(NEWARK, NJ) -- In association with Dance New Jersey, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) presents a one-night only showcase on Friday, June 10, 2022, featuring world premiere works by five, young female New Jersey-based choreographers. After a year-long mentorship with modern dance professionals including Carolyn Dorfman (Carolyn Dorfman Dance), Sam Pott (Nimbus Dance Works), and Andy Chiang (Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company), these talented dancers/choreographers will premiere and perform their new original works on the NJPAC stage. This marks the third Jersey New Moves presentation at NJPAC (hiatus during COVID 2020-21).
Winners of the Jersey (New) Moves Fellowship Program are five New Jersey-based dancers/choreographers: tap dance artist and founder of Jersey Tap Fest Hillary-Marie (Wanaque), artistic director of dance-theatre company MeenMoves Sameena Mitta (Jersey City), multidisciplinary artist Katelyn Halpern (Jersey City), Montclair State University alumnus Kristilee Maiella (Landing), and Mason Gross School of the Arts teacher Kiana Rosa Fischer (Robbinsville).
PROGRAM DETAILS - All works are world premieres. Program is subject to change.
In the Pocket; Choreographer: Hillary-Marie; Dancer: Hillary-Marie. Work: In the Pocket transforms the void of silence into a world brimming with music and movement. Hillary-Marie, playing the role of a Trickster with a secret in her pocket, indelibly weaves together the languages of music and dance as she harnesses the powerful pulse of rhythmic performance with Tap Dance, Body Percussion, and other surprises along the way. Will her tricks catch you, or, will you catch her tricks?
My Quadrennia; Choreographer: Sameena Mitta; Music: Name TBA by SlowPitchSound; Dancers: Jasminn Johnson, Chelsea Hecht, Mark Willis, Stephanie Terasaki, Chase & Tessa (92Y Harkness Dance Center Students) Costume Designer: Sarah Timberlake. Work: With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, the uprisings for racial justice reverberating, and the nation more politically divided than ever, the events from the week preceding election day 2020 through inauguration day in 2021 had a profound effect upon all Americans. Throughout this period, Recanati-Kaplan Scholarship students at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center and company members from dance company MeenMoves recorded their reactions to these intensely charged historic events. These interviews were the source material for an intergenerational dance film that highlights the excitement, anxiety, mourning, shock and hope this diverse set of people experienced during one of the most divisive times in recent memory. My Quadrennia brings this dance film to the stage as a dance-theater work, intensified by a telling of one family’s historical and current relationship with voting in the United States. It is a timely reminder of both the importance and fragility of the most fundamental of democratic institutions.
Being Here Is What We Are Doing; Choreographer: Katelyn Halpern; Music: TBD; Dancer: Katelyn Halpern. Work: This site-specific work is a contemporary-performance-slash-status-report on the two intervening years between the original Jersey New Moves performance date, June 19, 2020, and the present moment. Soloist-choreographer Katelyn Halpern presents at the growth edge of vulnerability (read: oversharing) with cupcakes, a raincoat, and a microphone for company. The inspiration is the mother of necessity — in spite of all that has happened and all that continues to happen, commitments will be kept and the deliverables informed by what we have learned about presence, grief, and the body.
LOVE; Choreographer: Kristilee Maiella; Music: “Rubber Head” by Cliff Martinez, “5 115” by Michael Wall, “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Queen; Dancers: Alexa Agesen, Elysia Carrasca, Kierstyn Edore, Maddie McGovern, Isabella Porreca, Riley Rienert, and Ellie Sharpe. Work: LOVE is a contemporary work combining elements of both concert and commercial dance— beginning in silence, and ending with Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” Costumed in bold prints and bright colors, seven dancers demonstrate strong technique and artistry as they work together to cultivate an overall emotional, relatable, and entertaining performance. Inspired by song lyrics as well as real life experiences, LOVE follows a journey from a state of fear into love, questioning; how does choosing love over fear change who we are, how we see the world around us, and how we care about ourselves and others?
Dearest, Don’t; Choreographer: Kiana Rosa Fischer; Music: End of Summer part 4 by Johan Johansson, Seiden Still by Jacaszek, Year of Our Lord by Sufjan Stevens; Dancers: Jannah Schwarz, Kiana Rosa Fischer; Visual Artist: Leah Rosa. Work: Dearest, Don’t explores the thoughts, desires, and confusions of motherhood, as well as the complexities entailed by such relationships. Utilizing both text and visual art, Kiana Rosa Fischer seeks to blend a collage of images that can be seen, heard, and felt. Strained relationships, regrets, and conflicted desires weigh on the dancers as they navigate both the history and connectivity of their bodies, memories of the past, and questions for the future.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located at One Center Streetin downtown Newark, N.J., is America’s most diverse performing arts center, and the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey – where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the state’s and the world’s best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted nearly 10 million visitors (including over 1.7 million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents.
