Town Hall: Dance Artistry and Advocacy in the Harlem Arts Community
Monday, September 25, 2017
Town Hall: Dance Artistry and Advocacy in the Harlem Arts Community
This event has already occurred. Enjoy photos and event details below.
When: Monday, September 25, 2017 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Where: The Herbert Cave Auditorium at Harlem Hospital, located on the 2nd Floor, 512 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10037
Register: Free. Registration is required.
Accessibility: 
The Herbert Cave Auditorium at Harlem Hospital is an accessible venue. If you require reasonable accommodation, please contact Hannah Joo at least two weeks prior to the event via email at hjoo@dance.nyc or call 212.966.4452 (voice only). For security purposes, ID may be required.
About: Join Dance/NYC and the Harlem Arts Alliance for our upcoming town hall, Dance Artistry and Advocacy in the Harlem Arts Community. In light of the recent release of The City of New York’s first ever cultural plan, CreateNYC, and our nation’s political climate, the town hall will address the ever-present narrative of racial inequity and under-representation within arts institutions and its impact on Harlem’s dance community. Panelists will tackle the question: “What is the role of the Harlem dance community in addressing racial equity and in using their artistry for advocacy, in our current political climate?” and propose strategies to address racial equity within the Harlem dance community. The evening meeting will also feature a performance, honor awards, and a networking and service fair connecting dancers, choreographers, dance companies and members of arts organizations.
Additionally, the town hall will serve as a platform for the development of the Harlem Arts Alliance’s Dance Resource Directory. The forthcoming Dance Resource Directory will provide essential information about locations in Harlem available for use as rehearsal, workshop, performance and general class instruction spaces. This information will include primary logistical information about the locations (including capacity, availability, cost, location, and booking/contact info) as well as a comprehensive description detailing the cultural historical significance of the space, past events, and a visual representation of the space through professional photography.
The Harlem Arts Alliance and Dance/NYC encourage all dancers, choreographers and arts advocates to attend.
EVENING PROGRAMMING
- Service Fair: 6:30pm-7:00pm
- Introductions and Performance: 7:00pm-7:30pm
- Panel Disscussion: 7:30-8:30pm
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
- Voza Rivers, Chairman of the Board, Harlem Arts Alliance
- Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Artistic Director, Elisa Monte Dance, Dance/NYC Advisory Committee
PERFORMANCES BY
PANELISTS
- Monique Martin, Director of Programming, Harlem Stage (moderator)
- Arielle Rosales, House of Duende/Movement Research
- Leah Tubbs, Founding Artistic Director, MOD Arts Dance Collective
- Ryan Victor Pierce, Founder of Eagle Project: Ryan Little Eagle Pierce
- Sydnie L. Mosley, Artistic Director, Sydnie L. Mosley Dances
SPEAKER BIOS
Arielle Rosales, is an Interdisciplinary Performing Artist and the Director & Founder of House of Duende™ (www.houseofduende.com), the intercultural dance studio and collaborative arts organization based in East Harlem. She has been dubbed, “Excitingly rhythmic and undoubtedly seductive” by Dance Informa Magazine and “A very intense and wonderful choreography talent” by BroadwayWorld.com. An ambitious truth-seeker who is fascinated with better understanding the human condition, Arielle’s ultimate goal is to spread love through the universal language of art. Her work, although rooted in flamenco dance, incorporates many other mediums that serve as tools towards her pursuit of self-discovery, human connection, and spiritual liberation. In early 2017, she was invited to publicly debut her process of #BecomingMotherDuende in an improvisational interactive performance in Gibney Dance’s production of we free, for which she received a Bessie Award Nomination for “Outstanding Performer.” Aside from teaching flamenco classes, Arielle offers her signature #UnleashYourDuende workshops that introduce flamenco dance as a tool to explore larger issues such as social justice & women empowerment. She can be seen performing regularly with her #SoleSisters in the all-female percussive dance trio @SolesOfDuende. For more info, follow @ariellerosales & visit www.ariellerosales.com!
Leah Tubbs, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, studied dance at Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She toured with the Alabama Ballet during her time at ASFA. She was the recipient of the Duane Dishion Dance Award during her tenure at ASFA. She received the Dancers’ Award at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She is a former two-time scholarship recipient of the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive. She is grateful to have worked with Dayton Contemporary Dance Second Company (DCdC2), Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT), Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Project 21 Dance, Louise Reichlin & Dancers/ Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers, Donna Sternberg and Dancers, Jazz Ain’t Dead, and The Zifadanz Group. Leah has been selected to present her work for Austin’s Dance Carousel, Big Range Dance Festival, READY SET GO series, and Ten Minutes Max, as well as the Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival, Jazz Ballet Company, and Arova Contemporary Dance Company. She served as the artistic director and company member of Ballet Afrique Contemporary Dance Company from 2008-2010, where she received three nominations by the Austin Critics Table Awards for best choreographer, best original short work, and for outstanding dance concert. Leah and Shaun Tubbs established ModArts Dance Collective (MADC) in 2011 to increase diversity and gender equality in the dance field through movement.
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Monique Martin (Moderator) is currently the Director of Programming for Harlem Stage, a performing arts center that commissions and nurtures artist of color while celebrating the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture and the world. As an independent curator, producer and marketing consultant, Ms. Martin has partnered with and produced for Joe’s Pub, Disney Theatricals, Apollo Theater, New Victory Theater, Southbank Centre/UK, Hip Hop Theater Festival, Harlem Stage, NJPAC, Queens Theater in the Park, HBO and numerous Broadway and Off -Broadway productions. Ms. Martin has served on national and international advisory committees, boards and panels, including Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), Ford Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Performing Arts Exchange (PAE), Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), FC Harlem Lions and Women of Color in the Arts. Ms. Martin brought her vision and expertise to City Parks Foundation (CPF) from 2007-2017 as Programming Director for SummerStage where she presented relevant, fresh and thoughtful programming to New York City communities annually in Central Park and 100+ parks city wide, presenting over 1,200 multi-genre programs reaching audiences 600,000+. She expanded the programming by including contemporary circus, presenting national and international artists. As an ardent facilitator of collaborations across cultures, sectors and genres that foster cross-cultural exchange she has partnered with cultural consulates and embassies from Sweden, France, Spain, Finland and Quebec in presenting dance, circus and music. Prior to joining CPF she was Associate Director of Programming for Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) as part of the River to River Festival. In all, Ms. Martin is a propagator of art, culture and ideas, She brings her passion and experience in community building through the arts to elevate and instigate.
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Ryan Victor Pierce is Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, originally from Southern New Jersey and Delaware. He had the privilege and the honor of receiving his Lenape name, "Little Eagle," on original Lenape land at the age of 12 by his great uncle, the late Rodney "Strong Oak" Edwards. Upon graduation from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Ryan has performed in various readings, staged readings, and full productions at such renown theatrical institutions as the Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, New Dramatists, LaMaMa E.T.C., Playwrights Horizons, and New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. Throughout his career, Ryan has also devoted much of his time performing in and helping to develop theatrical works of indigenous people from the US and around the world. Many of those works have been developed and performed at the American Indian Community House of New York City, AMERINDA, The Culture Project, Times Square Playwrights, the Australian Aboriginal Theater Initiative, as well as the United Nations. Having a passion to incorporate American voices that aren't frequently heard, especially those of Native Americans, into the performing arts arena, Ryan founded the Eagle Project in 2012. i?? It is Ryan's expertise and mission to use the performing arts in a way that we as Americans can have a more accurate recollection of our past, a better understanding of our present, for a just and more inclusive vision for our future.
Sydnie L. Mosley is an artist-activist and educator who produces experiential dance works with her all-women company SLMDances. Through her choreographic work, the company works in communities to organize for gender and racial justice. Her evening length dances The Window Sex Project and BodyBusiness address sexual harassment in public spaces and the economics of NYC dance, respectively. The creative processes and performance experiences of these works are a model for dance-activism. In February 2017, Sydnie was recognized by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray for using her talents in dance to fuel social change. Other recognitions include: LMCC Creative Engagement Grant, The Field Leadership Fund, CUNY Dance Initiative, Dancing While Black Artist Fellowship, and The Performance Project @ University Settlement, Create Change Fellowship with The Laundromat Project, the Gibney Dance Institute for Community Action Training, and the inaugural Barnard Center for Research on Women Alumnae Fellow. She earned her MFA in Dance Choreography from the University of Iowa, and earned her BA in Dance and Africana Studies from Barnard College at Columbia University. Sydnie is a part of the 2017 Bessie Award-nominated cast of the skeleton architecture, the future of our worlds, curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa. Sydnie danced with Christal Brown's INSPIRIT (2010-2013) and continues to appear as a guest artist for Brooklyn Ballet. An advocate for the field, Sydnie sits on the Advisory Committee to Dance/NYC.
Tiffany Rea-Fisher, (EMD Artistic Director) is in her thirteenth year with the NYC-based internationally acclaimed dance company Elisa Monte Dance (EMD). Tiffany joined EMD in 2004 where she was principal dancer until 2010. She was named Dance Magazine’s “On the Rise” person for their 2007 August issue based on her 2006 performance at the Joyce Theater. As a choreographer Tiffany has had the pleasure of creating several pieces for the company most notably meeting and having her work performed for the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. Tiffany’s work extends well beyond the stage creating work for the film, fashion, theater and the music industry. In 2009 Tiffany and her husband started the non-profit Inception to Exhibition (ITE), which supports NYC-based artists in the fields of Dance, Theater, Music and Film through monetary grants and performance/exhibition opportunities. ITE also curates the Bryant Park Modern Dance Summer Series. Tiffany's current affiliations include: Dance/NYC Advisory Board Member, Dance/USA Member, Stonewall Community Development Corporation Vice President, The Tank Advisory Board Member, Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) Member, Department of Cultural Affairs Panelist, and Steps on Broadway faculty member. Tiffany received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College SUNY.
Voza Rivers, Chairman Harlem Arts Alliance, New Heritage Theatre Group, President/Executive Producer. As Chairman of the organization Voza Rivers brings over 40 years of experience as an arts administrator and arts producer. He is one of the nation’s leading African–American theater, music and events producers. Throughout his career Rivers has worked with the some of the world’s most talented artists such as Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone, Ruby Dee, Luther Vandross, The Count Basie Orchestra, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Tony Bennett, Anita Baker, Max Roach, Gloria Lynne, Yolanda Adams, Dionne Warwick, Manhattan Transfer, and Stevie Wonder. Rivers received a Grammy nomination for Mbongeni Ngema’s Sarafina, and he produced the Obie-Award winning plays The Huey P. Newton Story at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Woza Albert! at La Mama and the American Museum of Natural History. He is Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors for Community Works, a multi-cultural arts and education organization that serves 100,000 New York City students and adults. In addition, Rivers is the Executive Producer of HARLEM WEEK, the Harlem Jazz and Music Festival, and the National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame.
@DanceNYC @HAACommunity #townhall #HAADance
Dance/NYC's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are made possible with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Booth Ferris Foundation. Dance/NYC convening is also made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Dance/NYC seeks partners and speakers with a variety of viewpoints for its events with the goal of generating discussion. The inclusion of any partner or speaker does not constitute an endorsement by Dance/NYC of that partner's or speaker's views.
