Dance/NYC Announces Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency Program Grantees

The dance service organization Dance/NYC and its program partner Gibney are pleased to announce the 10 recipients of the second iteration of the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency Program, made possible by the generous support of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund, and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

The purpose of the residency program is to expand opportunities for dancers with disabilities, including spinal cord injury (SCI) and other impairments, and to advance accessibility and equity for disabled dance artists within the larger dance, residency, and presenting communities.

The recipients of the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency Program, from December 6, 2021 to March 5, 2022, are:

• x
• Sonya Rio-Glick
• Ogemdi Ude
• Larissa Velez-Jackson / LVJ Performance Co.
• iele paloumpis
• Elisabeth Motley
• Elisa Hernandez
• David Lee Sierra
• Anna Gichan
• Alison Kopit

Grantees will participate in either in-person residencies hosted by Gibney in New York City or digital residencies in which Gibney hosts a virtual gathering space. The 10 grantees include representatives from two boroughs of New York City, The Bronx (1) and Brooklyn (6); one representative from upstate New York; one representative from Georgia; and one representative from Pennsylvania. Dance/NYC is pleased to be able to expand the reach of the program beyond New York City in recognition of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which have led to the migration of many dance artists. Grantees are majority African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) and majority women-identifying, transgender, and gender nonconforming/non-binary/genderqueer individuals.

This residency includes, for the first time, a component which connects each grantee with a professional mentor for ten hours of dedicated consultation during the residency period. Drawn from across the arts ecosystem, the mentors represent an incredible range of expertise and experience. Mentors and grantees were matched based on grantee goals for their residency work and artistic career, in the categories of professional, artistic, or production development. This program component is crafted and guided by consultant Laurel Lawson, a choreographer and artist-engineer.

"The Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency program has consistently offered valuable resources to disabled dance artists, and I am happy to bring my work as an artist, researcher, and consultant in support of this program, disabled artists, and the field as a whole," said Laurel Lawson, Director, Rose Tree Productions.

"With this iteration of the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency Program, Dance/NYC remains committed to building an ecosystem of support to ensure that disabled dance artists can continue to develop their artistry and have access to the resources they need to thrive," said Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Executive Director of Dance/NYC. "As we continue to respond to the drastic shifts within our sector instigated by the global pandemic, it is critical that this time leads our sector to seed the current and next generation of disabled arts workers as we continue to center disability as a positive artistic, generative source."

"Gibney is deeply committed to advancing disability artistry and is proud to partner with Dance/NYC in this crucial work. We are honored to welcome this incredible cohort of grantees into our spaces and community in the coming year," said a Gibney representative.

Each grantee will receive an honorarium of $5,000, an additional stipend of $1,000 for any accessibility needs, up to 36 hours of rehearsal time over the course of one week for in-person residencies or two consecutive weeks for digital residencies, a ten-class card at Gibney for in-person or digital dance classes, a 2-hour public activity with production support provided by Gibney, 10 hours of goal-directed mentorship or professional development consulting from an expert in the field, participation in two cohort convenings focused on professional development, and marketing support through Dance/NYC's platforms.

These ten grantees were selected by panel review and were among a competitive pool of 23 self-identified disabled dance makers or integrated dance companies led by people with disabilities that submitted applications in response to an open call. Key evaluation criteria included artistic excellence; potential to benefit from a residency; a commitment to justice, equity, and inclusion; and a diversity of participant types and perspectives.

Dance/NYC established the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Residency Program in 2019 with its program partners Gibney and Spaceworks as part of its Disability. Dance. Artistry. Initiative. The first iteration of the program awarded residencies to a total of eight disabled dance artists and integrated dance companies across two rounds. The program responds directly to Dance/NYC's research, Performing Disability. Dance. Artistry. (Dance.NYC/PerformingDDA18), which underscores the need and opportunity to engage residency centers in the professional development and training of disabled artists and to provide critical training to presenters, driving mentorship and shared learning among artists and presenters.