April 30, 8pm: this is not the end: an evening with the 2013-2015 Movement Research Artists-in-Residence curated by Jeanine Durning. Feat: Ivy Baldwin, Whitney V. Hunter, Sam Kim, Joanna Kotze, Stanley Love, Juliette Mapp, Mina Nishimura, and Ni’Ja Whitson Adebanjo.

When I was invited by Danspace Project to curate an evening for Food For Thought, I considered the dance experiences that have been most relevant to me these past couple of years, and how to bring those experiences into a curatorial process.

For the past two years, I’ve had the immense privilege and pleasure to be a part of a group of artists through Movement Research Artist in Residence program. Through regular meetings, often sitting around a table, talking about making work but also, as often if not more, talking about things that have nothing directly to do with making work, but of course seep into the work, I’ve been able to reflect, in ways that are often hard to come by these days, on what it means to be making dance right now, in NYC, and also to re/connect with this community that is deeply important to me, that has shaped who I am as a dance-maker.

The MR AIR experience has allowed me to engage with a diverse group of artists who are grappling with the realities of doing and making dance, from a huge range of perspectives and concerns – from the practical, to the spiritual, to the formal, to the emotional, to the corporeal, to the economical, to the political, to the psychological, to the philosophical, to the social but also to the personal- and how all of these aspects – no matter if they are readily or visibly seen in the final outcome of performance, are all integral to and deeply embedded in the practices, work and daily lives of all these artists.

I am in awe of the consideration, honesty, authenticity and generosity of this group. I project a utopian reality that this group reflects the larger NYC dance community.

The last meeting for our group will be in June. This is not the end is my homage, my ode to this group, and to the NYC dance community at large; a call for us all to continue, to continue to share our questions, doubts, concerns and inspirations with each other; which includes the messiness and efforts of being human. This evening is also an acknowledgment of the bravery, tenacity, will, perseverance, preservation and drive that is required to continue to do what we do.