Stacy Matthew Spence: I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves
Friday, January 10 | 7:30PM
Saturday, January 11 | 4PM
Saturday, January 11 | 7:30PM
Co-presented with Live Artery Festival
Stacy Matthew Spence’s new dance in triptych form, I am, here (a solo for Spence), Here with us (a duet), Where we find ourselves (a quartet) explores ideas of self, impulse, and sharing. I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves is created in collaboration with dance artists Tim Bendernagel, Joanna Kotze, Hsiao-jou Tang, singer/musician Charlotte Jacobs, percussionist Raf Vertessen, and costumer Athena Kokoronis.
A longtime member of Trisha Brown Dance Company (1997-2006), an educator, and performer, Stacy Matthew Spence’s dance work often explores the exchange between person and environment. This involves playful interactions and movement generated in response to the places he finds himself – studio, home, and in public spaces.
Presently, he brings his attention to the internal space of “me”– as a personal environment to be outwardly created, expressed, occupied, and shared.
For this work, “I asked my collaborators to take a journey from their internal finding, to the external expression and wondered how we would bump up against, allow for and possibly join/accommodate/revel in each other’s individual selves,” Spence explains. “How do we find ourselves? How do we find our place? How do we find each other?”
A forthcoming film version of Spence’s solo I am, here, a collaboration with videographer Iki Nakagawa, has been made in tandem with the live work. “The filmed solo, placed in different locations around New York City, is a conversation between myself and my history, the place and its history and the physicality of being in the present.”
“How do we find ourselves? How do we find our place? How do we find each other?”
Before you visit:
Accessibility at Danspace Project
Covid Safety at Danspace Project
Stacy Matthew Spence is a New York City based choreographer, dancer, and teacher. He was born in Lake Charles, LA. and received an M.F.A. from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Stacy’s choreography has been commissioned by The High Line, Vega as North Star (El Norte es Sur) 2019 collaborating with visual artist Ronny Quevedo; The New School, This is how we got here 2017; Danspace Project, This home is us 2017, and Eden as we recall 2012; Tisch School of the Arts, among the scapes and fields 2009; Edge at London Contemporary Dance School, I just wanted to be close to you 2006; The University of New Mexico, Adjusted Space 2007; and the OtherShore Dance Company, small earthquakes along the way 2008. His work has been included in Ishmael Houston-Jones’s Platform 2012: Parallels for Danspace Project, and in co/motion directed by Margeret Peak as part of Jason Moran’s Whitney Biennial: Bleed. As well Stacy has performed with Joanna Kotze’s BIG BEATS 2021, at The Museum of Modern Art, NY in Deborah Hay’s Blues, as part of Ralph Lemon’s Some Sweet Day 2012; and in Polly Motley and Molly Davies’ Critical State at The Helen Day Arts Center, VT. His most recent work I am, here; Here with us; Where we find ourselves, premiered at Danspace in March 2024.
Stacy has received grants and residencies that include Gibney Dance in Process Residency (DIP) 2022-23, Movement Research Artist Parent Residency; Workspace Artist-in-Residence, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council NY; Manhattan Community Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY; New York Live Arts Studio Series Residency; Artist Residency at Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers, France; Movement Research Artist-in-Residence.
Stacy danced with The Trisha Brown Dance Company from 1997-2006, was Education Director 2018-2021 and he continues to be involved with the company through teaching and the re-staging of Trisha’s work. He has also taught nationally and internationally at institutions such as The New School, Juilliard, Barnard College, Tisch School of the Arts, Manhattan Marymount College, London Contemporary Dance School, Centre National de Danse Contemporaine, and Movement Research. Stacy is currently an instructor at The New School in New York City.