Live Arts' Fresh Tracks Program Presents Five Emerging Choreographers

On December 7 and 8 at 7:30 PM, the legendary Fresh Tracks Performance and Residency Program at New York Live Arts will showcase the work of their five selected emerging choreographers: Emma Rose Brown, J. Bouey, Liana Conyers, Collin Ranf, and Dolores (Lola) Sanchez. As part of its annual programming, Fresh Tracks has been a 54-year commitment to bringing new voices to the forefront. The program offers a unique vantage point for the artists who are provided an unparalleled opportunity for professional development, experience, and recognition. Fresh Tracks performances take place at New York Live Arts Theatre, located at 219 West 19th Street, NYC. Tickets start at $15 and may be purchased at 212 924 0077 or online at newyorklivearts.org

In her What Family Photo (Part One), Emma Rose Brown episodically muses on a myriad of distinctions: the lines between a sibling and a lover, the floor and the body, a limp and a catwalk. Somewhere between New England and the Midwest, the dancers meet on a queer prairie to feign kinship and pose for a photo.

The Space Between the Words is centered around two black queer men who have the only remaining pieces of a map guiding them to vulnerability. Through movement and physicality, choreographer J. Bouey embodies their healing practices to cope with depression and anxiety as a way of unlearning practices of toxic masculinity.

Engaging with the current socio-cultural climate, Liana Conyers explores the levels of consciousness, healing, hiding, and coping that technology provides. Android and Pearls goes in the opposite direction--approaching life and the choices people make to unmask the authenticity that might otherwise be concealed by digital representations of oneself.

In bringing together durational performance, late night radio, David Lynch and the phenomena of yoga photos on Instagram, choreographer Collin Ranf concocts ah, ah and then he poured the beer all over. This solo work tackles the tensions between new age spiritual practices and capitalism revealing something that is darkly comedic and bracingly honest.

Through tap dance, movement, and live drums, Dolores (Lola) Sanchez's The Workis a journey of self love via a shaman circle. In celebrating the alignment of her divine feminine energy, Dolores (Lola) searches for balance and peace in an androgynous, strong, spiritual, and queer body.

BIOGRAPHIES
Emma Rose Brown is a Queens-based performer, multidisciplinary artist, and audio archivist working in the field of dance. She assists in the preservation and production of the Dance Oral History Project at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Emma recently wrote a collection of scores called Scores for Rooms, some of which were performed in June by members of the Rochester Folk Arts Guild. This past year she was an artist-in-residence at The School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, The School of Making Thinking, and at the Ridgewood Older Adult Center through the Queens Council on the Arts. Emma has collaborated, improvised, and performed in the work of Diana Crum, Keely Garfield, Lisa Parra, Tyler Rai, Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey, Joanna Kotze, Brooklyn Touring Outfit, K.J. Holmes, Inkyung Lee, and Emily Johnson. Emma holds a BA from Smith College in American Studies and hails from Watertown, Massachusetts.

J. Bouey is a Dance Artist who received their BFA in Dance from Arizona State University. J. is currently a performer and collaborator with Christal Brown's INSPIRIT Dance Company, AntonioBrownDance, Dante Brown | Warehouse Dance, and Germaul Barnes' Viewsic Dance. They are also currently a Movement Research Van Lier Emerging Artist of Color Fellow for 2018 and a BAX Fall Space Grantee. J. was also a Dancing While Black Fellow for 2017-2018, Gibney WorkUp 4.0 Artists-in-Residence, and has performed with Elisa Monte Dance as an apprentice from 2015 to 2017. J. has shown their original work at Movement Research at the Judson Church, Gibney Dance, BAAD!, CPR - Center for Performance Research as a 2017 Chez Bushwick Artist in Residence, La Mama Experimental Theatre and South Mountain Center for Performing Arts. As a dance instructor at Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in the Bronx, J. contributes to making dance easily accessible in underserved and under-represented communities for Black and Brown people. www.jbouey.com

Liana Conyers, M.F.A., is a dancer, choreographer, and educator in the tri-state region. She has performed with Keith Thompson, Jhon Stronks, Wayne Smith, Habib Chester Iddrisu, Masankho Kamsisi Banda, and CORE Performance Company. Her work has been presented at Emory University, Spelman College, U of O, the ACDF NW Conference, Big Range Festival, and Philadiction Movement. Liana has presented Body Politics (2013), Jars of Pennies (2014), South Ward (2016), and IDKWTI (2018) for Movement Research at the Judson Church. She conceived and performed I Invited Oprah (2017) as part of Dance and Process at The Kitchen. In addition, she teaches dance and a philosophy course in Black Aesthetics at Bard High School Early College Newark, and is a 2017-2018 Bard Faculty Fellow.

Collin Ranf is a 6th generation Montanan, Brooklyn based dance artist, 500 hour registered yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, and home-cook (@bobbys_cooking_adventures). At 13 he dropped out of middle school to become a ballerina, later going on to study at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. After attaining a B.F.A. from The University of Montana, he moved to NYC to pursue dancing professionally. Shortly after, he began working with B.S. Movement and Raja Feather Kelly's company, the feath3r theory (current performer). Collin's work intends to re-contextualize ceremony and performance and derail expectations of what spirituality can mean; what performance can be; and what it means to live authentically and messily. Collin was a 2017/2018 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Upstart artist and currently serves as the Development Associate at Youth America Grand Prix. www.collinranf.com.

Dolores (Lola) Sanchez is a sought after performer, choreographer, and teacher. Well versed in tap, capoeira, contact improv, and street jazz, Dolores has served on the faculty of Peridance Capezio Center, Steps On Broadway, and Broadway Dance Center. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Pace University in the Commercial Arts Dance Program and a guest teacher at Hope College. Dolores has performed with Chloe Arnold, Michelle Dorrance, Ali Bradley, Joseph Webb, Jason Samuels Smith, Sam Webber, Dianne Walker, and Derick K. Grant. She is a current member of Chloe Arnold's Company, Apt. 33, Artist-in-Residence at American Tap Dance Foundation, and founder and director for her NYC based company, The Dolo Project. For more info @lolataps and at www.lolataps.com.