five years, he has toured internationally to Colombia, Panama, and the Canary Islands, and has presented work domestically in New York, Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, and California, most recently presenting his seminal duet Like Those Playground Kids at Midnight at 92NY’s 150th anniversary celebration and for two sold out audiences at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park’s 2024 Annual Festival. bocatuya.com/artistic-director

 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Lindsay Clipner is the Executive Director & Producer of BOCA TUYA. She is a cultural producer, filmmaker, documentarian, photographer, choreographer, and dance educator at Interlochen Academy of the Arts. As founder of RISE ARTS, she partnered with the Merce Cunningham Trust to produce In Conversation with Merce, bringing the work to Kansas City after 20 years. She was rehearsal director & assisted Leo Holder & Carmen de Lavallade in the staging of Geoffrey Holder's The Creation in 2023 for Karen Brown (DTH). Her dance photography has been featured in Fjord Review, Pointe Magazine, Dance Magazine, KCStudio, and the San Francisco Chronicle, capturing dancers from Ailey, Parsons, SFDW, Owen/Cox Dance Group, Juilliard, Kansas City Ballet, among others. Her dance film As Big as the Sky has been screened internationally, filmed with permission by renowned artist James Turrell in his Skyspace Three Gems in San Francisco, premiering at The National Gallery in D.C., the de Young Museum, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Pacific Northwest Ballet Film Festival, Dance Camera West, Bogotá Musica Video Festival, Dance Film Festival Prague, among others. Her upcoming documentary follows choreographer Christian Warner’s What Came with Spring, danced by Owen/Cox Dance Group. Lindsay choreographed after hours featuring musical collaboration by Lune Ruse & Carlos Pesina Siller of Los Amparito. She served as Executive Director for SFDW for its fifth season and welcomed works by Yin Yue, Dani Rowe, Laura O'Malley, Babatunji Johnson, Edward Clug & Martha Graham. In advertising & production, she traveled internationally with fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier for many brands & publications, served as film production coordinator for director Stephane Sednaoui. Highlights include : Vogue, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Apple, Palm Pictures, among many others, choreographing & dancing for Vogue Italia and appearing in the first SATC film for Miramax, as well as working with figures like Bono, Sara Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Steven Colbert & Reggie Watts. She produced for Sandbox Studio / Creative Drive in San Francisco and internationally for GYPSY Creative. bocatuya.com/executive-director