DANSPACE PROJECT PRESENTS DraftWork Jelani Taylor + Nile Harris Saturday, February 22 | 3PM Join us after the performances for food & drinks and a conversation between the artists.
Jelani Taylor, Choreographer & Performer
Jelani Taylor is a dancer, choreographer, and arts administrator from Virginia Beach, Virginia, currently working out of New York City. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of ERA Dance Company and is the Artists of Color Council, Coordinator for Movement Research. Jelani’s choreography has been presented nationally at Inside/Out at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference (IABD), National Dance Society Conference (NDS), and various festivals in Virginia and New York City. He has performed in work by Nathan Trice, Sinclair O’Gaga, and Mariah Lopez. Jelani and ERA Dance Company were artist/company in residence at Norfolk State University and a part of the Digging in Group, Artist Residency program at Green Space Studio. He is currently a 2024/25 Performance Project Fellow at University Settlement. Jelani graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with a B.F.A in Dance and Choreography in 2019. While at VCU, Jelani was the recipient of the African American Studies Department’s “Black History in the Making” Award.
Megan Siepka, Performer
Megan Siepka (she/they) is a Brooklyn based dancer and choreographer from Richmond, Virginia. She completed her BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020 and in the same year debuted her professional career with VALLETO. In 2022, Siepka attended Springboard Danse Montréal where they performed in works by Johannes Wieland and Annamari Keskinen. Siepka completed additional training as a member of the inaugural GibneyPRO cohort and has completed additional study under the guidance of Andrea Miller, Ohad Naharin, Sidra Bell, Shannon Gillen, and several master educators within The Ailey School. Siepka currently works as a collaborator and performer with Baye & Asa, Era Dance Company, TAQ Dance Theater, and as a supplemental dancer with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Siepka has over 10 years of experience as an educator, relaying contemporary and classical techniques to children and adults at all levels of study. Siepka has presented their own choreographic works in venues across New York City such as PAGEANT, Arts on Site, and The Living Gallery. They have also choreographed and directed movement for major fashion houses and commercial artists such as Helmut Lang, Kim Shui, and Vagabon.
Madelyn Wansong, Performer
Madelyn Wansong (she/her) is a New York City based dancer/artist. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Madelyn began her dance training at Dance Project and continued as a pre-professional company member with Center of Creative Arts (COCA). In May 2022, she received a BFA in Dance from University of the Arts (UArts) under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. While at UArts, she had the opportunity to perform works by Doug Varone, Merce Cunningham, Jordan Lloyd, and Kim Bears-Bailey. She is currently a company member with Alessandra Corona Performing Works and The Equus Projects. Additionally, she has performed works by Mystical Feet Company, John Passafiume, and Augie Sherman. Madelyn joined Era Dance Company in 2024.
Taylor Bonadies, Performer
Taylor Bonadies (she/they) is a New York City-based freelance performer and movement artist, currently in collaboration with ERA Dance Company, URBAN TRIBE, and Jay Beardsley. Taylor earned their B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, performing works by Hélène Simoneau, Scott Putman, and Autumn Proctor-Waddell, and studying with faculty Jenna Riegel, André Zachery, Trebien Pollard, MK Abadoo and more. She received the VCU Dance Outstanding Performer and Outstanding Choreographer awards upon graduation in 2020. After graduation, Taylor joined the dance faculty at her alma mater, the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia, uncovering a deep love for teaching and cultivating rich movement experiences for the next generation of dance artists. Since relocating to NYC to focus on performance, she has performed works by choreographers Merce Cunningham, Jelani Taylor, Mark Bankin, Delilah Gamson-Levy, and Natalie Long, performing at venues including the MoMA Bartos Theater, St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York City Center Studios, and Arts on Site among others. Taylor is grateful to experience and share what makes dance and performance poignant with her surrounding community.
Alexzander Larson, Performer
Alexzander Larson (he/him) is a Portland, Oregon native who holds a BFA in Dance (2022) from The Hartt School. During his time at Hartt, he had the privilege of performing works by choreographers such as Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Lar Lubovitch, Gabrielle Lamb, Jaclyn Buglisi, and Sir Richard Alston. In 2022, Alexzander was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Merce Cunningham Trust’s Barbara Ensley Award. He has since had the pleasure of dancing with companies including Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Des Moines Metropolitan Opera (choreographed by Issac Martin Lerner), and Suzzanne Ponomarenko Dance. He is currently a dance artist with Cornfield Dance as well as The Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
Chet Frierson, Composer
Born and based in Richmond, VA, Chet Frierson is known as an avid collaborator with various artists and a passionate saxophone player. His introduction to music began through church, piano lessons, Richmond Public Schools, and the musical tastes of his friends and family. After recognizing his budding love for the art form, he started his music career in 2015 and later graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Music Degree. His growing skills in performance and Richmond’s rich music community provided him opportunities to play for weddings, corporate events, ticketed shows, interdisciplinary art spaces, and other local venues. Alongside his performance prowess, Chet has worked with other artists as a music producer, engraver, composer, and arranger. Pieces that he has contributed to creatively are featured with local band Weekend Plans, Kingyoso, PD Williams, Apple+, ERA Dance Company, VCU Dance, VCU Music, Qing Richy, Shy Lennox, and more. His philosophy states that all forms of art belong to each other. When creators cross these lines, they find experiences that are deeper and more human than the ones exclusively in their respective fields. This results in works that resonate more with the people that consume them.
Ishmael Houston-Jones (DraftWork curator) is an award winning choreographer, author, performer, teacher, and curator. His improvised dance and text work has been performed in New York, across the US, and in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Latin America. Drawn to collaborations as a way to move beyond boundaries and the known, Houston-Jones celebrates the political aspect of cooperation. Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a 1984 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders, which reintroduced the erased narrative of the Black cowboy back into the mythology of the American west. He was awarded his second “Bessie” Award for the 2010 revival of THEM, his 1985/86 collaboration with writer Dennis Cooper and composer Chris Cochrane. In 2017 he received a third “Bessie” for Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and other Works by John Bernd presented by Danspace Project. In 2020 he received a fourth “Bessie” for Service to the Field of Dance. Houston-Jones is the DraftWork curator for works-in-progress at Danspace Project in New York. He has curated Platform 2012: Parallels which focused on choreographers from the African diaspora and postmodernism and co-curated with Will Rawls Platform 2016: Lost & Found, Dance, New York, HIV/AIDS, Then and Now both at Danspace Project. As an author Houston-Jones’ essays, fiction, interviews, and performance texts have been published in several anthologies and in numerous journals and magazines. His FAT and Other Stories: Some Writing About Sex was published in June 2018 by Yonkers International Press.
Danspace Project pays respect to Lenape peoples. We acknowledge that this work is situated on the Lenape island of Manhattan (Mannahatta) in Lenapehoking, the Lenape homeland. We pay respect to Lenape land, water, and ancestors past, present and future.
FUNDING FOR DRAFTWORK DraftWork is presented, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
For information on our funders, visit danspaceproject.org/support
ABOUT DANSPACE PROJECT
Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences. For 50 years, Danspace Project has supported a vital community of contemporary dance artists in an environment unlike any other in the United States. Located in the historic St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, Danspace shares its facility with the Church, The Poetry Project, and New York Theatre Ballet. Danspace Project’s Commissioning Initiative has commissioned nearly 600 new works since its inception in 1994. More about our staff, our mission, and values FOLLOW US @danspaceproject danspaceproject.org