INVISIBLE ARTISTS, Co-labs

Thursdays, 7 – 10pm // 22-Sep thru 27-Oct
$15 per session

INVISIBLE ARTISTS, Co-labs; performance laboratories and process experiments. A time to practice performance and practice research through discussion-actions, temporary collectivity, writing and making. Each laboratory is facilitated and developed by an artist in conversation with INVISIBLE ARTISTS’ Alex Romania. (Co)Facilitators include Elena Rose Light, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Justin Morrison, Hector Cononge, Esther Neff, and David LaGaccia.

Each Co-lab is open to all; no experience necessary, just come with an interest in engaging in performance processes and a willingness to experiment.

22-Sep – Elena Rose Light
29-Sep – Ishmael Houston-Jones
6-Oct – Justin Morrison
13-Oct – Hector Cononge
20-Oct – Esther Neff
27-Oct – David Laggacia

September 22nd – Process Talk
Facilitated and developed by Elena Rose Light and Alex Romania.

We will look at the relationship between constructing, reflecting, writing and talking about work by engaging in a series nonsensical approaches to critical dialogue, combining movement and discussion-based exercises. Through this, we will approach disorienting spaces as potentially expansive tools for finding clarity. The meat of this laboratory is an hour of sharing and examining each participant’s practice in real time, culminating as each participant is asked to facilitate their personal practice for the group, while the group will be asked to rigorously question it through a sort of action/dialogue, doing and discussing at once. This task will continue until all participants have facilitated their own practice. Through simultaneous doing and questioning, we will consider how discussing and writing about about work may be an extension of process, rather than something outside.

Elena Rose Light is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and performance artist. Her interests lie at the intersection of historical research, feminism, and performativity. She has presented her work at the Center for Performance Research, Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, Movement Research at Judson Church, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn Studios for Dance, and the Yale University Art Gallery, among other venues. She is a 2016 danceWEB scholar at ImPulsTanz Contemporary Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria, working closely with mentor Tino Sehgal. She is also a 2016 mentee in the Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training, working with mentor MK Wegmann at the intersection of art-making and cultural administration. She was an artist in residence at The School of Making Thinking (2015) and E|MERGE Interdisciplinary Collaborative Residency at Earthdance (2016). In June 2016, she launched the performance/party series Fête with co-producer Emily Smith; the inaugural event brought in 125 attendees for an evening of site-specific performance. Elena has also performed and collaborated in the work of Bruno IsakoviA? and Tino Sehgal.

[elena rose light]

Elena studied classical ballet from age nine, attending summer programs at Oregon Ballet Theater and The Boston Conservatory. In 2013, she graduated with a BA in Art History and French with honors from Yale University, where she received the Jonathan Edwards College Arts Award. Elena has published writings on performance at Culturebot.org, danceandcircumstance.com, and the Movement Research Performance Journal. She has also worked as the Programs Manager at Gibney Dance, where she produced live performance and currently manages the visual art space

Alex Romania is a multidisciplinary artist / performance-maker, organizer, and teacher based in NYC who has taught and shown work nationally and internationally. Most recently Alex has shown work at Human Resources (LA), TAC: Temescal Art Center (Oakland), LACUNA (Portland), Encuentro (Lima), UV Estudios (Buenos Aires), the Pillsbury House (Minneapolis), FringeArts (Philadelphia), Gibney Dance (NYC), Movement Research at the Judson Church (NYC), and has taught at el Museo del Arte Contemporáneo (Lima). Alex enjoys organizing events with dance and performance artists in NYC through his platform INVISIBLE ARTISTS, facilitating teens in the creation of devised performance and stop motion videos, video-documenting live performance, and practicing Thai Yoga. Alex has performed in works by Catherine Galasso, Andy de Grout, Eddie Peake, Jacob Slominski, Ishmael Houston-Jones, DeFacto Dance, Simone Forti, Steve Paxton, currently dances for Kathy Westwater, and has collaborated with a handful of performance art collectives, amongst other artists. http://cargocollective.com/alexromania